On Monday, June 04, 2012 07:49:47 AM Mark Wendt did opine: > On 06/04/2012 06:39 AM, gene heskett wrote: > > On Monday, June 04, 2012 06:31:34 AM Mark Wendt did opine: > >> On 06/03/2012 11:39 AM, gene heskett wrote: > >> > >> <snippage> > >> > >>> As for the various methods of blackening brass, discussed here > >>> previously, most were butt ugly, giving all the colors of a good > >>> skin bruise rather than a nice flat black. I believe that was > >>> because of my inability to get all the cutting oil washed back out > >>> of the brass with clean acetone or boiling in dish soap. I can't > >>> go enough narrower to fix it with a 1/32" mill as I can't trim the > >>> slot width more than another thou, so today I will try dimming the > >>> leds. There has to be a fix someplace, I just have to find it... > >>> > >>> > >>> Cheers, Gene > >> > >> Gene, > >> > >> Acetone is a lousy degreaser. > > > > I didn't know that. > > > > It cuts most anything else, so I figured it was good for oils too. > > Yup, and acetone tends to leave an oily film on the surface. > > >> Scrub with Dawn dish detergent and hot > >> water, the follow that with a rubdown of denatured alcohol and a > >> clean, oil free rag. Coffee filters or paper towels work good for > >> that. > > > > I used some sort of dish detergent, probably liquid Palmolive, > > whatever was on the sink at the time. For the alky I use the paint > > thinner, real stuff, no water in it like is in isopropol. > > Dawn is a much better degreaser. Fella talked me into using it a few > years back to wash down the surface of my cane rods before varnishing, > and it worked great. I started using it on the metal stuff I was bluing > and got more consistent blues of the metal too. And I always have a > gallon of DNA laying around, for finishing and cleaning stuff. DNA is > great for cleaning up soldering flux residue too.
I've always steered clear of DNA, preferring the real thing for that as its faster. Story from my tv days: We used to buy freon TF in 6 gallon cartons for head cleaning of tape recorders, and we thought doing it 2-6x a day/machine was normal. Then came the ozone hole, so I went looking for another cleaner, and settled on the Ace Hdwe alky, the one with the SLX label on the can. That worked well too, and it only took me a day or so to discover that the head cleaning job went from several times a day for a busy machine, to once or twice a week! That TF was leaving something behind that was attracting the tape oxide I think. A huge difference in the amount of daily housekeeping in the control room required. > >> That's all I do when I turn nickel silver fly rod ferrules, and I use > >> cutting oil when turning them. I black/blue them without any trouble > >> after that type of cleaning. Make sure you don't touch the brass > >> with your bare hands after cleaning/degreasing, because skin oils > >> will cause problems too. > > > > Well known. White cotton gloves that get tossed in the washing > > machine frequently, then kept in a quart ziploc bag till used. > > Good deal. Work with the first two, and you should be able to get > decent bluing/blackening on brass. So noted, thanks Mark. Cheers, Gene -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> 1.79 x 10^12 furlongs per fortnight -- it's not just a good idea, it's the law! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
