I have a couple of ebay planes, (Stanley #4, and A #5), that are a bit rusty. And, I plan to use electrolysis to breakdown the rust / deposit new steel.
I’m thinking of lining a plastic box, with steel plate to act as the sacrificial source.
To keep the bodies off the steel bottom of the tank, I need something nonconductive to hold them up. My thought is over length nylon screws in the holes for the frog screws and tote, to form a tripod.
So, I need to know what size and pitch the screws are.
Anybody know?
Replies
The screws are 12-20, which you won't find at your local hardware store.
What I usually do is put the screws back in,except for the brass nuts, and use them as suspension points to hang the plane from a piece of rebar with iron wire. I adjust it so the plane is submerged, but not touching the bottom. I then attach the negative terminal to the rebar, which is sitting on top of the container.It works well!
Rick W
The 12-20 thread size the previous poster mentioned is a real pain in the a**. I have shopped for taps and dies for that size and have had almost no luck.
Good luck with your project
Troy
I had the same problem with the screws. No luck on taps/dyes. Contacted Stanley. They said many of their screws were custom. The sent me some and sure enough, they "started out" 12/20 but changed mid course. They were very nice to me, give them a call. The number is on there web site.
John
edit: *dies
Edited 2/24/2008 7:58 pm by boilerbay
Gunsmiths use lots of odd thread sizes. Google Gunsmith supplies and see what comes up. Has anyone tried using nylon window screen as a separator?? It's non-conductive, readily available and inexpensive?? Or do you need more space between the sacrificial plate and the plane body??? SawdustSteve
I think in the oldtools listserve archive there is much info about electrolysis, but methinks the sacrificial beast is stainless steel.
The screw/bolt size has been known for as long as I know to be a non-standard size. I don't know about this "they changed mid stream" thing , but when it comes to finding these screws/bolts, there are ever so many trashed satanly planes out there in the flea marketational venues what ain't worth more than a dollar that it really ain't anatheme to scavenge the bolts off of a junker to make a tool usable.Often it is the most economic way to go.
Eric in Calgary
Good thinking on cleaning up the two planes. I have used electrolysis for cleaning up a number of old e-Bay planes. Do not worry about going overboard on the sacrificial steel - covering the sides of a plastic box with steel is not really needed. Any hunk of steel in the electrolysis bath will work, it just takes a bit longer. Larger surface area of sacrificial steel and it's closeness to plane surfaces will speed electrolysis, but since electrolysis is self-limiting - when the rust is gone, the process stops - fast speed is not needed. Just let the electrolysis run longer. I run my electrolysis baths overnight, and the planes are ready by the next morning. Be sure to add a little bit of electrolyte salt (ie, bicarb, table salt) to the water to facilitate electron transport through the bulk solution.
Be sure to clean the black iron off of the plane after electrolysis, and dry the plane body as fast as possible. The plane will begin to visibly rust again within 10-20 minutes of removing it from the electrolysis bath if it is left damp. I usually paper towel-dry the plane then spray liberally with WD-40 oil to protect the steel, all within a couple of minutes of removing the plane body from the bath. This works fine. Remove the excess oil with more toweling; a fine layer of oil left on the plane body after toweling will continue to protect it from rusting.
Michigan Dave
Jigs, as others ave said the tap is a 12-20. I've found this tap available at http://www.rutlandtool.com. Their item number is 21440079
Here's the link.
http://www.shoprutlandtool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/AjaxCatalogSearchView?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&pageSize=12&beginIndex=0&sType=SimpleSearch&resultCatEntryType=1&isItem=true&showResultsPage=true&pageView=image&skuOperator=EQUAL&sku=21440079&manufacturerOperator=EQUAL&manufacturerPartNum=&manufacturerPartNumOperator=EQUAL&searchType=&searchTerm=&SearchMetric=MODEL&searchTextValue=21440079
Buy two of these taps and grind the tip off with a grinder and turn it into a bottom tap. That way you can clean out thread holes in bodies of planes.
As far as cleaning the planes, if you want to try something other than electrolysis you can buy a product called http://www.evaporust.com I was turned onto it from other members of this forum and love it. The liquid will turn black after awhile but you can keep using way past when this happens. I usually can clean 15-20 planes with one tub full.
Mike
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