cleaning aluminum

[H96669]

Looks like your parts have been anodized. You'll have to remove that first. Good lye solution should do it. Easy Off will. Achieving the finish, shiny or not is just the right combo of compounds/sanding/lube/scrubbies in whatever combination you choose. You can even polish that with Old Dutch or Ajax or whatever. Just practice somewhere on a scrap piece.

Keeping it in good shape once done and no anodizing left you'll be cleaning poolishing a lot more, shiny or not. They don't anodize them soft alloys just for looks.Soft alloys they have to seal the pores otherwise crud/salt gets in there and you won't get rid of it easily. I am not into the shiny looks but it sure is easier to maintain, crud & salts don't get in the pores so much and it depends a lot also on the type of alloys used.

Lets say that I have polished way too much Aluminium kitchen equipment and motorcycle parts in 30+ years to care much about doing that anymore. Mostly done with stuff from under the kitchen sink or when I am at sea.....cleaning locker.

Powdercoating? I just bought the 1200 degree powder in "Brushed Aluminium" color, haven't tried it yet. Will be doing some tests this week maybe.

[kantuckid]

Originally Posted by HapHazard

I use red Scotchbrite to give a nice "brushed" finish (or as a step toward a polished surface).
But if you just want to clean the aluminum oxide off, I've used a product called "Coil-Brite-A", which is designed to clean the coils in A/C units. http://www.supercoproducts.com/Products-HVAC.htm
Here's B4:


I sprayed it on lightly, then scrubbed with a nylon brush, then wiped it off with a damp rag.
Then after:


I just did the fins on the head.

Another thing to try is one of the citrus-based cleaners - I've used them, but the coil cleaner worked better for me on aluminum oxide.

What izzit your trying to clean? (We like pictures here).

I'm wondering what this stuff will do to the painted engine parts on an engine? In my case I have a project bike that I've already painted the side cases & have not cleaned the engine.Sort of cart before the horse deal. I read the product sheets on the coil cleaner & it seems to be mostly phosphoric acid which I already have in the 3M btl used for AB work. Dont know about the concentration though-coil cleaner is ~25%.

[H96669]

^^^ Wood deck brighteners are mostly that Phosphoric Acid and so are some of the rust treatments. Never seen then attack paints. Not a bad cleaner for aluminium but sure has to be neutralized well lest your parts turn a little black later on. May take a few days/weeks for the ambiant moisture in the air re-activating the residues in the pores and do that. Took a couple weeks on some of my parts.

KrudKutter????Had good results with that, the one that says "must for rust" does have a small concentration of Phosphoric in it. Sure cleans the rusty frame parts very well. Safe for Aluminium.

[Beezer]

I think the wood deck stuff is oxalic acid

[H96669]

Originally Posted by Beezer

I think the wood deck stuff is oxalic acid

Some but not all, they do make a difference between the Cleaners and Brighteners. Cheap supply sometimes when you need either Oxalic or Phosphoric at the local hardware store. Oxalic may not brighten your deck, could bleach it way more than you'd want,all again depending on the concentration.

Kind of getting at me all them miracle solutions...New New New, well nothing new on rebranding common products, fancy labels then a fancy price.

Sure glad for MSDSs sometimes.They are changing that soon as a worldwide standard,we may get even more info. The British ones sure show a lot more than the North Americans.

[perterra]

Hydroflouric acid. just be very careful with it. Your dick will fall off. Dilute heavily and use a foamer to put it on. Wear your gear, your dick will fall off. They use it in truck washes for wheel cleaner. Dilute, did I mention your dick will fall off.

[vtwin]

Originally Posted by Vankaye

This picture from Mullet provided me with a lot of laughs!

[2 SPOT]

i tried "barkeepers friend" on bare aluminum just to see what the finish would look like. i have since used the piece otherwise i'd snap a pic, but it was a nice mello finish, like eggshell paint, not matt but not gloss either.

for those that dont know, barekeepers friend its pretty much less abrasive comet. though it does come in a gel i used the dry since that what i had.

[Stan_R80/7]

Originally Posted by perterra

Hydroflouric acid. just be very careful with it. Your dick will fall off. Dilute heavily and use a foamer to put it on. Wear your gear, your dick will fall off. They use it in truck washes for wheel cleaner. Dilute, did I mention your dick will fall off.

HF acid is insidious. It acts as an anesthetic so it does not burn. Other acids mixed with HF will burn, albeit maybe less. HF acid eats away until contact with bone bone or calcium. These two attributes make HF acid dangerous.

Otherwise, it is just like any other acid that can be neutralized with baking soda, sodium hydroxide, or any other base. The same protective equipment used with sulfuric or hydrochloric works great. In fact, HF is a less aggressive acid than most- other than the 'cannot feel it and eats bones away' concerns. I think of HF as the 'Jeffry Dahmer' of acids, in that once recognized it is not that scary but unrecognized can be horrifying. Maybe that's a bad analogy. I avoid using HF acid.

[Skowinski]

Ditto, I have to use HF at work sometimes. I've been warned about it by quite a number of people, and as a result I am very very cautious with it. Most acids you feel burning when they get on you, HF, you don't. That's a scary thought.

[Pike Bishop]

Originally Posted by Stan_R80/7

Otherwise, HF is just like any other acid ...

... except that it eats through glass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf4vq2UU9hk

[JRP]

Originally Posted by perterra

Hydroflouric acid. just be very careful with it. Your dick will fall off. Dilute heavily and use a foamer to put it on. Wear your gear, your dick will fall off. They use it in truck washes for wheel cleaner. Dilute, did I mention your dick will fall off.

+1 ... but heed the warnings, it is dangerous stuff!

[troidus]

Originally Posted by Pike Bishop

... except that it eats through glass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf4vq2UU9hk

We were told about that in 9th-grade science class. One old-time application for the glass-etching properties of HF was as a measure for borehole straightness--they'd put a dilute mixture of HF in a bottle, lower it down a well, let it sit for a bit, then haul it back up and measure the angle of the etch line on the glass.

[H96669]

Way too many recommendations on using the correct/incorrect products everywhere without giving the usual cautions.

What to do with the cautions is a matter of experience maybe but some of us had them bad experiences back then when the info wasn't really available on the net.

Because I have to read and keep track of MSDSs at work, learned a few lessons along the way that made me look back at some of the stuff we did back then.

Should be a dedicated thread on them usual and unusual shop chemicals just so the proper uses and current safety procedures are applied. And proper storage procedures. The last has been a little peeve of mine at work for years, I'd rather not have too many chemical bombs around in case of fires.

Innocuous sometimes them chemicals but change the conditions and then not so.

Someone I know well and really should have known better blew up a battery charging it recently. Sure he tought he cleaned the acid mess, that is until later when he found out how much the acid spray had damaged some of his already polished and very expensive old Ducati parts.

Rather large box of Baking soda now in his newly dedicated "charging station". And some rather large dry powder fire extinguishers, they'll also neutralize acids when pressed into action.

[Stan_R80/7]

Originally Posted by Pike Bishop

... except that it eats through glass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf4vq2UU9hk

HF acid can be neutralized like any other acid by using a base. HF acid does an excellent job of dissolving quartz and flint glass so it must be stored in a plastic container. Similarly, concentrated aqueous sodium hydroxide (a strong base) dissolves quartz and flint glass so it must be stored in a plastic or steel container.

Sodium hydroxide is strongly corrosive to aluminum. HF acid is also highly corrosive to aluminum and is used as a 'brightener' by interacting with aluminum oxide to form aluminum fluoride that can be washed away. Sodium hydroxide reacts with aluminum oxide to form sodium oxide and aluminum hydroxide - which must still be mechanically removed from aluminum. A scotch brite pad with WD-40 or kerosene as a solvent will mechanically remove aluminum oxide from aluminum.

Edit: here is a mag-wheel cleaner I have used with HF and phosphoric acids, http://www.eagleone.com/mag-wheel-cleaner
Also, Ez-Off oven cleaner is a strong base sodium hydroxide spray that will quickly strip all anodizing from aluminum.