General Notes

Only clean parts together that are a similar material

i.e. don't mix aluminum and steel if possible

First Bath

Make a bath of diluted Simple Green and DI water into stainless steel container labeled SG + DI

See the bottle of simple green for the recommended concentrations (almost always want 1:30 Simple Green to DI)

Place parts in this bath

Place the container with the parts and 2 other containers in the sonicator. The additional 3 containers are so that the containers don't tip over.

Sonicate near room temperature for 3 minutes for aluminum and 10 minutes for stainless steel

Scrub off the parts with brushes, paying attention to holes and especially threaded hole or any other area where grease may be

Second Bath

Rinse off the simple green solution from the parts with DI water from the hose

Place part in a bath of DI water (with 2 other containers like before) and sonicate for 3 minutes

Third Bath

Rinse off DI water with Isopropanol

Note: Isopropanol is a more limited resource than DI water

Place in a bath of isopropanol (with 2 other containers like before) and sonicate for 5 minutes

Dry with N2

Stop here if cleaning for Optics Table

Put Parts in Vacuum Oven

Place the dry parts in the oven

Do not bake out polymers with other parts

Steel typically baked out at 200°C for 48 hours

Aluminum baked out at 150°C for 48 hours

See the Vacuum Oven Standard Operating Procedure

Large Stainless Steel Parts for UHV

Writing down SOP here for large stainless steel parts for UHV, with specifically the 10" custom tapped CF flanges in mind

"Large" is defined as not fitting in the stainless steel tubs that go into the sonicator but not so large that they don't fit in the sonicator at all

Follow same procedure as above, with the following changes:

First Bath

Put parts in Simple Green + DI water solution and brush with stainless steel brush

Use stainless steel pipe cleaners for holes, with special attention to blind holes and threaded holes

Do not use a stainless steel brush to clean the knife edge of a CF Flange. Use a nylon brush here and only here, if at all

Second Bath

Clean Sonicator by emptying, rinsing with DI, then rinsing with Isopropanol

Place parts (with clean side down for a 1 sided flange) in metal basket

Sonicate normally

Third Bath

Clean Sonicator by emptying, rinsing with DI, then rinsing with Isopropanol

Pay more attention here to removing water from sonicator, including lid

Place parts (with clean side down for a 1 sided flange) in metal basket

Sonicate with heater off