Rust Prevention

[RV-N8ZG]

I have an Albrecht chuck that was suffering from neglect - lots of surface rust and some pitting. Given the knurling, threading, small passages, etc., Scotchbrite would not remove the rust. After some study, I decided to try one of Lyle Peterson's solutions, and dunked the pieces in white vinegar. After an 18 hour soak, most of the rust was gone, and the parts were covered with a black, oily film. Light scrubbing with fine Scotchbrite and hot water removed the film, but there was still some rust in the knurling and a few pits. Changed the vinegar and set it aside. Three days later all the rust was gone. Under the black film, the metal had changed color to a relatively uniform deep grey. More hot water and Scotchbrite, and a little time in the toaster oven to ensure the parts were dry.

I have gooped the parts with LPS-3 to keep the rust at bay, but I know it is not a good long-term solution, since some internal components must be assembled dry to function correctly.

Any suggestions on a process or product I can use at home to protect the steel?

 

[4GSR]

Everyone has their own brew of rust preventive solutions. Mine is simple ISO 46 or 68 oil. Give all the parts a good coating with this oil and let stand a while before assembling. For assembly get a tube of Lubriplate 105 engine assembly lubricant. Apply a little of this to the internal parts and call it good. Over the years of using and storing of the drill chuck, Apply Starrett M-1 oil to the chuck and your other tools to store. Nothing wrong with using ISO 46 or 68 for storage too.

 

[woodchucker]

Too bad you didn't watch the whole series. Vinegar etches and pits the surface of metal when left in that long. Hopefully you haven't hurt the metal. Next time try either electrolysis or naval jelly. Both of those did not harm he part. Even evaporust did etch the part.

I use oil to coat all parts. Are you sure the cap needs to be dry. I think only the jaw surfaces need to be dry. The cap inside wet the outside maybe.
You can blue it all, which will work well.
I have not blued yet. But there is plenty of info here on it. You will still need to oil it after bluing, but you can dry the jaws after. You can also remove the bluing on just the edges of the jaws..

Hopefully you'll get more responses that are more educated than me.

 

[Bob Korves]

Even evaporust did etch the part.

Evapo-rust, a chelating method, does not etch parts. Every other liquid method I know of does etch parts, except electrolysis done properly, and perhaps molasses, thought I do think there is a chance of pitting with molasses (and it is slow, slow, slow.)

I have gooped the parts with LPS-3 to keep the rust at bay, but I know it is not a good long-term solution, since the inside of the cap and the mating jaw surfaces need to be dry function.

Some of the parts of an Albrecht chuck need to be kept dry, some need a very light coating of oil.
http://www.machinistblog.com/rebuilding-an-albrecht-drill-chuck/ This is from our own Mikey, and is an excellent tutorial on rehabbing Albrecht chucks.
http://www.royalproducts.com/img/category/upload/Albrecht_Full.pdf From the Albrecht distributor. Repair information at the bottom of the catalogue.
If you do not repair and maintain them correctly, they will not work correctly and may get damaged in use.

If you rebuild your Albrecht chuck and do it incorrectly, you will sooner or later be sorry...

 

[RV-N8ZG]

Thanks Bob -
The blog entry by Mikey was one that I read in my initial refurbishment research a couple years ago when I first acquired this chuck. It was good to re-read and refresh my memory. Input from the distributor is also welcomed; I didn't know that I could send it back for refurb.

I'm happy with the results of the vinegar soak, at least as a first learning attempt. I rather like the new color, but it does seem more prone to rust. It did etch the steel - the threads that attach the Hood to the Shell make more noise, are not quite as smooth as before, but still not loose.

Neal

 

[EmilioG]

Vinegar is a bad choice for quality tool. I always start with Purple Power to remove most of the oil and grime, rinse in fresh water, dry
then a careful bath of EvapoRust or Oil Eater. Purple Power alone does an amazing job on light to medium corrosion. I watch to make sure the metal doesn;t turn grey, which really doesn't happen anyway.
Rinse and wash with dish detergent. Now on to some super fine and fine Scotch Brite. I also use 3m lapping film for a super polish on bright steel.
Some parts can be put on the lathe and polished.
That Albrecht will never be bright and shiny again, unfortunately. A fine Dremel wire wheel works well for the rusted knurling.

I've only used vinegar once, on scaly mild steel that was faced later. Albrecht uses hardened steel parts and can be polished back if they're not too far gone with rust.
You can still buy Albrecht parts; the hood is fairly expensive. Msc and Royal products has all the parts.jaws, bearing balls, hood, collars, etc..
New jaws may be in order at the very least. What size is that Albrecht? Do you have a before picture?

 

[Bob Korves]

Vinegar and other acids remove rust pretty well. They are also mostly cheap, a good thing. Unfortunately, they also eat some of the good metal as well as the rust. If you are working on an old shovel or a rusty brake drum or a framing square, an acid is the perfect choice. For your Starrett combination square, an abused Hermann Schmidt grinding vise, or an Albrecht chuck, go with something like Evapo-rust or Metal Rescue, or learn to do good work with electrolysis, and then put the rusty parts to soak. The work will still be shiny afterwards, except where it was not shiny originally, or where the rust has caused pitting to occur. No product puts good metal back where rust has taken it away, except perhaps a welder or an electroplating rig.

 

[woodchucker]

Evapo-rust, a chelating method, does not etch parts. Every other liquid method I know of does etch parts, except electrolysis done properly, and perhaps molasses, thought I do think there is a chance of pitting with molasses (and it is slow, slow, slow.)


Some of the parts of an Albrecht chuck need to be kept dry, some need a very light coating of oil.
http://www.machinistblog.com/rebuilding-an-albrecht-drill-chuck/ This is from our own Mikey, and is an excellent tutorial on rehabbing Albrecht chucks.
http://www.royalproducts.com/img/category/upload/Albrecht_Full.pdf From the Albrecht distributor. Repair information at the bottom of the catalogue.
If you do not repair and maintain them correctly, they will not work correctly and may get damaged in use.

If you rebuild your Albrecht chuck and do it incorrectly, you will sooner or later be sorry...

in Mr. Pete's test Evaporust did etch the parts when left in a very long time. They were rough. The process is slower than vinegar, but it did etch them according to his tests. I was interested in that series as I had been using vinegar and had the etching. I had tried molasses, and it just didn't do it. I had setup electrolysis but it's something I don't want to leave while sleeping should it short or something. So I was looking for some other testing to see what was happening. I think Evaporust is fine short term, but not a long bath.

 

[Bob Korves]

Mr. Pete is the only place I have ever seen that, and I have de-rusted a lot of tools and other materials. I suspect that single sample lot was already pitted. I also will not accept a single test lot as evidence. I have left tools in Evaporust for a couple weeks, multiple times, no pitting, nice finish. Mr. Pete, who I enjoy watching at times, did not even read or follow the directions on ANY of the products he was testing, even the ones with stern warnings about putting your bare hands in the liquid. He is quite flippant about how he approaches the testing, and with interpreting the results. That testing was barely adequate at best, click bait...

 

[4GSR]

I'm not a fan of electrolysis at all for personal reasons. I have used Evaporust a time or two with mix results as well as vinegar. Most of the time I grab some steel wool or emery cloth and get after it. Regardless what process you use some metal will get removed. Will it change a part or tool dimensionally? Probably not if your talking in thousandths, maybe a notch or two in ten-thousandths. Just one process has more elbow grease to it than the other.