Just as sort of an addendum to Ken's remarks, I've found the simplest way to degrease pretty much ANYTHING..........and especially pot metal, is either "Soft Scrub" or a super product made by Castrol called (wouldn't you know it) "Super Clean". This "super Clean" comes in a purple jug or spray bottle and is easy to spot at any NAPA , or simular Auto Parts store.
Fact is, I'm so paranoid about pot metal, I use "Soft Scrub" and a toothbrush, then I rinse really good with "Super Clean", then rinse REALLY good with distilled water.
I do however agree with Ken 100% on the initial dip procedure. After sand blasting, (don't forget the nitryl gloves) blow your part off with filtered air and go immediately to flash copper with NO RINSE.
I've also found this works better than using the nickel strike, (pot metal primer) as it seems to bond much better to the base.
Acid copper will definitely speed up the build process for smoothing, but using only the flash copper is fine until you get a better feel for what you can get away with on the sanding and polishing without going through the copper.
MD
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