Author Topic: Bogstandard  (Read 3337 times)

Offline J. Tranter

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Bogstandard
« on: December 06, 2008, 10:29:43 PM »
Can you tell me the mix you use for your citric acid pickle you use please?

bogstandard

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Re: Bogstandard
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2008, 02:22:15 AM »
No problems J.

I use a saturated solution.

Take say 1 pint of warm water and whilst stirring just keep adding the citric acid crystals with a spoon until no more dissolve in the mix. You can soon see when you have reached the saturation point, there will be a few of the undissolved crystals in the bottom of the container.

No worries if you put a bit too much in, it won't do any harm.

I put my mix in a sealed Tupperware container, and use it until the action starts to get too slow or a lot of slime is living in the mix.

I find with the silver solder flux that I use (Tenacity 4A), a couple of hours soak is more than enough to remove the residue and bring the material up clean. Again don't worry if you forget about it. I have inadvertently left bits in there for weeks, and no harm came to them.

I always quench the hot parts in water before adding to the pickle bath. This action breaks off most of the flux residue so your pickle bath will retain it's cleaning action much longer.

Even though it is a very mild acid pickle and you wouldn't get acid burns from it unless you soaked in there for hours, I would recommend wearing rubber gloves and of course safety glasses if you need to pick something out of it with your fingers, or better still get a cheap pair of stainless forceps. After removal, just wash the part off in clean water and dry it off.

Also make sure you don't drip any of the solution onto ferrous workshop items, once it dries out in air, it will start to rust rather quickly.

I hope this has helped.

John

Circlip

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Re: Bogstandard
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2008, 06:42:02 AM »
It's strange how the rules seem to change John, first we had dire warnigs about flushing acid pickle down the drains, but the builders merchants/DIY chains are happyly selling HCL based "Patio & Concrete Cleaners"

   Regards    Ian.

bogstandard

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Re: Bogstandard
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2008, 08:49:34 AM »
Ian,

With such a lot of chemicals that go down the drains nowadays, it is no wonder that the old filter and settlement beds packed up, leaving the only alternative, scrubbing the water with even more chemicals.

With regards to the citric acid pickle, if you were to put a bit of sugar in it, I am sure it could be classed as a pseudo lemonade (before it was used by the way, drinking it after use, you might start to glow in the dark). This could readily be discarded down the drains quite safely, if you use non cadmium silver solder. If you have any doubts, soak it into some cat litter in a plastic bag, and dispose of it at your local tip in the hazardous waste bin, they usually incinerate it.

I have never used anything stronger at home, so I wouldn't know how to dispose of the stronger acids.

John

Offline J. Tranter

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Re: Bogstandard
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2008, 09:20:12 PM »
Thank you for your reply.
John T