Trollhammer Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 I just cleaned the coating of off a bit of wire rope. The ends had an aluminum(I think) clip to hold the ends in a loop. I put the wire in a bucket and added about 0.5 gallon of muriatic acid(31.45%). Everything went fine for about 10-15 minutes. It bubbled and fizzed and such. I went to check on it after it was in for roughly 20 minutes, and the bucket was fizzing over with white suds that turned a greenish-yellow. I dumped a box of baking soda all over the stuff that overflowed and into the bucket itself. I took the wire out and rinsed everything really well. The little aluminum clips were almost completely dissolved and the remaining mud puddle from the rinse has a film of whitish-yellow scum on top. What is this and is it a potential hazard? How do I get rid of it, or do I even need to? Thanks in advance, Mickey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Next time you try to clean some thing, start by actually cleaning off all of the foreign stuff you can see first, you will have better luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDW Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Click on search at the top of the screen and type in zinc chloride, this will bring up three threads where the stripping of zinc or galvanize, is discussed. It is normal for muriatic to turn green when it gets loaded with zinc, I think the whitish yellow film you are talking about is a residue of the aluminum. What are you going to make with the wire rope? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trollhammer Posted June 30, 2008 Author Share Posted June 30, 2008 Thanks everyone! I had read a bunch of the threads on here about using muriatic for cleaning off galvanizing, I just didn't recall it mentioning a greenish sludge that looked like something from a crappy horror movie. I'm going to attempt making a bit of 'cable damascus'. I probably won't actually mess with trying that for another couple of weeks; I'm still trying to forge weld to solid pieces together. I saw the cable at Lowe's, and it had a very strange braid pattern to it, and I thought it might make an interesting pattern for a damascus billet. I need to find someone in the area to show me in person how to forge weld. I've read a bunch of stuff on here, anvilfire, and in the few books I have, but I'm still not getting it. I'm starting to think that the brickpile isn't getting hot enough. Mickey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Build a fire in your forge. Insert a piece of steel. Turn up the air blast and wait. If you remove the piece of steel and find half of it GONE and the end in your hand looking like a 4th of July sparkler, then it is hot enough to forge weld. (grin) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trollhammer Posted June 30, 2008 Author Share Posted June 30, 2008 I'm currently using a 'brickpile' forge with propane...it's not the most effecient thing I've seen. Enough to get me started. I'll give it a go this afternoon with a little bit higher psi. Out of curiosity, how do any of you guys get anything done? I've only been at this for a little bit, and I'm already planning/envisioning more projects, bigger/newer forge, etc. With the rate of my mind planning projects and me actually completing them, this hobby is begining to turn into a full-time job! Mickey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keykeeper Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 this hobby is begining to turn into a full-time job! ;)Mickey Welcome to the MADNESS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 I'm currently using a 'brickpile' forge with propane...it's not the most effecient thing I've seen. Enough to get me started. I'll give it a go this afternoon with a little bit higher psi. What kind of burners are you using? and is the "brick pile" made of refractory insulating bricks? If you have decent burners and not tring to create too big of a chamber, welding should not be a problem. I use castable refractory and its too thick and not very effient as it a big heat sink, but I can weld in it. It just crank the reg up and count dollar signs LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trollhammer Posted June 30, 2008 Author Share Posted June 30, 2008 I'm using a 'Reil' Style burner with a 0.035" mig tip for the jet. The bricks are 2-1/2" thick and made from the homemade refractory recipe on Lionel Oliver's backyardmetalcasting.com. I couldn't justify paying almost as much in shipping as the actual product cost for something that I was just gonna scrap/rebuild in the very near future. I had originally started with fire bricks from a brick kiln that collapsed at Boral Bricks here in town. I've probably got close to 2 full truck loads of those bricks, but they started cracking due to heat...guess I'll build a BBQ in the backyard with 'em. Anyways, the chamber of the brickpile is 5-3/4" wide, 4-1/2" tall, and 8" deep. I guess volume wise, that's around 207 cubic inches. I'm only using the one burner on it right now. I started running it around 5 psi. About 2 weeks ago, I jacked that up to 7-9 psi. That's why I was thinking it might just be my pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unkle spike Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Out of curiosity, how do any of you guys get anything done? I've only been at this for a little bit, and I'm already planning/envisioning more projects, bigger/newer forge, etc. With the rate of my mind planning projects and me actually completing them, this hobby is begining to turn into a full-time job! Mickey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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