Broken Tap

Know anyone with an EDM? If not, get some clay and nitric acid. Make a little volcano shape around tap with the clay and fill with nitric. It'll take some time and you likely will use a few changes of the nitric, but it will eat away at the tap with minimum damage to the alum. When the tap gets loosened, unscrew it.

michael

Put the piece in hot saturated alum (spice section of the grocery store) solution for a few hours. Eats steel, doesn't hurt aluminum.

Cheers, Stan

Perry Murlless wrote:

Hi Perry,

Hot from the tap in a suitable container (pyrex/aluminum/ NOT STEEL) put on a stove burner or hot plate. Hotter than you want to stick a hand in, not boiling works well. Add alum until no more will disolve, and put in the part.

Stan

Perry Murlless wrote:

The hotter the solution, the faster the action. You want to boil or nearly boil the water with the alum in it and make sure that there is still some in the bottom of the pan or jar and pour that on the hot piece.

-- There are more Democrats on the Calif. Special Election than Republicans! Go count if you don't believe me! Bob May

I'll give it a try! And thanks again!!

This indeed works well. I've used it several times. It is a little slow, but it is the best way I've found. When you finish with the tap removal, let the water in the alum evaporate and it will be usable for the next time (just reconstitute).

Bruce