Separate and Different Cleaning Baths Bring Best Results

Jake Fisher, Technical Sales Engineeer  - CEF

“Why can’t I use the same bath for both soak cleaning and electrocleaning?” is a question that is often asked, but rarely addressed with one definitive answer. To do so, would be putting your plating line in peril.

Sure, sometimes you can employ the same bath for both, but this is seldom an acceptable answer. Other times you can use the same chemistry, but in different concentrations in separate tanks. However, most often dedicated tanks with different soak cleaner and electrocleaner chemistries are required. Here’s why…

The soak cleaner’s job is to remove excess oils and easy-to-clean dirt and grime. Think of the soak cleaner as the part of your sink where you sit dishes in soapy water before scrubbing. The soak cleaner typically is lower in alkalinity than the electrocleaner, but possesses a higher concentration of surfactants. Higher surfactants allow the soak cleaner to saponify and remove oils and grime from the part’s surface. Much like our dishes at home, it will not remove “stuck on stuff,” but prepares the part surface for subsequent scrubbing.

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