Stainless Steel Question

I need some help on cleaning up stainless steel sheets. I'm building a bunch (138) of stainless housings. Think of them as a box without a top. All the stainless is new, has peel off protective plastic on one side and has a smooth brushed look...not polished.
Once the boxes are folded, welded and the plactic pulled off, I need the best cleaner to remove all the dirt, oily finger prints, etc.
I've tried the cleaner that's sold to clean S/S kitchen stuff, but it seems to leave some resadue (sp).
I'm looking for a cleaner that will leave the surface totally clean and dry.

 

Are you going to wash them with water or are you just looking for something to spray on them and wipe off?

Either way I've had good luck with purple power better luck if there is water involved.

 

Sounds like a #4 finish. I doubt you need anything really strong to get rid of the fingerprints and dirt from handling. I'd try some spray gl*** cleaner since that's something that won't leave a residue. Best one I've ever seen is called Sprayaway. Comes in a tall blue spray can. Its the only brand of gl*** cleaner I've ever seen gl*** shops use, and they use it on SS and chrome trim stuff as well.

I think some of the stuff made for commercial kitchen cleaning does have something in it that stays on the surface fo make harder for future grease and dirt to stick. The brushed SS surfaces look like they might have had a final wipedown with a little oil.

You probably already know this, but make sure you peel the plastic well away from your welds. If you cook any of that adhesive onto the brushed finish you'll have a cleaning job from hell for sure.

 

We use wd-40 for removing any of the glue left from the plastic and clean the rest with acetone

 

Thanks for the ideas.
All cuts have been made with a lazer, and the protective coat is designed for this.
The kitchen cleaner is pertoleum based which seems to not wipe off completely.

Sealed Power: Any more ID on the Purple Power? I don't recognize it.

Metlmunchr: I'll look for Sprayaway. Should I be able to find it in a big box store, or is it more an industry product.

Any thoughts on using BrakeClean? Good solvent and no residue.

 

Here is a link to advance auto page for purple power. I buy 5 gallons at a time and use it for all sorts of cleaning . It's a hell of a good cleaner.

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/we...reaser-Purple-Power_7041632-P_N3226_T|GRP2012____

 

Thanks...it looks like Advance Auto has it in gallon jugs. I'll pick some up in the morning.

 

I know you asked about stainless so it's not really an issue but if you do try the purple power be carefull on painted items. I've had it fade paint and wash old paint completely off.

 

Thanks again for the tip. These are totally stainless housings. They are used to house ultra hi tech air filtration units for zero particulate "clean rooms".

 

Rich, the Sprayaway is more commercial in nature but you should be able to pick up a can from most any gl*** shop. If you needed to buy by the case, C R Laurence is a national distributor for it. They have a warehouse in Atlanta.

The purple power might do the trick and would be more convenient. Theres several of these purple cleaners on the market and all the ones I've tried are pretty strong right out of the container. I ***ume they're an alkaline base material because they'll leave your hands with a real slick feel if you wash your hands in it full strength. In my experience they will leave a soap residue if used full strength, mainly because the water evaporates off before you can get all the cleaner wiped off. For what you're doing you should be able to dilute it 5 to 1 and still have plenty of cleaning power, and it will be much easier to wipe the surface totally clean.

 

Thanks for the tips. I'll try the Purple Power first, and cut it with H2O.

 

Bad stuff on aluminum, it will dull the surface pretty fast and will literally remove paint depending on what kind...used it to clean a 36" Aluminum ruler that had gotten greasy in the shop and it took the lettering and numbers off with the dirt.