Here in the USA you can buy alum in the spice section of grocery
stores. It works because it's an acid that attacks the steel but
doesn't harm the aluminum. In horological school we used it all the
time to disolve tiny steel screws that had broken off in brass watch
bridges. It works SLOWLY. Generally it would take a full day of
boiling to disolve one tiny screw. You can speed things up by using
sulfuric acid (available locally in concentrated form from most
hardware stores where it is sold as a drain cleaner). It will work
much quicker than alum and won't harm aluminum. Oddly it will work
quicker if cut 50/50 with distilled water. If you have a steel screw
or bit broken off in brass, I would not recomend using sulfuric acid.
It that case you have to stick with with the slower acting alum.
--- In 7x12minilathe@..., "Capt Ken Appleby"
<captkenn@...> wrote:
Hi All,
Thanks for all the help youi gave me on these two matters - I have
resolved the casting problem by getting replacements. Alum is a bit
hard to find here!
I managed to get good service from Machine Mart to put the lathe
right, although a couple of items I asked for (like drive belts) are
out of stock till next year
But at least I am back in business again (:o)
Regards
Ken
--- In 7x12minilathe@y..., "david" <davidalan@l...> wrote:
for spare parts i ring the machine mart parts line, pay by switch
and take
delivery via post. always had good service and plenty of help
DAVID WILLIAMS
BOLTON
ENGLAND
davidalan@l...
l
