General Category > General Discussion
Stuck Cross-Shafts
mswyka:
Today's update. After two gallons of acid we have lost 23" of aluminum bar. Considering that they start about 18" long this would suggest that I have to get one more gallon of acid. After today's soak I attempted to drive out what was left - nothing was moving. The process is very easy, but I had not bargained for three gallons of acid.
JDmatt:
You didn't happen to buy the "eco-friendly/green" version of the acid did you? I did the first time and when it didn't make very much progress, I got the standard stuff instead and it did the job much faster.
mswyka:
--- Quote from: JDmatt on August 17, 2014, 10:23:46 AM ---You didn't happen to buy the "eco-friendly/green" version of the acid did you? I did the first time and when it didn't make very much progress, I got the standard stuff instead and it did the job much faster.
--- End quote ---
Matt, yes, it is the "green" version. I had seen that caveat in some prior posts but when I went out shopping I could only find the "green" version. Maybe I should do some fishing on line before we buy our next gallon.
mswyka:
So after searching about a bit I was able to find what was described as stronger acid. So the shafts went back into the bath with great expectations. Remarkably, the activity in the acid bath appeared very tame. Except for the fuming that started as soon as the jug of acid was open there was very little bubbling. And, while I am please to report that we now have one more useable suspension bracket, I actually think that the results of the "green" acid were more dramatic.
mswyka:
I am pleased to report, after 4 gallons of acid, that we now have 3 more suspension brackets available for sled projects. I am also quite pleased with how effectively the acid removes paint from the steel. A quick clean-up after coming out of the acid bath and the new paint looks wonderful. It reminds me of a tour of a Ford assembly plant that I had as a teenager and finding it remarkable that they would dip the entire car body in acid prior to painting. Even though each gallon of "green" acid seemed to disolve about 12" of 3/4" aluminum shaft, in the future, I would attempt to drill out as much aluminum as possible before going into the acid bath. But even with the minimal preparation that we did, it was much easier on the whole than drilling or heating or pounding. I don't know why, but the one gallon of higher strength acid did not seem to remove as much aluminum as I had anticipated.
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