Is it okay to make a power tool exception on a hot plate?

[Spurgeon Hendrick]

I’ve been putting off getting started on the Griswold #703 three-burner hot plate I found. I cleaned the grates in my e-tank, but stopped there. The body of the hot plate is too long to fit in my 30-gallon trash can.

Since I am going to paint it anyway, would it be okay to use the stainless steel wire wheel attachment on my power drill? Sure would save some time and maybe a few bloody knuckles from scrubbing manually.

[Russell Ware]

If you are going to paint it, why not put it in your tank and clean what you can, then flip it around to clean the part that was hanging out? If you get the classic shaded line developing on either end, it shouldn’t matter; since, you’ll paint it any way.
Rapidly rotating wires of any metal can still alter the original casting. If you don’t want to use electrolysis, Evaporust would probably be the better choice. Is there any paint on it now?
As far as the blood, there is iron in it too.

[Spurgeon Hendrick]

Thanks, Russell. Good idea.

It does have a little of the old enamel left on it. Here is the thread where I posted pictures when I bought it:

http://www.griswoldandwagner.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1543950177

Another question: Does it hurt the battery charger when half of the piece is sticking out of the solution? The reason I ask is, not long after I bought the charger I’m using now, I put a #11 Long Griddle in my e-tank. (And learned a valuable lesson about the “line” you mentioned. Ugh.) The battery charger I have is a Schumaker 50/20/2 amp charger. After trying to clean the long griddle, the charger doesn’t work as well as it used to. Even on the 50 amp setting, the needle doesn’t even register 5 amps. I was wondering if having so much iron above the water line semi-burned out the charger. (For the long griddle I had it on the lowest setting for a couple of days.)

[Russell Ware]

I have cleaned many awkward sized pieces with a charger similar to yours, and I have had no issues with pieces that didn't quite fit in the tank. The amps read on the meter will change with the size of iron you are cleaning as well as the type and number of connections you have between the charger and the iron. Cables and connectrors (especially the original ones) on your charger can have a big impact on the amps indicated. Check your connections and make sure they are clean.
Don't forget that you have created an "off-label" use for your battery charger. Not having good clean connections can affect the life span of the charger.

[Greg Stahl]

if you are going to paint it, no one will know how you cleaned it.  These were originally jappanned, most likely.

[Gary Salsman]

Easiest way is media blast.