On Tue, 14 Sep 1999 DShoop7572@aol.com wrote:
> I also have a significant collection of nuts and bolts, I want to keep
> them but would like to know the cheapest, safest way to remove the grit and
> rust from them.
I use 2 pairs of Vice-Grips (Little and Littler), one in each hand, and a
wire-wheel mounted on my wood lathe. A regular wire wheel (a la Delta)
would be OK, but they tend to spin awful fast, and I don't like being
spiked by the balding wire wheels. I have my lathe set at about 1500 RPM.
Then, you trade the nut between both vice-grips and polish all exterior
sides. The air moved by the wire-wheel also gets most of the crud out of
the middle.
Bolts are even easier, grab the head w/ vice-grips and polish away. To do
the head, hold the bolt in your hand (if long enough), otherwise, run a
nut or two up it (jam nuts) and grab the nut(s) w/ vice-grips. Great fun
on a lonely winter evening...
It's a good idea to soak them in oil before starting, this loosens all the
rust. Oil type is up to you, engine oil is fine, but 2-stroke oils is
better for rust removal, or you may want to try one of the 'magic' kinds
(WD-40, liquid wrench, etc)
For really important (or rusty!) nuts & bolts, I run a tap/die over the
threads to chase away any rust. You shouldn't be taking any metal off
with the tap/die, only dirt or rust. (For bolts, I hold the die in one
hand and the bolt in the other, makes it easy to do and you can tell when
you hit a bad spot- if the die sticks, the bolt's probably stretched or
deformed and shouldn't be kept.
I made a make-do manifold flange clamp out of a coulpla' old bolts and
nuts I had kicking around (good practice on welding 3/8" bar too)
-Malcolm
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