Cleaning Glass Castings: Alconox or Detonox?
Q. Q. We are having an issue plating aluminum on glass castings. It appears there is mold release left on the glass after the casting. The glass manufacturer recommended Alconox detergent. Is that what you would your recommend for cleaning the glass? Whatever we use, it probably needs to be a soak at a high temperature (>170°)? Is this procedure good or should we use an ultrasonic at the higher temperature?
Ultrasonic Cleaning of Glass Molds (Detergents vs. Alkali)
Q. We have heard that Alconox is recommended for glass mold cleaning. Other than release agent, can the product also remove oxidation from the mold surface? And finally, why is the concentration on the Alconox detergent only 1-3% when we typically use concentrations of 20-30% when cleaning molds with sodium or potassium hydroxide based chemicals?
A. Alconox® Powdered Precision Cleaner is what we tradtionally recommend for mold release cleaning applications, but many also find Detonox® Ultimate Precision Cleaner to be particularly effective.
When it comes to removing oxidation…
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Filtering Detergent in Industrial Ultrasonic Cleaning System
Q: Is there a benefit to filtering the rinse water or the detergent solution in an ultrasonic system? Is it even advisable? If so, can you recommend a filter size (10 micron) when using Alconox detergent? This is for a new bath setup in a new piece of equipment.
A: My short answer would be, it cannot hurt but would likely be of limited assistance.
Water Spots on Stainless? Improve Blowing Process
Q. White spots appear on our stainless steel parts the day after cleaning with Alconox. Right after we clean them, they are dry and visually clean. So, is this next-day residue from the Alconox detergent? If not, can you tell us why this is happening? A. It is fairly unlikely that visually clean parts have Alconox residues suddenly appearing the next day. In addition to Alconox being free rinsing, any residue that did not get rinsed for whatever reason, would be visible fairly immediately.
Most people in similar situations, even though the parts appear “dry and visually clean,” find that the spots are from water.