Ridiculous myth was true!

[pontiac428]

Is it safe to use white vinegar in an ultrasonic cleaner?

Yes. I use all kinds of stuff in the ultrasonic disruptor, from Oshpho chromic/phosphoric to Simple Purple. The sonicator doesn't break down chems, just agglomerates, so there's no risk to the operator.

I went through and grabbed all my clogged, nasty files and gave them an acid soak. They all cut now.

I am not concerned with embrittlement on a file. Hydrogen embrittlement works slowly from the outside in. It's not an axle or a fastener, and definitely not a valve body for the O2/H2 feed system on a space shuttle, it's a file. Files are full of carbon and hardened, that's embrittling by itself.

 

[mmcmdl]

White vinegar has many uses . It kills weeds instantly down my places . A little salt and Dawn mixed in and you have cheap weed killer .

 

[Nesse1]

I'm doing this today! Thanks for the suggestion! Thinking, phosphoric acid, because that's what I've got on hand. How long?

 

[Dan Krager]

It was routine for Josten's jewelry machinists to sharpen files with muriatic acid. Could be repeated until they didn't cut well because the teeth were so deformed.
DanK

 

[Batmanacw]

Yes. I use all kinds of stuff in the ultrasonic disruptor, from Oshpho chromic/phosphoric to Simple Purple. The sonicator doesn't break down chems, just agglomerates, so there's no risk to the operator.

I went through and grabbed all my clogged, nasty files and gave them an acid soak. They all cut now.

I am not concerned with embrittlement on a file. Hydrogen embrittlement works slowly from the outside in. It's not an axle or a fastener, and definitely not a valve body for the O2/H2 feed system on a space shuttle, it's a file. Files are full of carbon and hardened, that's embrittling by itself.

View attachment 446272

This file was too hard from the factory. I cleaned it up but it has chips along the edges.



Still cuts nicely. My new beater file. Lol

 

[Batmanacw]

I'm doing this today! Thanks for the suggestion! Thinking, phosphoric acid, because that's what I've got on hand. How long?

24 hours seem good with vinegar for most files. I don't know how much more potent phosphoric acid is.

 

[pontiac428]

With phosphoric, I'd try 4 hours. Any longer than that, and the phosphate will pull the iron out of the file and leave a black, fluffy residue.

I know because I left mine in during the work week, totally forgot about it on Sunday and found it on Friday. It was a mess to clean, but the files work just fine- I was really freaked, though. The etch definitely sharpened the files, but I don't recommend overdoing it. I thought I'd blew it big time, but it brought these clogged, blunted Army issue "mechanic's files" and a few others back into like-new cutting condition. I guesstimate maybe a gram of iron loss per file, this stuff is about as dense as cheap peat bitumen. The etch was even, because the tooth profile is still very good.

So now you know the rest of the story. -Paul Harvey

 

[Batmanacw]

I tried a couple saw files in vinegar for around 6 hours. They cleaned up okay but 24 hours seems to be just right. I'd have left them but I've got a 6 am flight to Atlanta.

 

[cjtoombs]

Hydrogen metal embrittlement should not be a problem on a file. Even if it occurred, the failure mode is under static load. Files are subjected to dynamic loads, and fairly light ones for that matter, during regular use.