Here's the question, how do you clean steel for painting and so forth?

We were buying a product called Kleen-Kote, it was a pre-primed,
weldable tube, we could get it in 16 ga. 1x1 box and 1x2 box, and it met
more than 75% of our steel needs. About a year ago out supplier began
to have trouble finding it, and as far as we can tell, the supply is now
gone.

The nearest substitute they can find for us now is a product that
appears to be made from pre-painted coil, which is then formed and
welded into box tube. The paint is scuffed off in the forming and the
welding seam area is not painted either. And we have found some
problems with the adhesion of the original paint to the steel as well.

We are trying to decide on our other options,

We can start either with plain tube, or we can clean the poorly painted
stuff we are now buying. then we are thinking about:

1. Build or buy some kind of solvent based steel tube carwash.
2. Some kind of acid based pickling process.
3. Some kind of sand blasting process.
4. Finding a new source for pre-primed 16 ga. box tube.

We are talking about 300 - 2500 linear feet a week, sometimes more.

Once the tube is cleaned and cut it will be assembled into many
different sized and shaped objects, so cleaning is easiest to do before
cutting.

If you have a quick and effective technique, or a good source for a
machine or a steel supplier (midwest USA) Cincinnati area. Please tell
me about it.

Thanks,

Stuart