Parts washer.....

[oldbikedavey]

Having had more than enough of renting one, and all the unpleasantness of dealing with that company, I've decided to make my own, or something along those lines.
All thoughts and opinions on the subject are welcome.

 

[Agroshield]

Some things to consider that will have an effect on the design:

Hot? Cold? Solvent? Detergent? Approx. quantity of waste per time period? Responsible disposal of said waste?

 

[MetalMonkey]

There are a few different types.

The most common are the cheap fishpond pump and tin basin style - normally available for very little coin in all the usual places.
They seem to work well enough but I believe the pumps tend to die, especially as they aren't typiclaly rated for solvents.
A variant of this is the basin mounted to an old oil drum as a sump.

If you have the scrap then it might be worth making, but if you have to buy the materials, I'd probably just buy the parts washer, it likely will cost less than the steel.

Another version is the all-enclosed ones, which basically looks like a sandblast/vapour blast cabinet, they come in heated and unheated versions and use air, much like a sandblaster, to spray the cleaner.
This is perhaps a little less subject to degradation from solvent, but not something you can use with the lid open.

Then you are on to all the pro gear, like safetykleen and automated machines etc.

 

[8ob]

I have a very deep twin bowl commercial stainless sink with draining board I intend to convert, my thoughts were hot degreaser in one bowl ( it’s got its own immersion fitted)and use the other to rinse off then parts straight onto the draining board, sort of one stop cleaning station.

Bob

 

[knighty]

I used to have one but it was massive and hardly used so I gave it away to a mate who needed one

I've always thought I'd be better off with a re-wired dish washer, thermostat to control the temperature and an on off switch or timer to run the pump... leave it going for hours really hot should do a pretty good job, maybe turn the part once in a while if it's a funny shape

figured I could probably run red diesel in it for most of the stuff I do, machine gearbox etc.

 

[frank horton]

I have a gutted old dishwasher that does for me although I'd like a small tank on a drum type for just little jobs.....
the dishwasher does a good job with normal dish w tablets....need to have a short wash for ally which I pre-soak with a spray of degreaser....

 

[oldbikedavey]

Roughly speaking, I'm going towards a sedimentation type of separate reservoir machine, and will use as previously, an air die-grinder with a decarbonising brush to really rip out any ingrained filth on castings or whatever.
That really does a number on the grime....

 

[500e]

That looks a tool @8ob.
Filtering the dirt out of the fluid as a good idea, we have 2 drum and sink type both have big air filters to collect the dirty run off clean goes back through filter fluid lasts 2/4 times its normal life.
The bronze fish pumps are submerged in the fluid