Graymills 500 parts washer

[TheBadDog]

I just bought an old (guessing 60s?) Graymills 500 parts washer. Really heavily made, shells in great shape, paints a bit banged up but people actually try to duplicate that type of "patina", so I'm good with that. PO partly dissembled with plans to powder coat and "make it nice", never followed through, but looks like it's all there. Should get it back together and running this weekend.

But I have a few questions?

1) Any idea how to narrow the date on one of these? This has the heavy shell with art-deco rounded corners with a rounded corner lid that is a bit smaller than the base and sets on the upper rolled lip of the base tank. Red with white lid (which seems typical). Looks like an old Coke vending chest from the 50s.

2) It's got screens that appear to just form loops within the filter can. How many and what size mesh should be there? Is that all, or is there some sort of textile layer that should go in there.

3) It appears to have holes in the lid that would support some sort of (likely) tube seal, but if it ever had such a thing, it's been gone for a very long time since there is no evidence of it remaining. Do they have seals? If so, what do they look like?

Looks like it holds 16-40 gallons of solvent cleaner. I'll likely pick up some "deodorized" mineral spirits for it. Not completely dedicated to that, but I can't use alkali cleaners in an old tank like this, and I don't care for any of the modern "safer" solvent cleaners at 5x the cost (16+ gallons of MS is more than costly enough). Looking forward to having it up and functioning.

 

[jakemac]

I picked up a PL-32 model last year for $20. I still haven't used it yet. I was originally thinking about using Simple Green in it, but now I'm thinking that it would foam too much.

I think the s/n includes the date, but I'm not sure. If so, that would date mine at 1975.

Mine doesn't have a filter, so I can't help you there. Could you post pictures of your set-up ?

 

[TheBadDog]

Yeah, I know, everyone (including me) loves pictures. I'm just terrible about actually taking them. But just for you guys, I walked out there and snapped a few.

 

[TheBadDog]

Oh, and it has no SN tag on it that I can find. Just one for the company that apparently sold/serviced it in it's first life, and a safety sticker telling me to only use Graymills products barely legible under the lid.

 

[jakemac]

That one's a beast !
You're right it does look like a freezer. Any dead bodies hiding inside ?

Here's a link to GreyMills' modern model 500 washer. It has a link on the page for the parts diagram. It may or may not help you.

http://catalog.graymills.com/catalog3/d/graymills/?c=products&cid=cad-cleanomatic-solvent-parts&id=1356

 

[TheBadDog]

No bodies yet. Just a dissembled motor and pump, the switch panel, and a few other loose pieces that need to go back where they belong. It's also got all(?) 3 original shelves in good condition. It looks a bit rough, but there is hardly even a ding anywhere on it, inside or out, no stress cracks or other leak sources in the bottom. And it's even got ancient steel casters under there. They were completely locked up when I got it, had no idea they were under there till I felt them while unloading. A little penetrant and tooth brush work and they all work perfectly. Hinges were also mangled a bit due to PO letting the lid flip back without the limiter (which is bent, and for the moment non-functional) safety drop not connected. I fixed the hinges the first night, they work great too.

And thanks, I found that earlier and downloaded the GIF. Unfortunately they have a pretty lame web dev. That image is so small and pixelated, it's near illegible. Not sure what parts interchange, hopefully I won't need any (what I can see disassembled seem in good shape) that I can't make, but it seems the design is generally much the same.

 

[txvwnut]

I got one of those from a friend of mine right before he passed away, those are great machines hold a lot of chemical and have enough room you can soak stuff in the bottom and still wash up top.

Does yours still have the agitator/recirculator setup in it?

 

[TheBadDog]

Sorry to hear about your friend, but glad you have something cool to remember him by.

It has the "big U" setup. Motor up top, long shaft down through "U" casting drives impeller below, fluid passes through casting with filter on top of the other leg. It also has the nice heavy goose neck wand. But no agitator that I'm aware of though.

Does yours have a seal on the lid? If so, what does it look like, or how is it made?

Looks like it needs around 15 gallons minimum, and can hold nearly 4 times that. That's gonna get expensive even using Kerosene. What do you use, and do you like it? I've made it the last few years with a converted HF cleaner (the bigger one that stands on the ground) with lye cleaner (Purple ZEP). Years (decades) ago I had one loaded with low odor mineral spirits, and I loved it, but wow has the cost gone up...

Oh, and how is your filter constructed. Mine came with nothing more than a couple of concentric loops of screen mesh that go in a big can.

 

[toolchaser]

Bad dog, I have the exact same Graymills unit as you do, I was thinking 1970`s. The head guy @Graymills is a member here I think his handle is Graymills Craig?

 

[TheBadDog]

I had a few minutes to do some more searching and found pictures that show the agitator that you mentioned. It's basically a valve manifold on the out-flow to switch between wand and "agitator". The agitator itself looks like just a pair of drilled 1/2" pipe run down front and back of the well and capped on the end. When receiving flow, it comes out of the small drilled ports with relatively high velocity to shoot our and provide constant flow over and around whatever is in the bottom. Basically much like the water manifold on top of most evaporative (aka "swamp") coolers used to wet the evaporative media. It appears that these agitator tubes should be above the level of the fluid to basically shower off the part, but would also work if submerged due to keeping the fluid constantly flowing around (though I suppose that wouldn't be good for keeping gunk settled out).

 

[TheBadDog]

Oh, I also looked up Craig in the users list. Seems he's not been here for several months, but I messaged him about this thread to see what he might contribute.

Also another request for anyone who has one of these. Should it have a gasket on the lid? And if so, what type of gasket is it?

 

[Kirk]

No gasket, just rubber bumpers.

 

[txvwnut]

Yeah the agitator is just as you mentioned in the later ones. The early ones, which is mine, were air powered but I changed mine to the fluid recirculator. They do hold a lot of chemical, I think I have 40 gallons in mine. There is no seal on the lid, and the strainer is a brass mesh screen inside the can. Mine does a fine job of catching everything as I have to pull and clean it every so often, I'll try to get some pics of it and post them.

 

[TheBadDog]

Thanks for all the help.

I did find the parts and owners manual here. Using that I found out that I actually have a 300 rather than a 500. I thought it was a 500 based on an image match when searching, but it turns out the 300 and 500 are visually identical from the outside. The 300 has a smaller motor and pump, which basically means 1000 gph vs 2400 gph. Oh well, I'll survive. I wasn't quite sure till I found the owner's manual and it mentioned a few key differentiating features. The screen pre-filter on the 300 and different plumbing being the most obvious ones. The 300 also has a set screw on the single impeller, which I knew having just reassembled it all today. It was bought as a box of loose parts, but other than a "D" hole washer for the flow valve and a few screws, it was all there. I've still got to get some fluid to be completely sure it works, but it's looking pretty good.