Parts washer

A parts washer is a piece of equipment used to remove contaminants or debris, such as dirt, grime, carbon, oil, grease, metal chips, cutting fluids, mold release agents, ink, paint, and corrosion from workpieces.

Parts washers were originally developed for use in automotive transmission and engine repair shops as a way to improve the function of simple soak tanks.

Soak tanks are vats filled with a mixture of water and detergent, which take hours to "soften" the built-up road grime, fluids, tars and oils enough to be manually rinsed off prior to disassembly and repair.

Since the late 60's many methods of parts cleaning have been developed with improved levels of safety and lessened environmental impact.

The Minkin breakthrough used the force of hydraulic impact pressure to significantly improve the cleaning power of the aqueous parts washer.

The increased chemical reaction between the greases and oils and the detergent delivers faster cleaning cycles and cleaner parts.

Many parts washers are not capable of maintaining this operating temperature due to the lack of amply heating systems.

Additionally, careful design is required of the pumping system so it can pull in and deliver cleaning solution at temperatures that approach boiling in the parts washer.

The parts washer was a success from the start, and he decided in the early 1960s not to sell his machine, but to lease it to the customer and service it by removing and replenishing the used solvent.

Originally, mixtures of oil distillates such as gasoline, diesel fuel, lacquer thinner or kerosene were used in solvent-based manually operated parts washers, but these are highly volatile and can ignite easily, potentially leading to an explosion and severe burns to the workers.

For this reason, the solvent-based "tub" washer typically has a large cover that is propped open by a lead fusible link.

A final factor used in the power wash process is an oscillating manifold system that is non-synchronous to the rotation of the turntable.

This system assures that the blasted solution reaches all areas of the parts load that are otherwise blinded by the stationary manifolds used in the jet spray process.

The power wash process is generally effective for difficult soil removal applications such as burnt hydrocarbons, paint, scale, varnish, carbon, mastic, or rubber.

For a precise assessment, efficiency factors should be included, as even identical pumps can perform differently based on these design and operational elements.