Category: Seen and Solved

As a Manufacturer, Why Should You Care About Water?

What does Earth Day mean to you? For the metal finishing industry, it means that we continue to make the many parts that make the world go round, from airplane and automobiles to medical devices. If it is metal, we touch it. A side aspect of our industry is that we use millions of gallons… Read more »

The 8 Myths of Cleaning According to Our Experts. Worth the Read.

Myth 1 of 8: Water is Obviously “Cheaper” than Solvents. Regular city water alone won’t clean anything. It needs surfactants and detergents that lower surface tension and remove soils. These are consumed during cleaning and need replenishing. Higher temperatures are needed to activate cleaning chemistry, which is important for ensuring good wetting and evaporation after… Read more »

Playing a Part in the World of Semiconductors.

Hubbard-Hall continues to expand the chemical management and distribution services for semiconductor customers by supplying high purity commodity chemistries and representing strategic suppliers with specialty technologies and products. Particularly over the last couple of years, managing the distribution, warehousing of these materials to ensure that no one is shutting down their lines. Fabricating is extremely… Read more »

Using Too Much TCE?, It’s Probably Your Degreaser

‘I have used TCE for years. Never had a problem. Now it’s a problem!’ Let’s face it, you are in the business of producing metal parts, not dealing with chemistry. If the solvent isn’t cleaning effectively, you simply add more. You probably test for acid acceptance, but not frequently. So why isn’t that enough now?… Read more »

Which is Better, Solvent or Aqueous Cleaning?

Which is Better, Solvent or Aqueous Cleaning? The answer? It depends! Surface cleaning of metal components is dependent on numerous factors. The type and composition of the contaminant The complexity of the part to be cleaned The type of metal How clean is clean? Available footprint within the shop operation Parts throughput Energy costs Waste… Read more »

TCE going acid. What That Means and How to Prevent It.

How does TCE go acid? Some common conditions that can cause the TCE to go acid are; Excess water from condensation Wet parts Damaged cooling coils Chlorinated oils Water-based cutting fluids Always check with the manufacturer of the vapor degreasing equipment or the supplier of the solvent for guidance. How do I know if my… Read more »

Heat Treat Furnaces – Why Parts Cleaning is So Important

When considering proper pre and post cleaning of parts, quality is just one consideration for captive heat treaters and commercial shops. The other is the damage that both vacuum and atmospheric furnaces can incur, leaving shops with costly problems to their equipment including: loss of vacuum, contamination to future runs, smoke bombs and shortened quench… Read more »

Removing Metals from Wastewater

A conversation with Hubbard-Hall’s Robin Deal Robin is a Field Service Engineer specializing in industrial wastewater treatment for 7 years. She spends much of her time in the field educating customers while helping them meet their wastewater permit requirements. When in the lab Robin is working toward finding efficient ways for customers to transform their… Read more »