What decides the method is not the contamination alone but the exclusion condition: electrics, seals, bearings, paint build-up and exposed precision surfaces set the framework.
Machine cleaning removes swarf, oil and grease residues and deposits from machines, their surroundings and in part from metalworking fluid (cooling lubricant) circuits. It is less a cleaning decision than a method decision: every method has an exclusion condition, and for certain components the methods rule each other out. The framework is set by electrics, seals, manufacturer specifications and the operator's maintenance window.
The trigger is rarely 'the machine is dirty'. What is typical are concrete findings: slideways become clogged, scoring and rejects appear, and the cause lies somewhere between swarf and lubricant. The emulsion smells after the weekend, the workforce complains of skin problems. Conductive dust has settled in the control cabinet, and the control system has already failed once. In summer the motor and the hydraulic power unit run into thermal shutdown. Maintenance is scheduled for two days, cleaning is meant to happen in the same window, and afterwards the machine has to produce again. On top of that comes the open question of whether water may be used at all – electrics and seals are a concern. The actual brief is therefore: a method decision with reasoned exclusions, embedded in a tight time window and in the machine's documentation.
Cleaning is planned as part of maintenance, not alongside it. First, materials, surfaces, seals, paint build-up, electrics, gearboxes and exposed precision surfaces are recorded; from that follows which method is permissible for which assembly and which is explicitly excluded. The machine manufacturer's cleaning and maintenance instructions are also evaluated – they are the narrower framework than any general method recommendation. Before work on electrics, hydraulics and pressurised parts, the plant is isolated according to the operator's lock-off procedure. Material is removed in a fixed sequence: first dry, whatever can be removed dry, then the assemblies with the method defined for them, in each case with demarcation of adjacent areas. Then corrosion protection on bare surfaces, restoration of the lubrication points and disposal of the residues. Finally a visual inspection, removal of covers and aids, documentation and release by the maintenance function.
Tailored to this service – aligned with site and industry.
Dry ice removes brittle deposits, but it is not the first choice for tenacious grease layers and sensitive seals. High pressure dissolves grease effectively, but introduces moisture into electrics, gearboxes and bearings. Sound planning states these exclusions openly.
A machine can look clean and the metalworking fluid circuit still be unusable. After flushing, the freshly made-up emulsion has to reach its parameters again: concentration, pH value and microbiological load.
During running production, only dry work in sections is realistic. Everything else belongs in a maintenance or shutdown window and is sequenced with the mechanical work: clean first, then lubricate and cover precision surfaces, then recommission.
Process
Materials, surfaces, seals, paint build-up, electrics, gearboxes and exposed precision surfaces are recorded. The result is the method decision per assembly, including the excluded areas.
The manufacturer's cleaning and maintenance instructions are evaluated. Before work on electrics, hydraulics and pressurised parts, the plant is isolated according to the operator's lock-off procedure; a maintenance contact releases the work.
Whatever can be removed dry is removed first – swarf and solids before anything else. If they are wetted, they spread into channels, trays and circuits.
Each assembly is treated with the method defined for it, and adjacent areas are demarcated. Then corrosion protection on bare surfaces, restoration of the lubrication points and disposal of the residues.
Visual inspection, removal of covers and aids, documentation of the work and release by the maintenance function. Only then does the machine return to production.
This service sits within a framework of statutory duties, technical rulebooks and operational practice. The distinction matters because it determines who is responsible for what.
The rulebooks named here describe requirements for how the work is carried out – they are not a certification held by BREREI. VDI and DIN normative texts are chargeable and were not available in full; where a statement touches the normative detail, this is noted in place.
These references describe the requirements the work is performed against. They are not a certification, inspection or approval held by BREREI.
Short answers to help you assess whether this service fits your site.
Not as a matter of principle. Whether an assembly can be cleaned in place depends on the method and on accessibility: dry methods with extraction get further without dismantling than wet methods that flood gaps and seals. Where precision surfaces, seals or electrics are affected, partial removal is nevertheless the safer solution. The decision is taken during the machine survey, not during the deployment.
Dry ice removes brittle deposits without leaving blasting agent residues and without introducing moisture – that is its advantage in electrical and sensitive areas. For thick, tenacious grease layers it is not the most effective method, it generates noise, and in pits and confined machine areas the carbon dioxide concentration has to be kept under control. These exclusion conditions belong before the decision, not after it.
Only where water and aerosol cannot cause damage. The critical points are electrics, control cabinets, gearbox breathers, bearings, sealing gaps, exposed slideways and anything that can corrode later. After wet cleaning, drying, preservation and a visual inspection are necessary, and the oily waste water must be routed to an orderly disposal path.
That is a service in its own right with its own requirements and belongs separately in the schedule of services. After the used emulsion has been extracted and the system flushed, the newly made-up emulsion has to reach its parameters again; residues of cleaning agents can destabilise it. Ask explicitly whether extraction, flushing, refilling and disposal of the used emulsion including evidence are included. The technical basis for activities with metalworking fluids is TRGS 611 – a binding Technical Rule with presumption effect, supplemented by DGUV Regel 109-003 as the state of the art.
That cannot be answered in general terms. During running production, only dry work in sections is realistic. For everything else, cleaning is placed into an existing maintenance or shutdown window and sequenced with the mechanical work: clean first, then lubricate and cover precision surfaces, then recommission. Anyone who treats cleaning as an afterthought in an already fully planned window extends the downtime.
Responsibility follows the cause. The wrong choice of method on a sensitive component is an error by the service provider; a component that fails despite correct working practice is a maintenance matter. A condition survey before the start – photographs, visual inspection, documented anomalies – is therefore the most effective instrument for both sides. It does not replace acceptance, but it makes acceptance robust.
The industry page sets out which requirements apply there.
State the type of machine, the assemblies affected, the metalworking fluid and the maintenance window in which work is possible. After the machine survey, the quotation names the method per assembly, the areas expressly excluded, your preparation, the disposal route and the acceptance criteria – firm commitments on costs and dates are not given in advance.
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