tig friendly?

[wheresmejumper]

this is from the safety data sheet of an aluminium cleaner i bought....

Phosphoric Acid
2 Butoxy Ethanol
Alkyl Phenol Ethoxylate
Dye
Methyl Alcohol

NON FLAMMABLE. May decompose in a fire to produce fumes of phosphorous pentoxide



is all of that tig friendly?ive googled what i can and it seems okay,but the phosphorous pentoxide bit ive no idea

 

[dickie bell]

from what i googled phosphorous pentoxide it may become a vapor when used if you breathe it in you may feel parched/dry mouth , i expect it should only be used when mtl is cold in a well ventilated area , this is only my interpretation tho.

 

[Rrunnach]

If your doing a fair amount of welding, one will be fecked in time due to fume and stuff, chucking another ingredient into the pot, only brings the finale that bit closer.............

 

[wheresmejumper]

bought from a welding supplier

ive been applying it to the piece,bit of scrubbing,then washing off with water just in case its bad.all the brake cleaner articles had me a bit sketchy.

probably just go with pure acetone when i get my hands on it to be safe

 

[carlos420uk]

I wouldn't be comfortable using a cleaner with that many chemicals in it. The main worry is creating Phosgene gas that is potentially very harmful even in very low concentrations.

Stick to the Acetone, I bought a 5L tub from the bay for about £15...

 

[hotrodder]

Most of the brake cleaner 'articles' are full of half truths and based on anecdotal comments from someone that knew someone that managed to injure or kill themselves by striking an arc on a part that was still wet with solvents. They all seem to origionate from the US where chlorinated brake cleaner is still available.

Chlorinated is the relevent bit, not brake cleaner. ANY chlorinated solvent can decompose when heated and release phosgene. AFAIK chlorinated solvents are effectively pretty much banned in Europe or at least restricted i.e. while some are still in use more and more have been replaced/reformulated. Isn't it the reason why paint strippers generally don't work as well as they used to... dichloromethane

I've yet to see/use chlorinated brake cleaner, pretty much every tin or aerosol of the stuff i've ever bought has borne the legend 'contains no chlorinated hydrocarbons' or words to that effect. The MSDS sheet will confirm if there's nothing on the container and the stuff (there's various different blends/flavours) is formulated to evaporate quickly leaving no residue. As long as you're not splashing gallons of the stuff around in a restricted space with poor ventilation it's about as close to foolproof as highly flammable solvent can be.

 

[wheresmejumper]

thanks for that info,sleep a little easier now

 

[Marc.]

my father panics when i use brake cleaner before welding... it hasnt done me any harm.... yet..

 

[backpurge]

Why not just use a stainless steel wire brush or is access a problem?

 

[wheresmejumper]

im just starting to weld ally,so its all practice butts,fillets and outside corners on a bench with nothing in the way.i was told to wipe with cleaner first,as just wire brushing will contaminate the brush if oils or whatever present.im all ears to others' methods though.
when i do get fresh cutoffs from a local place,i just peel off the plastic and give it a quick wipe,as i didnt think you would need a wire brush then?

 

[zx9]

im just starting to weld ally,so its all practice butts,fillets and outside corners on a bench with nothing in the way.i was told to wipe with cleaner first,as just wire brushing will contaminate the brush if oils or whatever present.im all ears to others' methods though.
when i do get fresh cutoffs from a local place,i just peel off the plastic and give it a quick wipe,as i didnt think you would need a wire brush then?

The wire brushing is to break the oxide layer so still needs to be done on 'clean' new aluminium.

 

[wheresmejumper]

im sure reading up on tig on here i saw hotrodder say something about not needing to wire brush new aluminium?

 

[hotrodder]

Yeah, with plastic protected ally sheet i never use a wire brush on the front side and hardly ever on the back. Often it gets a solvent wipe when the plastic got peeled off to anneal areas and i've ended up drawing on the ally with felt tips/stuck tape to it etc. Usually i scrape the edges if they were cut some time ago and that's it. Stuff that's not plastic protected and has been kicking around for long enough to dull benefits from a tickle but again the back and cut edges need the most attention as the EP phase of the arc can't 'clean' them