Parts Washers

About Part Washers and Part Washing Including: Aqueous Parts Washers, Automotive Parts Washers, Industrial Washers, Parts Cleaners, Parts Washer & Parts Washing Machinery.

Parts washers are a type of automated, semi-automated or manual equipment which is designed to clean, degrease and sometimes dry mass quantities of large or small parts in preparation for distribution or surface treatment. This is a necessary process, since newly machined, forged or fabricated parts are usually coated in oils, chemicals, burs and other residue leftover from the fabrication process. Coatings such as zinc and electroplating cannot be effectively applied atop grease or contaminating dirt. Washing processes, such as automotive parts washing ensure parts will perform safely without contamination or performance-hindering dirt. Industrial washers may be designed as multi-stage aqueous parts washing processes, cleaning, deburring, drying, surface treating and even powder coating all in one application. Other parts washing machinery may be as simple as an immersion aqueous parts washing tub. Parts cleaners use water, aqueous chemical solutions, ultrasonic blasts and agitation to achieve clean part surfaces.

There are as many different types of parts washers as there are variations of parts; some industrial part washers are designed to handle large quantities of small parts such as fasteners, while other part washers are designed to clean one large part, such as an airplane wing, at a time. A cursory list of different types of parts washing machinery includes spray washers, which spray an aqueous solution on parts as they pass through on an enclosed conveyor; cell washers, which have individual chambers where parts are placed in a basket and spray washed; monorail, or overhead conveyor washers in which medium-sized parts are hung from an overhead enclosed conveyor and spray washed; immersion parts washers in which parts are placed in a basket and immersed in an aqueous parts washing cleaning solution; rotary drum, or tumbler washers; and pallet dunnage washers which clean large storage containers such as pallets or drums. All these processes agitate, tumble, blast or soak unfinished parts with water, chemical solvents or natural solvents. Non-aqueous cleaning such as acoustic cleaning, vapor degreasing and vibratory cleaning are used when aqueous cleaning would be harmful to the part or impractical.

Aqueous parts cleaners have traditionally used chemical solvents to strip parts of grease and dirt during the cleaning process, but recent environmental concerns and regulations have encouraged the innovation of natural, non-chemically based solvents. Ultrasonic parts cleaning is the latest technology in environmentally safe precision surface cleaning. Ultrasonic cleaning releases tiny underwater microblasts which agitate the surface of metal parts on a cellular level; this method requires fewer harmful solvents and produces far less harmful waste than other aqueous washing techniques. Another concern to parts manufacturers is the volume of wastewater created by aqueous parts cleaning. Dealing with contaminated wastewater can be time consuming and expensive, so many industrial parts washer manufacturers distribute wastewater evaporators which recycle clean water and vastly reduce waste volume.

Because there are as many types of unfinished parts to wash as there are fields of industrial manufacturing, many industrial parts washer manufacturers offer custom-designed parts washing machinery. These parts cleaners may be as simple as a stand-alone basket immersion washer or they may be as complex as a five-step deburring, aqueous tumbling, rinsing, drying and paint coating application. Innovative industrial technology makes it possible to combine many parts of the finishing process into one specialized machine. Whether the equipment used is a benchtop rotary tumbler or an outdoor washing, drying & powder coating system, parts cleaning is essential to the proper function of equipment, especially in precision fields such as electronics, automotive and medical. Equipment, furniture and technology which are a part of our daily lives require paint, powder coatings, zinc coatings, lubricants, electroplating and other surface treatment which would not be possible without thorough parts washing.

Part Washers and Part Washing Image Provided by Ransohoff Inc.

Part Washers and Part Washing Image Provided by Stoelting	Part Washers and Part Washing Image Provided by JENFAB, Inc.

Part Washers Types

• Aqueous cleaning systems and aqueous parts washing is the use of water and chemicals to cleanse components; agitation, rotations and/or jet spraying along with appropriate detergents, saponifiers and any other additive required to improve solubility and removal of soil  Aqueous cleaners are basic, acidic or neutral.
  
• Automotive parts washers are used in automobile manufacturing and repairing processes.
  
• Critical cleaning is a cleaning process with extremely specific requirements so that cleaned parts meet highly stringent standards and have some form of measurability integrated in the process. Industrial cleaning equipment is built to meet extremely strict cleanliness standards.
  
• Gross cleaning is the most common cleansing process used for industrial applications, and involves the bulk cleaning of products.
  
• Industrial washers are machines that clean industrial parts.
• Parts cleaners are machines that clean components after they come off the production line.
• Parts washer mass cleans heavy industrial components.
• Parts washing machinery is the group of mechanisms and machines used to clean industrial parts.
• Precision cleaning is the cleansing of parts so there are no contaminants at a predetermined level in the process; following processes cannot support contaminants left from the previous level.
  
• Ultrasonic cleaning is a cleaning process that utilizes vibrations and waves; frequencies between 40 and 400 KHz, emitted by transducer, result in the expansion of air bubbles in a liquid until the bubbles implode in high pressure areas; this is known as cavitation, which causes energy transferals able to displace contaminants from a substrate surface.

Part Washers Terms

Abrasive Media - A substance for aggressive cleaning, typically sand, garnet, steel or aluminum oxide.
 
Acid - Any aqueous mixture having a pH less than seven on a one to 14 scale. Any acidic solution with a pH lower than three is considered strongly acidic.
 
Acid Cleaning - Cleaning utilizing acids combined with surfactants to removing rust, metal or scale. Acids with a pH lower than six do not work as degreasers.
 
Acid Pickling - The use of mineral acid to remove scale and rust from metal.
 
Air Knife - A device that provides a pressurized "curtain" of air for cleansing, cooling or drying.
 
Alkaline Cleaning - An aqueous cleaning process done with a greater than 7 pH level utilizing phosphates, silicates or other alkaline salts combined with surfactants in water.
 
Biodegradable - Materials that microbial activity can naturally reduce from their original state into simple chemical compounds.
 
Bioremediation - Nature's way of cleaning using microorganisms (bacteria, enzymes, fungi) to break down the organic compounds in waste or pollutants.
 
Blow-Off - The use of pressurized air to clean or remove excess water.
 
Buffers - Solutions of salt in aqueous cleaning systems that maintain a preferred pH level. Aqueous cleaners use buffers since the precipitation and solubility of metals affect the pH level.
 
Builders - These additives enhance the effectiveness of detergents by sequestering metals like magnesium and calcium. A problem is that a lot of builders contribute to environmental damage, with substances such as phosphates.
 
Cascade Rinse - A rinsing process that involves transferring product through a sequence of tanks, in which the rinse water in the last rinse tank runs over to previous tanks in the sequence (a countercurrent flow). This permits the product to be subjected to progressively pure water.
 
Centrifugal Drying - A drying process using a basket quickly spinning for separation of excess oils, water or other substances from parts. A turbine fan installed underneath the basket pulling the air through improves the process.
 
Closed-Loop System - A parts cleaning system in which the water is purified and then re-circulated through the system after purification treatment; in aqueous cleaning systems, it goes back into the wash and rinse tanks and is a cost saving measure. Membrane, reverse osmosis and ion exchange filtration are typical techniques to purify the water.
 
Conductivity - The degree to which an aqueous mixture can conduct electricity and an indication of the purity of the water. The level of conductivity is reciprocal to the level of resistance (e.g. the lower the conductivity, the higher the resistance and the greater the water purity).
 
Contract Cleaning - The use of companies through contracts that specialize in cleaning industrial parts and components and provide services to a wide range of industries and are comprehensive in their operations - from simple aqueous and solvent cleaning to analytical testing.
 
Convection Oven Drying - A chamber that evaporates water from cleaned components through heated air.
 
Corrosion Inhibitor - A substance used to slow the chemical reaction that causes rust.
 
Cosolvent System - A cleaning process that utilizes at least two solvents to achieve the cleaning and rinsing. The action of cleaning results from the combination of the characteristics of each solvent involved, which are selected for the greatest optimization of the system in relation to the particular contaminants involved.
 
Degreaser - A solvent or combined material for removing grease, oils, or fat from substrates.  
 
Deionized (DI) Water - Water that has enhanced purity resulting from the elimination of ionic species.
 
Detergent - A solution that is a combination of surfactants comprised of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic material for making grease and oil water soluble. Cleaning is actually done when the soil attaches to the hydrophobic group and when the detergent soil mixture is emulsified in the water; the detergent's cleaning capabilities are increased through the addition of builders or other additives.
 
Diphase Solvents - Solvent cleaners that have an insoluble aqueous level that is typically utilized along with paint strippers; when combined with denser chlorinated solvents, the water becomes the upper level.
 
Dispersing Agent - This material enhances the stability of particles emulsified in a liquid-solid or liquid-liquid suspension and is also known as an emulsifying agent.
 
Emulsification - The creation of micelles in a cleaning procedure resulting from the dispersal of liquid or solid globules or fine particles into a bulk liquid.
 
Eductor - A device that circulates large amounts of solution in the tanks.
 
Filtration - Cleaning the cleansing solution and trapping the contaminants so the solution can be used for a longer period and so the components being cleansed don't retain any of the soil or particulates.
 
Hydrophilic - A surfactant molecule that results in the proclivity of the molecule to be water soluble.
 
Hydrophobic - A water resistant substance.
 
Immersion - Also known as cold cleaning, it is the cleaning that takes place in a tank, usually of a rectangular shape, using an aqueous solution. The cleaning is done primarily through soaking in a water chemical solution.
 
Inhibitors - Additives that impede harmful chemical reactions between an aqueous cleaner and a substrate. Inhibitors typically retard the corrosion process of non-ferrous substrates in high pH or iron.
 
Liquid Agitation - The use of mechanical energy via a circulation pump to circulate cleaning solution, effective for components with flat surfaces or those that have a simple configuration.
 
Micelle - An amalgamation of solutions with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties that trap non-water soluble oils. Dispersal of detergents and other surfactants results in micelles.
 
Nozzle Drying - The use of nozzles to aim air at specific areas of a component for water removal.

Pressure Drying - A process in which a cleansed component with intricate passages is subject to a clamping procedure and forced air enters the passages and dries the part.
 
Rinse Stage - To flood the washed components with clean water or a rinse solution.
 
Sequestrant - A binding agent that prevents chemical reactions.
 
Solubility - A substance's capability to dissolve within another substance, usually a solid in water. Quantification is in grams per liter, and the general classifications for material solubility are fully soluble, partially soluble, slightly soluble and insoluble.
 
Solvent - In cleaning systems, a liquid substance that cleans a part by dissolving the surface contaminants.
 
Sludge - Heavy soils that sink to the bottom of an aqueous solution.
 
Soaking - Allowing components to rest in cleaning solution so chemicals can "lift" the dirt.
 
Substrate - In reference to industrial part washing, any item with contaminant or soil on it that is being exposed to a cleaning process.
 
Surfactant - An abbreviation of "surface active agent," it is a common additive for lowering the surface tension between an aqueous cleaning solution and hydrophobic soils in order to loosen the soil or other contaminants. Detergents are principally composed of surfactants.
 
Terpenes - Organic compounds that occur naturally and are usually found in essential oils. Utilized as cleaning agents in semi-aqueous cleaners, they come from natural sources like citrus fruit or pine trees.
 
Vacuum Drying - A process that is particularly useful for evaporation of water at a relatively cool temperature. A vacuum pump is used to dry the product.
 
Vertical Part Agitation - An up-and-down movement of components to allow cleaning solution to remove contaminants; vertical part agitation is effective for parts with cavities.
 
Wastewater - Soiled water from the cleansing process.