12/1/2001
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Getting The Job Done
What’s on the Horizon for the Cleaning Segment of the Automotive Aftermarket,
By Jenna Bates
It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it. That job is cleaning engine parts, and every engine builder knows that if the parts aren’t clean, it could mean big trouble for the engine. Cleaning is a necessary evil that doesn’t typically generate much profit, but more efficient, more productive machinery is taking a lot of the labor out of the process and putting it back where it belongs: in the engine building.
Many manufacturers are devoting their best engineers and large budgets to constantly improve existing cleaning processes as well as to develop new ones. This article will cover some of the most recent innovations in the industry and take a look at what others could be on the horizon.
Armakleen
Church & Dwight Co., Inc., manufacturer of the Arm and Hammer® branded products, was the first to formulate baking soda into a blast media. The properties of baking soda make it quite unique as a blasting agent.
Parts do not have to be pre-washed prior to blasting as with other media. The qualities of a specially formulated baking soda blast media allows the user to reduce the number of steps in the cleaning process and greatly reduce the need for costly hand cleaning. Baking soda blasting is a safe and effective way to clean the truly tough soils from engine parts. As with any blasting process some form of containment is required. Blast cabinets and booths are readily available.
CWT Industries
CWT Industries now offers all of its ovens with rotisserie capabilities along with the "Vortex Generated" heating cycles. This feature accelerates the drying times without causing uneven heat transfer.
All CWT Blasters also have added a variable speed control that allows the technician to control the "Tip Speed" which will help minimize the impact value of the blast media. This feature allows soft alloys to be cleaned without causing damage to critical surface areas.
FMT Inc.
The FMT, Inc. Clean Bay System offers turnkey cleaning and wastewater treatment capability for high solid loading applications. The process system includes the wash bay, an integral solids clarifier and sludge-collection system, fine solids filtration system, ozone generator, clear water holding tank, high pressure wash system and associated pumps, valves and piping.
Safety-Kleen
With a service network of more than 250 collection and processing facilities, Safety-Kleen provides total environmental waste management services to more than 400,000 customers.
Among its many innovations are two products that can aid in making cleaning more efficient and environmentally friendly.
Safety-Kleen’s wet blast service boosts the performance of existing high-pressure washers by 50 percent or more for faster and easier cleaning and cleans items you may not have been able to clean before. The Safety-Kleen Wet Blast cleaning system scours away heavy soils, grease and even road tar without damaging the surface or paint. The ARMEX™ Wet Blast Media used in the Safety-Kleen wet blaster is completely non-toxic, non-hazardous and water soluble for safer use, clean up and disposal.
The Wet Blast Service includes a free, comprehensive on-site estimate of waste disposal needs. Safety-Kleen will measure the amount of wastes a company produces, suggest services to handle this waste and forecast how much continued maintenance will be needed, specific to each operation.
In addition, Safety-Kleen offers new parts cleaners that recycle virtually all used fluid into clean solvent up to three times daily. Safety-Kleen Model 250 Parts Cleaner provides the versatility of on-site distillation and a parts cleaner all in one. By recovering virtually 100 percent of the solvent, the Model 250 and the larger Model 257, provide users with clean solvent on demand. The Model 251 "Remote Cleaning Station" provides the convenience of a mobile unit with an adjustable working height, allowing the machine to be moved to areas where parts are located.
The Recycling Parts Cleaners allow for more efficient cleaning without the need for secondary cleaners by using clean solvent that leaves less oily residue, while minimizing waste, which can reduce generator status and eliminate manifests. The recycling process flushes dirty solvent into a distillation chamber, and clean solvent is transferred into the wash basin, available for immediate use. The dirty solvent is then heated in a vacuum to vapor point where oily residue is separated for periodic removal. Solvent vapors are cooled to a liquid state in the condenser, resulting in clean solvent, which is returned to the reservoir, available for immediate use.
Sunnen
Sunnen also has two new products, both offer two cleaning systems in one.
The Sunnen Model SPW-40 Spray Washer/Hot Tank combines the benefits of spray washers and hot tanks into one unit. The fully enclosed, jet-spray cleaning cabinet uses 100 gallons of cleaning solution per minute and blasts away oil, grease and grime. In addition to this powerful spray washer, the SPW-40 features a large capacity, agitating soak tank where tough-to-clean parts can be held in a circulating bath of hot cleaning solution. These versatile and efficient units were designed to make a rebuilder’s job easier, more efficient and more profitable…with less floor space.
It can handle work loads up to 1000 lbs., including large blocks such as V-12 Detroit Diesels. The 7.5 hp pump pushes 100 gpm of hot cleaning solution into 20 high-volume nozzles that completely encircle the workpiece to quickly blast away the grease and grime.
The Sunnen Model SPW-32 Spray Washer/Hot Tank can handle workloads up to 500 lbs. in a 20" x 32" working area. It offers a 20-inch diameter turntable that rolls completely out on a lay-down door for loading and unloading.
Winona Van Norman
We are going to greatly expand the product line," says Ed Kiebler of Winona Van Norman. "We’ll have a line of aqueous-based washers from very small to very large, and we are going to give our customers a greater choice with their shot blasters."
Winona Van Norman will continue to offer rotisserie ovens and blasters but plans to expand its cleaning line with a complete line of aqueous-based cleaners. In addition, Winona Van Norman will not only continue to offer its existing line of shot machines, but it will also incorporate the LS Industries industrial line of products as well. The expansion will allow customers to choose between shot thrown at a lower velocity on the Winona Van Norman automotive side and shot blasters that employ shot at a much higher velocity. While a lower velocity results in less deformation of parts, engine builders may wish to achieve a shot peening effect on some parts like connecting rods and crankshafts.
Whatever the product, it’s clear that the face of cleaning is changing.
According to Sales and Marketing Director Donovan Lonsway of FMT, environmental regulations will become more and more stringent, and he advises engine builders to begin containing their waste streams if they are not already doing so.
Lyle Haley, sales and marketing manager for Peterson Machine Tool, maintains that cleaning aluminum will be the biggest challenge faced in the industry.
"The extensive use of aluminum in engines has increased the challenge of cleaning engine parts for all segments of the engine machining industry," he explains. "Even with improvements in cleaning chemicals, the traditional hot tank and spraycab are not effective methods. Heat cleaning aluminum can be done with low temperatures and extended cycle times, but steel shot blasting after heat cleaning creates many problems. Various types of blasting media have been used to reduce damage and media retention, but the ideal combination will probably never be found."
Haley believes that chemical waste disposal is another issue facing engine builders.
"Chemical disposal problems have spawned better ways to get rid of the contaminated cleaning chemicals," he says. "The water or the chemical is usually not a problem with disposal. Most hot tank/spraycab cleaning chemicals are ‘biodegradable,’ meaning that they should be sewerable if diluted with enough water. The difficulty is that after cleaning engine parts, the solution can be contaminated with heavy metals or other items that cannot be dumped down the sewer. Costs of disposing of drums of cleaning chemicals has dropped dramatically over the years, and evaporation methods can also reduce the volume of contaminated cleaning chemicals."
Haley thinks that a major breakthrough in aqueous cleaning has come with the development of ultra high pressure spraycabs. With excess of 3000 psi nozzle pressure, paint and carbon can now be cleaned from all types of engine parts. Complicated cylinder head castings, rocker shaft assemblies, valve covers and oil pans with baffles are able to be cleaned effectively without the danger of the shot blasting media being left over, according to Haley.
Cleaning aluminum parts is something that Winona Van Norman’s Kiebler agrees the industry must focus on.
"That seems to be a hurdle that the automotive industry needs to over come," he explains. "Ovens and shot blasters, if used properly are fine, but some operators don’t understand how critical it is to hold the oven at the proper temperature. Higher temperatures can result in the softening of the aluminum which affects the end product."
Kiebler says that he looks for a process to clean aluminum that is aqueous based but still effective against carbon. He is hopeful that, in the next two to three years, new chemicals will change the face of the industry by changing the way aluminum cylinder heads are cleaned.