I Found a new use for Draino

Hello Fellow geniuses! I balled a Carbide endmill up in some Aluminium and thought it was a gonner. A friend of mine told me to soak it in draino or works drain cleaner. WOW!!! I let it sit for 3 hours in a bath of it and pulled it out, wiped it off and what do know....No more galled aluminium on my $150.00 Endmill. Just thought you all would like to know that little known fact

I've always used Muratic acid for removing galded aluminum from crankshafts in small engines, takes the aluminum right off without hurting the crankshaft.

PJ Ritz

PJRitz said:

I've always used Muratic acid for removing galded aluminum from crankshafts in small engines, takes the aluminum right off without hurting the crankshaft.

PJ Ritz

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On board w/ this guy. Former two-stroke MC racer here...., seizures and smeared pistons were far too often the unsatisfactory result. Muratic acid and a q-tip saved quite a few race sessions.

The sodium hydroxide in the drain cleaner is best for steel bases tools, for, unlike hydrochloric acid (muratic acid) it will not attack the steel. I read the statements above about using HCA and the reason you got away with it is that aluminum is attacked far more rapidly and the steel.

This works GREAT with aluminum clogged files. They come out whistle clean.

Tom

I think it may be common sense, but just in case it's not...

Mixing Draino and aluminum in a sealed container will make a small bomb. The larger the surface area of aluminum the quicker the reaction.

I never thought to try this though, I've lost a few endmills when my Kool-mist decided to stop working mid part. Thanks for the tip!

Polishing

I'm a toolmaker of many years now, however; only a die-cast man for 6 months or so. I spent a ten hour shift this week, polishing a heavily heat-checked mold. I spent 5 hours with a diamond file with a mag close by to determine when I hit steel. We have issues with aluminum "solder" constantly and all we can do is hit it with wire wheel's, files, stones, etc... Now, before I go to work tonight, I happen to have a load-cor on my bench that's all "soldered" up. I will try this, even if I soak it for 24 hours. If it works, you are my time saving hero!

Lye can be used to strip off old anodizing when refinishing.

Anodizing Aluminum

cgb2 said:

I'm a toolmaker of many years now, however; only a die-cast man for 6 months or so. I spent a ten hour shift this week, polishing a heavily heat-checked mold. I spent 5 hours with a diamond file with a mag close by to determine when I hit steel. We have issues with aluminum "solder" constantly and all we can do is hit it with wire wheel's, files, stones, etc... Now, before I go to work tonight, I happen to have a load-cor on my bench that's all "soldered" up. I will try this, even if I soak it for 24 hours. If it works, you are my time saving hero!

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Hope it works for you! It's one of those things that is so simple its stupid when It works.

"I've done so much with so little, for so long, I can now make anything with nothing"

Proturn

I wonder, will driano break down AlTiN coatings? May have to experiment on a broken endmill...

I had a new Rem 870 barrel come in, customer was using a two piece aluminum cleaning rod and it came unscrewed, he reinserted it and now wedgeded it against the other piece and hammered on it. I slipped a balloon over a fired shutshell and pushed it into the chamber, stood it upright ina bucket and filled it with liquid Drano, every hour or so I would pour that out and refill. Pretty soon it clunked andI poured out what was left of the cleaning rod. End result, the barrel was still like new and the customer was happy.

I believe I have an 870 laying around somewhere. I shoot trap with a 28 gauge and sometimes upgrade to an old S&W 20 gauge which I just paid more to have repaired and get extra parts than I paid for the weapon.

Ok, "Draino" and metal;

Yes, removes aluminum from about anything... endmills, die-cast tools, even carbid engraving bits. The fumes however are the problem. Anything that comes in contact with them will oxidize and rust, even if the object soaking doesn't. I just learned this trick and tried it with some "soldered-up" cores and it worked awesome. But anything in contact with the vapors ended up in bad shape. I will continue to use hydro for those loaded cutting tools, and occasionally a badly "soldered" and "heat-checked" cavity, but not around any other sensitive objects. I spoke with an engineer whom I respect more than any other engineer that I've worked with in 15 years. (He was a tool-maker.) Pure hydrochloric acid works wonders, not just on what your cleaning, but anything that's left around the vapors. Of course you can't seal the container, we've all seen Mr. Wizard or some similar show that shows us the ole' two-liter bomb.

Unless it's a major issue that they don't want me to spend the labor hours on, I will reserve this method for special cases, or my own stash of cutting tools. In the mean-time I will continue to hog off aluminum with diamond bits, files, argofiles, etc... then follow with paper and or wire wheels. It's a pain in the ass, but better than having to polish everthing else in sight. (Fume)

As far as diamond files, they work great especially for non-ferrous metals. Of course they work great on hardened steel, but there is a chemical reaction which wears them down fast. If you buy a $200 dollar set of 7 needle files, you may think twice about using them to add a radius to a piece of D-2 or H-13. You will find some $30 dollar sets from our great friend, ha ha, China that you won't feel too bad about wearing out.

My suggestion for saving your "loaded" cutting tools with hydro, is to go ahead and soak it, just away from anything important. I.E. Grinding Chucks, precision tools, collet's, scales, etc...

Draino is basically caustic soda as sold in Australia.

It will also remove baked on carbon deposits from engine parts.

Great to clean up hydraulic lifters etc.

This is odd !

Hydrocloric is so voilatile, a closed plastic bottle will have everything rust within 1-2 meters after a couple of weeks.

Caustic soda should not promote rust !
Perhaps its some impurity in the draino, like some salts etc..

Perhaps caustic soda from a chemical supply company might do the trick, it shouldnt be too expensive,,,,,,

Caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) is a strong degreasing agent and if steel has no oil coating it will rust.

So the caustic doesn't directly oxidise or attack steel, but it's cleaning effect (and any left over water) will promote rust.

Caustic soda can be bought fairly cheaply from cleaning/ chemical supply companies. Certainly much cheaper than paying top dollar for draino.

Caustic soda and the fumes given off when water is added are quite hazardous so safety precautions should taken.

Also using caustic soda to dissolve aluminum creates hydrogen gas, which is explosive.

Caustic

Caustic Soda, yes. We make a bath of it to try and get aluminum "solder" off of things. It does NOT work like Hydro, but it's less harmful.

If anyone here works in a die-cast shop, ANY info on tool life, steel-safeness, and solder would be appreciated.

guy

nearnexus said:

Caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) is a strong degreasing agent and if steel has no oil coating it will rust.

So the caustic doesn't directly oxidise or attack steel, but it's cleaning effect (and any left over water) will promote rust.

Caustic soda can be bought fairly cheaply from cleaning/ chemical supply companies. Certainly much cheaper than paying top dollar for draino.

Caustic soda and the fumes given off when water is added are quite hazardous so safety precautions should taken.

Also using caustic soda to dissolve aluminum creates hydrogen gas, which is explosive.

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