Washing up

29th December 2hrs 45min

Cleaned HS parts

This was my first experience of the Stewarts EkoEtch product. It seems very innocuous and I hesitated to dilute it 1:20 in water as instructed. However it is actually very powerful and it takes off Sharpie markings quite effectively. As a result I had to devise a way of identifying the parts so that they will be assembled in the right places for which they were match drilled. However, some parts are duplicated between left and right HS, so I did all the parts for these assemblies in batches and kept them separate.

I bought a large plastic under-bed storage chest for the cleaning/degreasing operation, on the basis that it would allow me to imerse the maximum size and number of parts in the least amount of fluid. I am not sure if this was really of much benefit. I stored the diluted cleaning fluid in it afterwards as it seemed to have lots of potency left. However, I might have been just as well just making up small amounts in a bowl and dipping my cleaning pad in it as required. I could then have cleaned the parts on my bench, suitably covered with some plastic covering.

I used the red Scotchbrite pads for this operation and they certainly scuff up the surface nicely. In fact, when the parts were rinsed afterwards, the water sheets off like it is supposed to do after the next etching step. Effectively, the parts have been mechanically etched. This is undoubtedly overkill but I think I will continue with it nonetheless as it is very satisfying to see how well the parts come up once all the tiny scratches dissapear in this scuffing operation.