Gallery, Projects and General > Neat Stuff
Penetrating Oils
awemawson:
Well yes that's what I did when I first tried it - vigorous shake forms a temporary emulsion but it soon separates out again. It was this formulation I used to pull my fire damaged hydraulic press apart last year.
Lew_Merrick_PE:
The patent (as in snake oil medicine) penetrating oil of my youth that works well so long as the joint is corroded rather than dendritically bonded is:
5 parts mineral oil,
3 parts oil of wintergreen, and
2 parts acetone.
This was pretty much the standard in the timber and pulp & paper universe of the 1960's. The old timers preferred distilled turpentine to acetone, but, by the time I was working, distilled turpentine was too expensive to use in anything buy high-quality varnish. If I ever used that variation, I am unaware of it.
I mix up a pint of this every decade or so. Whenever possible, I build a clay dam around the joint so I can puddle it and let it sit. Sometimes I acid-etch as much rust away as I can before using it. I have never done a torque comparison test, but it works better than almost anything but MIL-SPEC P-12 (which is quite pricey).
rdhem2:
Lew;
Have you tried the ATF/Acetone? I was a Kroil user until I mixed a batch of this stuff up. Put it up in mustard/ketchup squirt bottles from Wally's World and have converted everyone I have given it to. A couple aircraft fixers I know say it is like magic--even on aluminum and exotic metals.
Just another two cents worth. :coffee:
Lew_Merrick_PE:
--- Quote from: rdhem2 on January 16, 2013, 12:03:31 PM ---Have you tried the ATF/Acetone? I was a Kroil user until I mixed a batch of this stuff up. Put it up in mustard/ketchup squirt bottles from Wally's World and have converted everyone I have given it to. A couple aircraft fixers I know say it is like magic--even on aluminum and exotic metals.
--- End quote ---
RD -- Automatic Transmission Fluid is just hydraulic fluid with various wetting agents and deoxygenators mixed in. Until fairly recently, hydraulic fluids were basically mineral oil. Mineral oil costs me $1/qt. Commercial hydraulic fluids (including ATF) cost a lot more. The penetrating in P-12 systems is oil of wintergreen which cost (circa 1995) $6/gal. I use a fair amount of acetone such that I buy it in 5 gal drums.
I ran into the ATF/acetone mix back when I was developing automotive airbag restraint systems. The problem we faced there was dendritic bonding of mated austenitic stainless steel parts (for which the only solution is plating or making one side of the "joint" be a martensitic stainless steel). I have never tried it on corroded parts. It seems to me to be the same basic approach (just without the oil of wintergreen that promotes capillary intrusion).
I don't often have to deal with corroded joints these days. Nearly all my work is of my own design and manufacture I oversee (if not perform). As a design & development engineer, I know how to avoid setting joints up to corrode, so it is either working on old equipment or a screw-up on my part that leaves me dealing with corroded joints. I would have to go back to the mid-1970's to state that dealing with corroded joints was common for me. I never bothered with Kroil as (A) it did not work as well as P-12 or the mixture I learned to make as an apprentice and (B) it was way to expensive for the results it gave -- at least that was my opinion in the mid-1970's.
Try adding some oil of wintergreen to your mixture. I suspect that you will like the results even better. I just thought that a formula from the dark ages might be of interest. As you say, everybody I introduce to this stuff loves it!
krv3000:
Acetone can you get this in the uk if so haw mutchis it
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