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How to remove polish residue on stainless steel

I work for a handmade heated towel rail factory in South Africa, We are currently using Electropolish, followed by Wheel polishing then manual labor and benzine for cleaning off excess polish residue. I have thought about changing these systems as they are very slow and labor intensive, maybe using dry ice to clean weld and residue? Our main aim is to clean welds and remove excess polish but don't want to plate the rails. Might anyone have any suggestions?

Mark Mills
engineer - South Africa
June 1, 2010

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Hi, Mark. I believe that an ultrasonic cleaning tank with detergent cleaning solution will handle this.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
June , 2010

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Hi Ted thank you for responding to my plea for help, we had considered this but were told it would not be viable as our rails can be 2 m x 1 m and there are not tanks big enough to help us (i take it this is not true). We were also informed the sound levels would be too great for the applications we require.

Mark Mills
- South Africa
June 7, 2010

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Hi, Mark. There is usually more than one way to do it, so you can certainly keep looking for something more viable, but ultrasonic tanks can be any size you wish. I was involved in the design of metal finishing systems for earth-moving equipment with much larger ultrasonic cleaning stations than you will require; I wasn't suggesting the ultrasonic cleaning tanks that you buy in a jewelry store for cleaning rings :-)

The units aren't that loud; you probably won't even hear them in a factory that does welding and buffing.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
June 7, 2010

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U can try using kerosene (or diesel) with a cloth to wash off excessive polish residue.

Mustafa Kantawala
- Surat, Gujarat, India
June 12, 2010