I've been cleaning bolts with a ultrasonic cleaner, it's working great maybe too great. It might be removing whatever the anti rust layer is on the bolts. Anyone done this before? Should I be concerned or is it all good? Am I just over thinking the lack of yellowish color?

picture doesn't show it well and not all bolts are coming out super silver but some are.

 

Looks like it's stripping or changing the cad plating.
I'd change my process, try a different solution for cleaning.

 

Yeah that's what I thought. Cleaner was Purple power extreme mixed heavy. Hope these don't rust because of it.

 

They will rust.

The "plating" isn't even very good to begin with. So they would have rusted anyway.

 

Ouch. Guess I'll try painting them or something.

 

Most of the "Purple" stuff is lye based, will eat cad plating and will destroy aluminum.
Lye craps on everything except cast iron, steel. It's great for removing old cad plating you are trying to replace.
Your stuff will rust, either re-electroplate it with something else or paint it. POR15 works great but is a bitch to use.

I'd try the ultrasonic with Dawn dish soap. The "original" formula works best.
Cheap, super effective, and doesn't usually kill stuff.
The original formula can be difficult to find.
I found a 1 gallon pump of "professional" formula at Sams club. It seems to be the original stuff.

 

Damn, I wish my dumb *** had made a thread before I messed up half the bolts on the car, that's what I get for not wanting to ask stupid questions. Now it's time to figure out how to re-cad bolts.

 

Ultrasonic with Dawn and distilled water.

Why are you afraid of the bolts rusting? Are they in a cosmetic environment? Are you afraid they will get stuck? If the latter, then make sure you use thread locker, teflon tape, anti seize. This will prevent the bolt from rusting stuck.

Edit*

Home plating can be a pretty fun experiment with nothing more than household objects. Plenty of youtube videos on the subject.

 

I'm spending enough building my new engine that I want everything to be reasonably pretty, rust and grime are hella ugly.

Bolts are basically all none critical engine bolts, one in the picture is a waterpump bolt.

 

Well in that case. I suggest paint on the bolt heads then use the rust preventer method i mentioned above on the threads.

If you are going to re plate the bolts, you need to make sure 100% of the old plating is stripped off first.

 

Thanks for the advice. There seems to be a local place that plates bolts think I'm going to call them Monday and discuss options. Worst case anti-seize and paint. Dawn only in the ultrasonic tub from now on.

 

If you try POR15 be sure to wear throw away clothing.
Don't leave it on your skin for more than 15 seconds or you will be "tatooed" for a few days. Use disposable gloves
Have serious airflow (it has isocyanates in it- "super glue") The vapors can do damage.
Use brushes that you are going to throw away, not possible to clean anything it touches.
DO NOT GET IT IN YOUR HAIR (important safety tip) painful to remove.
It is impossible to open a can of it more than 1 time. It glues the top on. So transfer it carefully into a clean glass jar every time you open it.
The glass jars are 1 time use as well. I grease the top of the jar before closing.
It keeps better/longer in the refrigerator.
It will turn a weird purple color if exposed to sun light. It's not a "good" purple. It's a "diseased" purple.
It is stronger than powder coating, it will never wear off.
DO NOT paint anything that you might want to weld later with POR15.
It is nearly impossible to sand (hardness) and other paints don't stick it it very well. They make a special primer that will allow overpainting.
IT WILL NOT RUST AT ALL, EVER...
They sell it in normal sized containers but it's best to pay extra and get it in the tiny 4 oz cans.
I use the crap out if it. It is REALLY permanent.
Put it on thick single coating, it will initially look like crap but it will flow out nice. Don't try to double coat it- the second coat screws up the first.
Suspend your parts over newspaper, do not allow wet parts to touch anything during drying (it will bond tightly to anything).
It can be used like a resin (fiber glass- epoxy) and they make the FINEST fiber glass matt I've ever seen for use with it. You would think the resulting "patch" was made out of metal.

I'm looking forward to trying my hand at electroplating, lots of youtube vids as Erat mentioned.

 

I was just watching I think I can actually handle re-plating them.

 

I use 1/2 tap water and 1/2 white vinegar in my ultrasonic cleaner with excellent results for my water injection nozzles.
Alternating slow and high speed cycles.
Large amounts of crud comes off, and they look brand new when done.

First smartass with a douche joke will get a negcat, btw.

 

I'll put vinegar on the cleaners to try list.

 

What ultrasonic cleaners are you guys using?

 

I'm using the 15 or 22
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Vinegar is an acid, a mild one.
Lye is a base, a strong one.
Both can change the appearance of different materials.
Vinegar is a shitload safer than lye but test first.
I use vinegar far more often than lye.
It can make your shop smell like... well... VINEGAR!
I don't like the smell....
Don't do vinegar in your house!

I use lye (oven cleaner) to clean the **** out of iron blocks BEFORE I take them to the machine shot.
The "hot tank" is filled with a serious base (not lye) and will do a better job of cleaning if 90% of the crud is already gone

 

Just an inexpensive Aliexpress thing. Works well.

 

Looks like dawn takes it off some too. The little brackets look great but the bolt heads have zero color left.


I might just be over thinking all of this.


it also is taking all the paint off a reman waterpump so that's neat.