Parts cleaner

[starlight_tools]

   
As you can see, my parts washer does not get used often, and since it has a horizontal surface, it piles up fast on top.

It consists of an old restuarant sink that I found at the scrap metal yard, the welds had split in places and it needed welding. Did this with a stick rod of some sorts, can't remember much as that was 25 plus years ago.

   

I made up a lid for it and rolled the edges so that it covered over the nicely rolled edges of the sink.

I have two hoses inside, one that is a spray nozzle and the other a flow through cleaning brush.

   

Here is the back of the unit. Showing the solvent piping to the back of the sink and the electrical wire going into a copper pipe that has the Little Giant Solvent pump attached to it. This way the pump can be adjusted up or down in the tank and is clamped by the brass clamp.

   

The switch is mounted to the side of the tank so that it does not interfere with the lid opening and closing.

   

There is a frame that sits on a sheet of 3/4" plywood in the bottom of a mobile machinery base. The tank used to be a 15 Gal steel drum but that started rusting out a bit, so I changed it to a 45 Gal plastic drum that had about 5" cut of the top so it would "just" fit under the washer. There are sheet metal covers that cover over the exposed section of the tank at the rear of the washer. The washer sink then sits on the frame. There is a shut off tap located inside the tank just under the sink strainer. Solvent ate out the rubber seals from sink drains so had to use a secondary tap if I wanted to fill up the sink to soak parts. A spare basin set inside works easier. LOL as the tap is hard to get at.

   

A drafting style lamp with a floursecent bulb hangs over the back of the sink to add light when cleaning parts.

   

I use stoddards Solvent, IE Varsol in my parts washer. I dump about 5 gallons of water in first so that there is a couple of inches of water across the bottom of the tank, this allows sediment to settle and not get stirred up by the movement of fluid by the pump and solvent returning into the tank. I adjust the height of the pump so that it is about 1" higher than the water then fill the rest of the tank with solvent. I add about 1 Qt of ATF to the mix so it is a bit gentler on the hands.

This system works well, but I have to make sure that SWMBO'd is not in the house as the smell of the solvent, even though I got the low odour stuff gets her huffing about what I am doing to the animals with all the fumes in the shop.

I am seriously considering making the lower floor into its own suite, and removing the inside stairs. If it was sealed properly like a proper suite, there should not be any air carry over to the rest of the house, especially since the heating is hot water.

Walter