The Venerable HF Parts Washer --

[goodfellow]

This is the second one I've owned in 25 years. They are a bargain --

BTW -- Tractor Supply has the best prices on mineral spirits-based parts cleaner. It's good stuff.

It was on sale a while ago, but they were sold out, so I received a "raincheck" and I was finally able to get it yesterday. My old HF 20 Gal. washer lasted for over 12 years, but before Christmas I noticed that the tub had rusted through at the corner. I think it's because of the caustic water based cleaner I was using for such a long time. That stuff stripped the paint and attacked the metal. Anyway, 12 years is a good service life. I'll keep the pump as a spare.

First thing I did was to re-tap the drain and install a ball valve instead of the OEM plug -- much easier to clean that thing with the ball valve.



Second mod was to screw and tack a set of casters on it so that it can be readily moved around the shop. When I do a lot of cleaning, I often just wheel the thing outside so that the splashing and mess in the shop is kept to a minimum.

The legs of the washer were first drilled for two 1/4" machine screws to attach the casters. Then the caters were also tack welded to the coners to ensure that they didn't move.



Lastly, I stopped by Advance Auto to pickup 5 gal of mineral spirits based parts cleaner. This stuff is pretty cheap ($75 for the 5 gal. can) for what you get. I wanted the additives in this stuff for fast grease cutting, BUT as the mineral spirits in the cleaner evaporates over time, I'll just add regular spirits from the hardware store (pretty cheap).



It takes a about 7 gal to make the pump work at good pressure, so I used the 5 gal. cleaner from advance, and added two gallons of regular "low odor" mineral spirits. It works real well, and I'm back to cleaning parts on a grand scale.



Love these 20 gal. cleaners -- :occasion14:

[Muddy]

Parts washer is another tool that I want but have no room for at the moment.