On Mar 7, 7:39*pm, Bob AZ wrote:
I am cleaning up the Water pot on my Baldor Grinder. The grinder and
the Water Pot had never been cleaned up at all in its 50 years of use.
I had to sandblast a lot of the grinder itself but the Water Pot is
aluminum and not as substantial as the grinder itself.

I have the outside of the Water Pot cleaned up nicely but the inside
seems to be leaching out, shall we say, some white powdery stuff that
easily wipes off but more come back in 24 hours or less.

Is there perhaps some acid or caustic liquid that will help? Or should
I simply wire brush until I get the inside down to the base metal
which I think is aluminum?

Thanks for the assistance.
Bob *AZ

Normal aluminum behavior is to form an oxide film after cutting/
polishing/sanding, usually it's so thin you can't see it. The white
stuff is oxidized aluminum, for some reason, it's not forming a film.
Acids will eat the base metal, ditto bases. The anodizing process I
oversaw started with a hot caustic dip to remove any oxide, it also
etched the metal. It will produce hydrogen, not a good idea in
enclosed spaces. Best idea is to clean off what you can, then
immediately coat it with paint/lacquer/powder coat. Start with some
dishwashing soap, to remove whatever it can, then sand it. I say
dishwashing soap because I know it won't react with aluminum,
otherwise pots and pans would be disappearing in the dishwasher all
the time.

Stan