Heating things up as a cleaning process..
by Steve Schefer
(Santa Rosa, CA, USA)
A cool trick to getting any residual oils out of metal is to use a Heat Gun like the Bosch LED.
After I grind, sand or wire brush the surface and wipe it down with Acetone, I set the heat gun at 600 degrees and hold it on the area I'm going to weld for a few minutes. I let it cool a bit and then wipe it down again with Acetone. You would be suprised at how much grime is brought to the surface.
I first discovered this in a book about powder coating. I used it in that process and it worked great so I started using it on cast AL outboard engine blocks with great success. Now I use the process on everything I can.
The Bosch LED heat gun will kick out 1200 degree heat and can spread it out over a larger area much faster and cleaner than MAP gas.
If the parts are small enough you can also cook them in a toaster oven at 400 degrees for an hour. This actually does a better job but it may interfere with your breakfast and isn't nearly as portable.
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