Hi Everyone,
Following quite a bit of discussion around adequate degreasing of parts in my other topic "FX470E crankcase crack", thought I would share my experiences from when I was an engineer in the aircraft industry. To degrease parts prior to welding or other surface trearment, we would hang the items in a tank called a "trich bath. This was a cleaning tank using vaporised Trichoethtylene. The trich sat in the bottom of the tank where it was heated and vaporised. Parts were suspended not in the liquid but the vapour space. A coil at the top of the tank condensed the vapour and it rained back down into the tank as well as condensing on your parts being cleaned. Oil and gunge, being less volatile stayed in solution at the bottom of the tank so it would not contaminate the cleaned parts. A simple trich bath can be made from a 60l drum with a jug element in the bottom to heat the trich and a few rounds of copper pipe around the top fed with water from a tap to condense the vapour. A few bars across the top to hang your bits on and a lid and your away. You will only need about 150mm of trich in the bottom, sufficient to cover the element by about 50mm. Constant temp will be maintained by the cooling effect of the evaporation, just like a big spirits still. I think the technical term is an isotrope. Needless to say, dont open the tank while smoking!!!!. Vapour does not escape as it will only lift as high as the condensing coil. Best to get the worst gunge off before going into trich tank and do a job lot as it will take 30 to 40 mins to get the tank up to temp.
Cheers,
Stu
Following quite a bit of discussion around adequate degreasing of parts in my other topic "FX470E crankcase crack", thought I would share my experiences from when I was an engineer in the aircraft industry. To degrease parts prior to welding or other surface trearment, we would hang the items in a tank called a "trich bath. This was a cleaning tank using vaporised Trichoethtylene. The trich sat in the bottom of the tank where it was heated and vaporised. Parts were suspended not in the liquid but the vapour space. A coil at the top of the tank condensed the vapour and it rained back down into the tank as well as condensing on your parts being cleaned. Oil and gunge, being less volatile stayed in solution at the bottom of the tank so it would not contaminate the cleaned parts. A simple trich bath can be made from a 60l drum with a jug element in the bottom to heat the trich and a few rounds of copper pipe around the top fed with water from a tap to condense the vapour. A few bars across the top to hang your bits on and a lid and your away. You will only need about 150mm of trich in the bottom, sufficient to cover the element by about 50mm. Constant temp will be maintained by the cooling effect of the evaporation, just like a big spirits still. I think the technical term is an isotrope. Needless to say, dont open the tank while smoking!!!!. Vapour does not escape as it will only lift as high as the condensing coil. Best to get the worst gunge off before going into trich tank and do a job lot as it will take 30 to 40 mins to get the tank up to temp.
Cheers,
Stu
