oxide cleaning using acids/pickles

[Kerrystagmer 2]

Some materials seem to give you only one real chance to get a good weld. In my case as many of you know I have a conciderable amount of chromoly laying around.

 

If I miss getting a complete weld on the first try I find this material simply wont weld without a regrind of the surface. On one particular billet the weld in question is of course in the center of the billet.

 

Do you guys think that if I etch the stack clean in a pickle bath I should be able to get another chance at this? I havent tried it yet and wondered if anyone here had solved this problem or do what I did which was change materials.

 

Thoughts or experiance?

[tell 0]

Some materials seem to give you only one real chance to get a good weld. In my case as many of you know I have a conciderable amount of chromoly laying around.

 

If I miss getting a complete weld on the first try I find this material simply wont weld without a regrind of the surface. On one particular billet the weld in question is of course in the center of the billet.

 

Do you guys think that if I etch the stack clean in a pickle bath I should be able to get another chance at this? I havent tried it yet and wondered if anyone here had solved this problem or do what I did which was change materials.

 

Thoughts or experiance?

 

 

No you would only be compounding the situation by coating it with a pickeling agent i got a small hand held sandbasting gun like a spray gun got it from an auto store ,, workd on about 50 psi up . use river sand with no salt in it blast it blow it off and re weld you can also use ulmanite black crushed slag even old clean iron filings

 

hope this helps tell

[Kerrystagmer 2]

I'm actually trying to get INSIDE a crack running up the center of a big billet. It is welded on all edges and open on the ends.

[JJ Simon 127]

Kerry, when I was at the hammer in Aldo told me one of the guys who does a lot of damascus uses Feldspar as a flux and he said it is magic and cleans all the crap out of a bad weld.

It can be found in "Bon Ami" cleanser. It has 3 ingrediants

Calcium Carbonate

Sodium Cabronate

and Feldspar.

Might work?

MSDS says don't mix with acid.

 

JJ

Edited March 21, 2010 by JJ Simon

[Bill Burke 0]

I have had this problem and simply let the billet cool and soak in muriatic acid untill the scale on the outside of the billet is gone then heat flux and continue as normal. this works 99% of the time. as for the flourspar when it is heated it breaks down and creates hyrofloric acid and flourine gas. THIS IS SOMETHING TO STAY AWAY FROM.

[JJ Simon 127]

Thanks Bill for the response, good to stay safe out there.

JJ

[Jan Ysselstein 105]

Some materials seem to give you only one real chance to get a good weld. In my case as many of you know I have a conciderable amount of chromoly laying around.

 

If I miss getting a complete weld on the first try I find this material simply wont weld without a regrind of the surface. On one particular billet the weld in question is of course in the center of the billet.

 

Do you guys think that if I etch the stack clean in a pickle bath I should be able to get another chance at this? I havent tried it yet and wondered if anyone here had solved this problem or do what I did which was change materials.

 

Thoughts or experiance?

 

Kerry,

Can you cut the stack again and end up with 4 pieces, each having a poorly welded corner. Clean and open the mass with a wooden hammer ( while hot and fluxed ) and go after it with some strong flux ( borax , ammonium chloride ) and give it another shot.

Good luck.

 

Jan

[hankknickmeyer 0]

I use the method described by Bill Burke above. It almost always works.

Hardware store muriatic acid diluted about 10 to 1 with water. Sometimes I leave it in overnight.

Doc Price suggested it to me 15 years ago.

Hank

P.S.--Do it outside

[Dee 2]

i was told about using hydrochloric acid a long time ago when i was first starting at forge welding.

 

i took some old billets that i had laying around that failed to fully weld properly .. and i left them overnight in the acid.

it worked great and i got some really weird billets from it all.

(failed to mark the supposedly dead billets ... and then ended up welding them together to get totally nuts combinations)

 

i did find that it was a bit of a random thing until you get the acid mix worked out ..

too weak and it didnt seem to work, too strong and i ended up not having a billet by the morning .. etc etc.

and be careful as to what else you put into the acid.

or else you could end up with the whole copper plating issue.

 

oh .. and when you put it back into the forge ... be careful .. if there is a weirdly coloured flame coming out from the forge ... then mayyyybe move away for a little while ..

its nasty stuff that you really dont want to breath.

 

[deker 40]

Thanks Hank and Bill! this probably just saved a billet that's been sitting on the shop floor!

 

-d