how to wash nuts ands bolts?

[tylerae40]

g'day to all,
i recently bought a few buckets full of nuts, bolts,tools and **** from a deceased estate auction. Unfortunatly all the sheds on the property where full of rats, mice and birds so everything is covered in poop. Im wondering how to wash all the small parts and what with? i also have some bits that need oil and grease cleaned off too. any help would be great. cheers

 

[Liberty]

I use Diesel fuel. cleans and lubes. Use a system like the old carb cleaner cans with a small basket. You can aggitate the batch and drip dry.

 

[kazlx]

Straight purple power seems to clean stuff off pretty well.

 

[trbomax]

Wire wheel the hell out of them too!!

 

[4EyedTurd]

Would one of those vibrating polishers be worth using for the rusty ones? The ones with a bucket and media

 

[slip knot]

I'd go with the wire wheel myself. Get real aggresive with it to. Wont hurt a thing. Might want to have some respiratory protection tho, rat **** is bad on the lungs.

 

[E.rodz]

go to your local hobby store or ebay and buy a rock tumbler throw some sand in it and let it go.make sure to oil them up after there done!

 

[PCO6]

I built an air assisted small parts soaker that I mostly use for cleaning hardware and small parts. I basically load up the basket, fasten the lid and turn on the air. I use varsol as the cleaning agent. The parts don't come out spotless but it certainly lessens the amount of cleaning by hand.

 

[Ironhorse]

ultra sonic...that is all I use..it is a heavy duty one..and if you put your fingers in while in operation it will etch you bone joints...other then that..it gets the **** off.

 

[kd4gij]

The YL's washing machine

 

[HOTFR8]

I use Diesel fuel. cleans and lubes. Use a system like the old carb cleaner cans with a small basket. You can aggitate the batch and drip dry.

Let them soak in the Diesel a few days. Kerosene would also work as a cleaner but the Diesel would lubricate them at the same time. I have a bucket with a small amount of dirty Diesel fuel just for that purpose. Tow balls, D-Shackles etc. all get a soak.

 

[Sureshot]

I built an air assisted small parts soaker that I mostly use for cleaning hardware and small parts. I basically load up the basket, fasten the lid and turn on the air. I use varsol as the cleaning agent. The parts don't come out spotless but it certainly lessens the amount of cleaning by hand.

Heat your varsol and see how good it works. Is just amazing.

 

[BWS]

http://www.harborfreight.com/power-...rter-cubic-ft-compact-cement-mixer-91907.html

Throw in some Diesel fuel.

 

[camarotoolman]

I wouldn't bother, you will spend alot of time and then not use the stuff. It takes hours to sort it, clean it, store it. Then you never seem to have what you need so you have to run the the store anyway. Been there , done that.

 

[lilredex]

Smaller lots using Varsol:

Larger, using your HP washer, pre-soaking helps.

Used to work at a place that needed to recondition and reuse hundreds of greasy bolts. They had both a hot tank and steam hose which did the job 100%

 

[chief ben]

When the wife goes shopping put everything in the Dish Washer,

 

[PCO6]

Heat your varsol and see how good it works. Is just amazing.

I have not tried heat. What do you use for your heat source? I'm assumimg a submersible heater or "hot plate" of some type.

The MSDS talk about avoiding excessive heat and problems with vapours. I don't think I would want to heat varsol inside a basically closed container like I showed above or in my parts washer which is even more enclosed. I'm open to suggestions but I've been happy with using varsol room temperature.

 

[tylerae40]

Cheers for the ideas everyone, i found some perf mesh laying around at work, so i plan to make a mesh bucket for pessure washing and also a sort of hamster wheel, so as i can have it full of bolts rotating in some diesel or something- probably spend some time making it up, will post pics, cheers guys!

 

[Jackfre]

When the wife goes shopping put everything in the Dish Washer,

Yeah, just make sure you get them out before she gets home.

 

[Big A]

Molasses

 

[Alaric.H]

Put the rusty ones in vinegar for a few day that will clean them up.

 

[Sureshot]

I have not tried heat. What do you use for your heat source? I'm assumimg a submersible heater or "hot plate" of some type.

The MSDS talk about avoiding excessive heat and problems with vapours. I don't think I would want to heat varsol inside a basically closed container like I showed above or in my parts washer which is even more enclosed. I'm open to suggestions but I've been happy with using varsol room temperature.

The times we used heat was with a submersible heater. Worked amazing. Varsol does not ignite easily but it does burn very hot once going.

We also used to put parts in pails etc for the trip home and the agitation from the bumpy roads etc would clean things pretty well.

 

[RobSmith]

throw them all in a small cement mixer with a bit of sand and some diesel.

 

[PCO6]

The times we used heat was with a submersible heater. Worked amazing. Varsol does not ignite easily but it does burn very hot once going.

I have a round submersible heater that is made for 5 gal. pails. Varsol boils at about 315*F / 160*C and it won't get it any where close to that. I'll give it a try.

 

[GRX]

x2 on Diesel or Kerosene. Thinking of using a tumbler or similar with sand or other hard aggregate ... or where the parts rub together? Thread destroyer you shall be called