Aqueous Parts Washer Detergent - Aluminum Safe

[Pete Deal]

George,
Good info thanks.
The detergent that doesn’t discolor the aluminum is ph neutral. I think the reason the detergent that discolors the aluminum does a better job of cleaning off my tumbling residue off is that detergent actually disolves just a little bit of the aluminum and so takes the residue with it.

 

[F35Machinist]

I used to work in a place that used an industrial version of "Simple Green" - and it worked very well.

I would be curious to see if there is any brand of Simple Green that doesn't immediately tarnish aluminum.

 

[DouglasJRizzo]

@F35Machinist Never had much aluminum in there, it was majority steel and stainless.

 

[rons]

Distilled water and laundry soap. Not hand soap.

When I used Kool Mist it made rust formation on steel a memory.
If I was washing ferrous metal parts I would use it.

 

[lastrada]

I would be curious to see if there is any brand of Simple Green that doesn't immediately tarnish aluminum.

I've seen this recommended for aluminum before, I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

https://simplegreen.com/industrial/products/extreme-aircraft-precision-cleaner/

 

[joecrs]

I picked up a used dish washer for the shop to clean parts, mostly aluminum, mostly 6061. The parts are already for practical purposes very clean. With tumbling even with a rinse afterwards there is often a whiteish residue in holes and pockets. Also, machined parts have just a little coolant residue that I'd like to wash off. Generally I hand wash all the parts in dawn but trying to get away from that.

I tried a few types of standard dish wash detergent but these tarnish the aluminum. It's not terrible but they it's there. I see there are a number of aluminum safe cabinet washer detergents out there for this purpose. Does anybody have any experience with any of these that work well?

I use laundry detergent in my tumbler , in fact the cheapest stuff I can find it does a great job. I tried Dawn but it foams way too much and that dampens the action of the media. I get no residue but I do wash the Aluminum parts in Dawn and hot water anyway I had a customer even ask me what I used because they told me the powder coating they did stuck way better on my parts. On steel parts we have a chemical from Almco we mix with water the parts go directly into it out of the tumbler we then let them air dry it leave a rust preventative coating which is NOT wet or greasy it is great stuff.

 

[nateacox]

We use Brulin. Its approved by SpaceX and most of the other aerospace outfits.

 

[TiSwarfrat]

I picked up a used dish washer for the shop to clean parts, mostly aluminum, mostly 6061. The parts are already for practical purposes very clean. With tumbling even with a rinse afterwards there is often a whiteish residue in holes and pockets. Also, machined parts have just a little coolant residue that I'd like to wash off. Generally I hand wash all the parts in dawn but trying to get away from that.

I tried a few types of standard dish wash detergent but these tarnish the aluminum. It's not terrible but they it's there. I see there are a number of aluminum safe cabinet washer detergents out there for this purpose. Does anybody have any experience with any of these that work well?

I've been using Simple Green Extreme, it's formulated for the aviation and aerospace industry. It has proven to be safe on Aluminum
in my experience.

 

[Covenant MFG]

I've noticed heat + long soak tends to discolor too, even simple green. Many dishwashers have only a hot water hookup, not sure if making it cold water only would help.