Hot Air Drying – Tips and Pitfalls

Drying is the last and often a critical part of a cleaning process.  In many cases it is also the most time and energy consuming.  It is often the most difficult part of the process to specify and control.  Although there are several drying technologies available, blowing with hot air is simple and by far …

Stainless Steel Compatibility

With its well-deserved credentials for chemical resistance and durability, stainless steel and particularly 316 grade stainless steel is a “go to” for the fabrication of ultrasonic cleaning tanks.  Although it performs well in most applications, there are still those where stainless steel has its limitations.  Stainless steel achieves its “stainless” characteristic by developing a very …

Wash, Rinse and Dry

Today’s industrial parts cleaning processes commonly employ at least three distinct steps. The basic steps are Washing, Rinsing, and Drying. Each step is custom tailored to the overall requirement with the range of options for each much broader than one not intimately involved with the technology might imagine. In some processes, in fact, it is …

Get a Move On

There’s an old adage – “One Hand Washes the Other.”  Although this adage is seldom applied to cleaning technology, it certainly could be.  In fact, most successful cleaning consists of a combination of chemistry (soap, solvent or whatever) and some kind of added mechanical force to enhance or enable the cleaning process.  If one could …

The Lowdown on Dirt

One of the first steps in the development of any cleaning process is to define and understand the contaminant or “dirt” that needs to be removed. Sounds simple, right? Not so fast! Dirt comes in all varieties and styles. Different kinds of dirt require different cleaning processes. Some dirt is liquid. Oils, coolants, paint, adhesives, …

The Cost of (Not) Cleaning

Why do we clean things?  “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” immediately comes to mind but doesn’t seem quite appropriate here.  There are tons of reasons to clean things but in the final analysis it comes down to aesthetics and function.  Cleaning makes things look better or function correctly or more efficiently. The typical automobile can …

How Clean is “Clean?”

This over-worn catchphrase has been the title or has at least appeared in countless articles on the subject of cleaning.  Is it in need of a well-earned retirement?  Probably, but in its defense, let me say that “clean” is a pretty nebulous thing. A few minutes ago, I pulled up one of the leading dictionary …

Cleaning Is More Than Removing Dirt

In simple terms, industrial parts cleaning (sometimes called washing) is just removing dirt from surfaces. If only it WAS that easy! Dirt removal is only one of 10’s if not 100’s of interdependent steps in a successful cleaning process. The scope of parts cleaning extends from processing of the raw materials, through the manufacturing process …

Define Cleaning

Since we are going to be talking about cleaning, or, more specifically, industrial parts cleaning, it’s probably best that we define what we mean by “cleaning.”  The term is used quite loosely to define a variety of process not all of which are really “cleaning.” “Cleaning” is the removal of the stuff that we usually …