Electro Cleaners Series - Part 5
Electrocleaner Part 5.
Pick a Product! Any Product!
No! It's not pick product any product… What's the "right" product for you?!?
All electro cleaners are not the same… Just like every job you run, every material sent to you and every part is different, electro cleaners are engineered for some specific purposes.
So why did you pick the one you use?
Here are some "categories" of electro cleaners to review and discuss as well as some excellent product recommendations from the MacDermid Enthone catalog with links to the TDS for each. These products all offer a specific advantage that may fit your shop well. Perhaps better than the one you have that you can't recall why we chose it in the first place.
Robust Electro Cleaner: Example Anodex NP2
If you are running predominantly steel such as an automated zinc line where 99% of what you are running is sheetmetal or CRS, you'll find the Anodex NP2 to be a robust and powerful electro cleaner. You can make it up at varying concentrations to meet the base material conditions and you can run it at lower concentrations to meet a variety of requirements. If you're looking for an electro cleaner that has some… kick… this is a good one.
Robust Electro Cleaner/Descaler: Example Isoprep 172
Running a lot of steel with a fair amount of heat scale, welds or rust? The Isoprep 172 is a good, robust electro cleaner that has added ingredients that penetrate and attack scale and rust. It has the ability to absorb oils and dirt that can be trapped inside the scale and rust so it handles organic materials well. It's also engineered to protect the steel itself so while it attacks the tough areas, it protects the exposed steel areas very well. And for hardened steels? The Ispoprep 172 does not generate hydrogen gas at the surface preventing hydrogen embrittlement.
Multi-Metal Electro Cleaner: Anodex NP2
The Anodex NP2 can also be used at lower concentrations to handle plating lines that run multiple metals and alloys, very useful for a job shop. As we learned in Electro Cleaner Part 4, we don't want to electro clean the heck out of copper alloys and stainless steel products but… If you do need to electro clean multiple metals for an appropriate amount of time, the Anodex NP2 is again a good choice, adjusted to meet the varying needs you have.
Combined Soak / Electro Cleaner: Example Metalex W Special
Have space issues and a limited number of tanks you can fit in the line? Maybe you're not running heat treated, rusty, scale encrusted steel? Then a combined soak electro may be the just the product for you. As we learned in Electro Cleaning Part 1, electro cleaners are typically not built to handle oil and grease. Electro cleaners would foam right out of the tank if we added detergent, surfactants and wetters when we turn the current up and create gas on the surface. Combined soak / electro cleaners can clean the oils and work as an electro cleaner pretty well. Like in every instance when we look for a "one size fits all", we may be giving something up but, if we don't need heavy duty electro cleaning or descaling and space is tight and the type of materials we run allows, these can be a very good option. And there are actually several in the MacDermid Enthone catalog that over the years have been helpful in some tough situations. Giving us the room we needed, and still getting the quality and performance, these can be the solution you may need in your shop. And of course, using these in separate tanks as separate soak and electro cleaners, you now have 1 product in 2 tanks reducing the number of products you need to inventory. I don't recommend these all the time but… when they're a fit they're a great fit!
Periodic Reverse Electro Cleaning: Example Metex E-345
Everyone who misses cyanide raise their hands! Young people ask your parents. Back in the day almost every shop had a periodic reverse cleaner that was made up with cyanide to use on jobs that formed a heavy smut and required extensive cleaning. Today we don't shovel cyanide into tanks like we use to (probably good) and need more engineered products to perform the periodic reverse process effectively. Metex E-345 is one such cleaner. With the ability to go reverse / direct for multiple cycles (always end in reverse right?!?) we can remove smut without risking depositing debris back onto the surface when we're in direct. So when you run into that steel alloy that keeps forming a smut on the surface in the electro cleaning process, this will help keep the surface smut free and clean and allow you to maintain a nice, clean and bright surface.
In Summary: We miss cyanide (not really).
There may be other factors that impact your electro cleaner decision. Waste treatment considerations, preference for a liquid or powder or maybe a specialty requirement but, these are the basic factors you should be considering when selecting an electro cleaner.
Things that maybe should not use as factors in making that decision? "That's the one we've always used". "We saved .08 cents per pound". "It was a free drum". "The guys will complain". Or even… "I don't really know".
As we've discussed in the 4 previous segments on Electro Cleaning, it is an important part of the process and can lead to success and trouble free operation. Or it can be that forgotten tank that is causing you more trouble and costing you more money than the .08 cents per pound you saved or thinking it's just another tank we give the parts a bath in.
Like the offensive line on a football team or that operator that does a lot good work all day long, the best electro cleaners are paid well and we never talk about them. That's when we know they're doing they're job.
So! Pick a product, any product! From the list above and for the right reasons…
And then call me! I'm around!