chemical retailers

[benacs88]

Anyone know of any good chemical retailers to go through to get desmut,alk etch,stripper,and also sealant for anodizing. if so would help a ton.
thanks again



-----maybe west coast

[acidrain]

I get all those things except the stripper/etch from Caswell.
For stripping/etching, I use household crystal drain cleaner. My current favorite is available from Lowes. Make sure it's pure lye by checking that there are no colored additives. Pure white crystals is what you're looking for.

[CarWiz]

Originally Posted by acidrain

For stripping/etching, I use household crystal drain cleaner. My current favorite is available from Lowes. Make sure it's pure lye by checking that there are no colored additives. Pure white crystals is what you're looking for.

How do you go about checking? Open the container?

I have not been able to find "pure" lye. Everything I've found so far is no better than 90%. It's "denatured" with arsenic, lead and a host of other metals. Red Devil 100% lye no longer exists thanks to the dopers making crack out of it. What is the brand you found?

[ddrink]

Try Caswell, you are using their forum.

[lcaswell]

Caswell Inc. - LCD Aluminum Anodizing Kit

[thorimmortal]

The drain crystals are 100% Sodium Hydroxide, picked some up last night, works like a charm, thanks Acid
http://www.roebic.com/pdf/hdcryMSDS.pdf
as for the rest of the chemicals Im getting all my stuff from caswells, Though it would be nice to make your own de-smut but what is in it? I have an Idea but I dont really need mushroom clouds in the shop from trying to play chemist, so deox desmut from caswells it is.

[gcdrummer02]

Desmut is Ferric Acid.

[woodjames]

It all depends on the alloy. Nitric acid is traditionally used. Alloys with high silicone content need hydrofluoric added, or a small addition of ammonium bi-fluoride to provide the fluoride ion. Alloys high in magnesium need a treatment of sulfuric acid at very high temps. Nitric acid is really really nasty stuff. Every time I open the container a big cloud of brown gas (nitric dioxide) emerges which is a poisonous gas, a deadly poisonous gas, think gas chamber. Nitric also fumes, so rather than just water evaporating from the solution, nitric does also. Nitric will eat away everything in a room, including you. Stay away from Nitric.

Lets talk about hydrofluoric, which is sooo much worse. It is absorbed into your body and the fluoride has an affinity for practically everything inside. It'll deaden the nerves upon contact, so it doesn't burn, and can eat your corneas, and bones, and can give you a heart attack. It dissolves glass, which obviously has a high silicone content, same reason it'll remove silicone microconstituents from aluminum. Get some under your fingernails, and they get pulled. Spill some on your leg and you'll be walking with a limp for a month. Stay away from hydrofluoric.

Sulfuric for alloys with magnesium, not too bad, but it's got to be run around 180 degrees.

Some purer alloys respond well to phosphoric acid, Caswell's aluminum brightener works very well, however it will etch the aluminum some, so if you're after a satin finish, great, but it'll dull a bright finish.

Caswell's de-smut works very well, and can't emphasize enough how much safer it is to use. The price is practically beans, and don't forget they provide this website which is a ton of help.

I don't know about you, but I always ask before I open someone else's fridge to grab a beer

[thorimmortal]

so do you have to run caswells deox/desmut at a regulated temp? the msds states it to be a sulfuric base

[woodjames]

I just use it at room temp, I've read of someone else running it at 110, believe it just works faster. I always soak it for a few minutes, and then scrub the heck out of it with a grout sponge, then give it a good rinse. Always comes out that frosty white color, never had a need to go any higher with the temp.

Could very well be sulfuric based, but there's other stuff in their, it's got a funny color to it. Don't really care to know, I always handle everything with pvc gloves on, just know that it works well, and doesn't attack the aluminum. I've used it with a copper plate on the aluminum, and it eats the copper right up, whereas sulfuric alone isn't as aggressive.

-Jimmy.

Originally Posted by thorimmortal

so do you have to run caswells deox/desmut at a regulated temp? the msds states it to be a sulfuric base