ianwatts
Plastic
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2021
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA
I am looking for the least amount of work to provide no staining (coolant or water) on my high quality/luxury “herb” grinder. We're going for the “Apple” feel so clean, even finish is very important (you can see it here: recreation.community).
Process
cleaning
Process
- milling 6061-T6 aluminum with flood coolant (5% concentration)
- parts cleaned and loaded onto egg crates
- sit for a few days as quantity is built
- parts are then bead blasted, acid etched, anodized, and dyed
- many of the parts sit for multiple days between machining and finishing
cleaning
- no cleaning, let finishers handle it: given how long my parts sit seems like it would definitely cause staining
- rinse off w/ RO water: pretty easy
- rinse off w/ soap then water (CURRENT PROCESS): adding soap means I have to wash the soap off after (might be extraneous if I wipe off)
- dip rinse in acetone: not ideal given intensity of acetone
- ultrasonic cleaning: another tool, don’t want to have to buy a tank
- air dry: easiest, do nothing (concerned about water stains)
- blow off: manually intensive, no batching
- wipe off (CURRENT PROCESS): manually intensive, no batching
- oven/heat lamp: another tool but hands off & easy to batch