Tile saw

[hvw]

I know this isn't a welding question but it is cutting machine so I'll give it a go. I just bought a Target tile saw for $100.00 off Craigs List. Works great but it's literally covered in tile dust that's now hard as cement. I'd like to get it clean and I thought about using mild muriatic acid. Any ideas on how to go about this? I don't want to make it worse. Thanks

[DSW]

We used to have some VERY nasty acids that we used to clean hardened concrete from tools. It worked so so on heavy deposits. The fumes were very nasty. We'd do it outside on a breezy day and still it was bad. The acid would also rust tools very quickly unless well rinsed. Because of how bad the stuff was, we'd only use this maybe once a year. I'd just be worried about the alum frame/case and the acid myself as well as the motor windings. If the deposits are not too heavy, and you are careful it should help.

I hate to say it, but the best way we found was to get everything off while it was still wet or fresh (not an option for you right now I understand, but something to think about for the future) The next option wire brush and lots of elbow grease. A guy I knew rented my tile saw, and I got it back covered in cr@p. Even though it was 5 years old, the thing looked almost new when he picked it up from me. I spent almost 20 hrs with a stainless wire brush and scrubby pads removing the bulk of the material and the layer wasn't that thick.

With used concrete tools we'd buy, or ones that got misplaced and didn't get cleaned in time, the wire wheel on the grinder was usually our 1st step.

Few thoughts to help keep it clean in the future. 1st don't suck water up from the drain pan. Use a seperate clean bucket of water. It's a pain, because you have to keep filling the bucket and draining the pan, but it keeps from throwing all that cr@p from the pan over the saw. On big jobs I'll set a garden hose with clean water trickling out in the feed bucket, and set up where I can just let the pan drain to the ground (drilled a new rear drain plug in the pan). I've also got a barbed hookup with valve that will let me skip the pump and just use the hose. As soon as you are done, rinse the saw and wipe it down well. It's the 2nd tool that usually gets washed up, (tile trowels are #1). Oh they spray cr@p all over the place as well, so be sure to rinse/ wipe anything down wind. Wet, the deposits don't show up well, but they will when they dry and harden.

[hvw]

Thanks DSW. You can tell this saw has been worked hard and put up wet but absent the tile dust it's in great shape. Everything is still tight and the pump is in good shape. I'll try what you suggested and keep my fingers crossed.

[Sputter Fizzle]

I would be tempted to have at it with a pressure washer, after letting it soak for a while.