Using B-9 stripper

[woodjames]

Hehehehe. Well, I think I've seen the last of my cleaning in the kitchen days. I had agreed to "the other" that if I could find a large enough stainless pot, then I would just electroclean from here on out. I ended up just scoring a 55 gallon Stainless drum off craigslist for $70 on Saturday, so I'll just electroclean from now on, like I had said once before it's really fast and far more reliable, with almost zero work involved, and I figure 40 gallons or so should last a while. The only problem is heating it, but I've got an extra 5 2kw heaters kickin' around, along with an extra 150 amp rectifier, 'bout time to put them to use.

Not to minimize it, but if it's just handguns you're doing, you could score a few gallon stainless pot from a thriftstore, and you could give electrocleaning a shot, it's easy to make up the cleaner with hardware store chemicals. Let me know if you're interested, I can shoot you over a formula.

I really didn't think doing the cleaning in the kitchen was too objectionable, but I was probably pushing it seeing that I had a motorcycle engine half assembled on the counter for over a year, just can't seem to find the time to work on my own stuff! The worst one I've heard yet came from a friend of mine who swears cleaning carb's is best done in the dishwasher - I now only drink directly from a bottle over there.

Originally Posted by Olle

When I started reading about you doing it in the kitchen, I thought: That man can't possibly have a "significant other". I guess I learned two things here: How to degrease gun parts in the kitchen, and that it actually can be done even if you're married.

[Olle]

Originally Posted by woodjames

Hehehehe. Well, I think I've seen the last of my cleaning in the kitchen days. I had agreed to "the other" that if I could find a large enough stainless pot, then I would just electroclean from here on out. I ended up just scoring a 55 gallon Stainless drum off craigslist for $70 on Saturday, so I'll just electroclean from now on, like I had said once before it's really fast and far more reliable, with almost zero work involved, and I figure 40 gallons or so should last a while. The only problem is heating it, but I've got an extra 5 2kw heaters kickin' around, along with an extra 150 amp rectifier, 'bout time to put them to use.

Not to minimize it, but if it's just handguns you're doing, you could score a few gallon stainless pot from a thriftstore, and you could give electrocleaning a shot, it's easy to make up the cleaner with hardware store chemicals. Let me know if you're interested, I can shoot you over a formula.

I really didn't think doing the cleaning in the kitchen was too objectionable, but I was probably pushing it seeing that I had a motorcycle engine half assembled on the counter for over a year, just can't seem to find the time to work on my own stuff! The worst one I've heard yet came from a friend of mine who swears cleaning carb's is best done in the dishwasher - I now only drink directly from a bottle over there.

The plan right now is to pick up a Crock-Pot at a yard sale (or even buy a cheapo at Wallyworld) and use this for degreasing, I don't need a larger bath than that so it should be an easy way to keep the degreaser at the right temperature. This is my first attempt at plating, so I want to keep it as simple as possible until I know which direction to go.

That dishwasher idea does indeed work, and I have actually used it before Duracoating a shotgun receiver. A buddy of mine has even got a dishwasher in the garage, and it works great for cleaning engine parts. You just have to give them a quick scrub to get the worst build-up off of them, then run them with plenty of detergent on the "pots and pans" cycle. You also need to be sure to take the parts out and dry them right after they're done so they don't sit there and rust. It sure beats scrubbing them in a parts washer, and it might even be a good way to do the final cleaning before plating. Shouldn't be a problem to run my gun parts before the wife gets home from work in the evening, should it?

That electrocleaning idea does sound interesting, so I would sure appreciate more info on that. Does it remove plating, grease and everything, or is it only for removing plating? I don't know when I will plate a gun again (depends on if I can find good project guns at the shows), but it's always good to keep ideas like that on file.

[woodjames]

Keep your eye out for an electric hot plate too, usually you can find those at thrift stores, I got mine for $5, probably find a Crock-Pot there to. I'll shoot you over a pm about electrocleaning. You'd have to do it for a very long time to get rid of plating, pretty much you want to do it as the final cleaning effort, it's very similar to removing rust through electrolysis if you've ever heard of that, the same process will also remove paint from steel.

Pretty soon you'll be plating all sorts of things once you get past this gun.

Originally Posted by Olle

The plan right now is to pick up a Crock-Pot at a yard sale (or even buy a cheapo at Wallyworld) and use this for degreasing, I don't need a larger bath than that so it should be an easy way to keep the degreaser at the right temperature. This is my first attempt at plating, so I want to keep it as simple as possible until I know which direction to go.

That dishwasher idea does indeed work, and I have actually used it before Duracoating a shotgun receiver. A buddy of mine has even got a dishwasher in the garage, and it works great for cleaning engine parts. You just have to give them a quick scrub to get the worst build-up off of them, then run them with plenty of detergent on the "pots and pans" cycle. You also need to be sure to take the parts out and dry them right after they're done so they don't sit there and rust. It sure beats scrubbing them in a parts washer, and it might even be a good way to do the final cleaning before plating. Shouldn't be a problem to run my gun parts before the wife gets home from work in the evening, should it?

That electrocleaning idea does sound interesting, so I would sure appreciate more info on that. Does it remove plating, grease and everything, or is it only for removing plating? I don't know when I will plate a gun again (depends on if I can find good project guns at the shows), but it's always good to keep ideas like that on file.