Thermal Cleaning...Check it out.

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Johnny Dart

Johnny Dart

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Before and after pic of a 1970 340 intake I recently bought from a member.

Took it to a local machine shop, and had it thermal cleaned. As good as new.

Im sold on the process.
 

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What do you mean by thermal cleaning? The machine shop I used, bakes the parts and then uses a form of shot blasting to clean heads blocks and stuff like that.
 
I recently dropped off a /6 short block at a local one man shop to get bored and checked out. When I asked about "boiling out" the block he said he cleans with heat. He showed me his oven and I asked what temp and the answer was 700*. After baking, he puts it into a shot blaster with a rotating table (like a microwave). I looked at a 1956 Oldsmobile V-8 he was assembling and the bare castings looked good. He said all the bad stuff turns to powder, even rust. He's backed up with work right now but I'll take pics when mine is done.
 
straightlinespeed said:
What ever thermal cleaning is, it does a good job.

Could you explain the process to us?
Click to expand...

Sure.
First the part goes into a thermal oven. Each oven features a main burner that will bake and
carbonize any grease,oil, paint, debris, or dirt on the work piece.Basically turning everything in to ash.

After baking, the parts are transfered to a blasting cabinet. The part is blasted using a special media (stainless steel pellets in my case). Both cabinets turn the part like a chicken on a rotiseree.

And thats basically it.
Cost me $50. But now I have a close to new 340 intake. :)
 
I'm working on it ! :)
 

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Johnny Dart said:
Sure.
First the part goes into a thermal oven. Each oven features a main burner that will bake and
carbonize any grease,oil, paint, debris, or dirt on the work piece.Basically turning everything in to ash.

After baking, the parts are transfered to a blasting cabinet. The part is blasted using a special media (stainless steel pellets in my case). Both cabinets turn the part like a chicken on a rotiseree.

And thats basically it.
Cost me $50. But now I have a close to new 340 intake. :)
Click to expand...


Interesting. Thanks!
 
The sheen shop I use has a thermal cleaner. Works real good, just like you show.
 
Johnny Dart said:
Sure.
First the part goes into a thermal oven. Each oven features a main burner that will bake and
carbonize any grease,oil, paint, debris, or dirt on the work piece.Basically turning everything in to ash.

After baking, the parts are transfered to a blasting cabinet. The part is blasted using a special media (stainless steel pellets in my case). Both cabinets turn the part like a chicken on a rotiseree.

And thats basically it.
Cost me $50. But now I have a close to new 340 intake. :)
Click to expand...

Be careful when trying to use this for blocks. I've got a friend who had this done on a 440 block and ended up with a ruined crank and bearings because of the stainless shot left in the oil passages.
 
The airless shot cabinet will do that with the baking, too. You have to protect the lifter bores, and the main bores, because the shot can damage them... But as long as you clean it well and tap all the holes (should be doing that anyway) the parts come out looking like fresh cast.
 
EL5DEMON340 said:
This process came about due to the EPA doing away with the hot tank chemicals.
Click to expand...

When I worked at a machine shop in NJ 3 decades ago we had a choice....pay all sorts of fees to use the caustic cleaners in our hot tank, would have been 8k a year just in fees, no chemicals, or use a earth friendly soap of some sorts. The temp. of the machine was turned way up. Did an ok job...but anything really grimey we sent to Star Crankshaft in PA...guess that PA was not as strict as Jersey was at the time.

When it came to disposal of the soap...we hooked a garden hose up to the cleaner and just ran it down the drain....this was the EPA approved method...go finger...
 
inkjunkie said:
When I worked at a machine shop in NJ 3 decades ago we had a choice....pay all sorts of fees to use the caustic cleaners in our hot tank, would have been 8k a year just in fees, no chemicals, or use a earth friendly soap of some sorts. The temp. of the machine was turned way up. Did an ok job...but anything really grimey we sent to Star Crankshaft in PA...guess that PA was not as strict as Jersey was at the time.

When it came to disposal of the soap...we hooked a garden hose up to the cleaner and just ran it down the drain....this was the EPA approved method...go finger...
Click to expand...

Miss those days, in California.....
 
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