Saturday, April 10, 2010

Tech Tip - Freeing Rusty Nuts

I picked up the following on the Matronics Aero-Electric List. For anyone dealing with electrics, this is a must-view site with quick responses to questions by AeroElectric author Bob Nuckolls.

Penetrating Oils Compared
Machinist's Workshop magazine actually tested penetrants for break out torque on rusted nuts. Significant results! They arranged a subjective test of all the popular penetrants with the control being the torque required to remove the nut from a "scientifically rusted" environment.
Penetrating oil Average load
None ..................... 516 pounds
WD-40 .................. 238 pounds
PB Blaster ..............214 pounds
Liquid Wrench ...... 127 pounds
Kano Kroil ............ 106 pounds
ATF-Acetone mix... 53 pounds

The ATF-Acetone mix was a "home brew" mix of 50 - 50 automatic transmission fluid and acetone.
Note: The "home brew" was better than any commercial product in this one particular test. A local machinist group mixed up a batch and all now use it with equally good results. Note also that "Liquid Wrench" is about as good as "Kroil" for about 20% of the price.

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