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Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.9.37] on Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 19:50:37 :
In Reply to: Cleaning small parts what do you use? posted by Ron in Indiana [184.17.1.82] on Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 19:31:23 :
If they're greasy, I usually clean them first in gasoline; usually throw a handful into a small container of gas and swish them around, maybe let them set a while, swish them some more, and drain them on a paper towel. Strictly outdoors, of course. Then I look them over and throw out the ones that are too buggered up, which is often surprisingly many. Then if they're pretty heavy with rust, I hang them in the electrolytic derusting bucket inside a cylindrical anode made of stainless steel sheet scrap. I have a copper wire with a bunch of loops bent in it so I can put most bolts up into the loops, let them hang down, and they'll stay without my having to re-bend the wire. Once they're largely de-rusted that way, I clean them up on the bench wire wheel. A wire wheel is necessary to get the rust and dirt out of all the thread grooves. Tumbling doesn't really get down in there like a wire wheel. It's rather tedious, but grade 8 SAE bolts are expensive, and sometimes I want to save the square lockwashers washers that are not removable from them or I want to keep them because they have taller heads than the new ones or have dpcd stamps on them.
An easier way to derust them rather than hanging them individually in wire loops in an electrolytic tank would be to simply pickle them in acid (pretty much any kind), but that leaves you with rough bright white metal that gets flash rust on it instantly (the electrolytic method leaves a blued finish), if you leave them in too long it will eat off too much steel, and you have to deal with all the hazards of acid. The advantage of picking is you just have to dump them all in the acid and stir them around from time to time -- no need to make individual electrical connections to each bolt. To me, the electrolytic method is better, even though it's a little more work. Anything smaller than 1/4" isn't worth trying to salvage unless it's some rare thread pitch (I have one carburetor that has 12-28 threads) or head style. A lot of times, I want to replace the old bolts with stainless steel anyway (all water pump and thermostat housing bolts for example), so there's no point in even trying to clean up the old ones, which are probably in bad shape anyway. 18-8 stainless is remarkably cheap these days from on-line discounters.