Bio : Andy Cooper

Hello esteemed Galoots, another lurker craves permission to join you on
the porch. I'm 35, married, live in Adelaide, South Australia and I hack
computers for a living, and wood for fun. I come from a long line of
non-woodworkers, and was quite happy mucking around with old cars before
I discovered this group. The garage is now the shop, and I need to start
on an outbuilding expansion program.

I own a small pile of semi-restored old saws, planes and chisels that
seem to have found their way home with me from various rust boutiques,
and still seem to spend more time sharpening and cleaning than making
shavings. My first projects were tresles, saw horses, and various other
bits and pieces for the shed until I gained a bit of confidence working
with the hand tools. I have built a window, and some shelving for
inside, but fortunately the paint hides most of the mistakes! For timber
I have been buying from a few salvage companies. Much cheaper for a
beginner if you dont mind digging out the occasional nail. My biggest
project so far is about to begin - A traditional workbench made out of
2x4 and 4x4 Jarrah (recycled floor and fencing timber). I've got the
vice hardware, the planes are sharp, the wood is there, all I have to do
is start. (I think I'll go and sharpen another chisel).

To add to the electrolysis confusion, I use a small 1 Amp power supply
that used to act as a battery charger for a burglar alarm. I connect the
item to be cleaned, place it in the electrolyte (Washing soda which I
think is calcium carbonate). I move the other electrode around until I
get the current to near 1 Amp. If this is still not enough, I just add a
bit more washing soda until the current is right. I tried the cheap
cheese grater trick - It lasted about 12 hours and now has so many holes
in it its barely holding together, so now I just use a chunk of sheet
steel. The quality of the electrical contact with the tool that's being
cleaned makes a huge difference in the current that will flow. If the
tool has a hole in it I use a nut and bolt to connect it with, else I
use a battery charger type alligator clip. Works like magic, with light
rust being totally removed in about an hour or two. Higher current may
speed up the process, but I wont know till I get a better power supply.
Another thing to think of is the quality of the DC that is being used.
Some cheaper battery chargers just do 1/2 wave rectification, without
much smoothing - not sure what effect a semi AC waveform would have on
the process. 

Anyway enough rambling for now,

See ya later,
 
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Andy Cooper
acooper@i...
or
acooper@m...
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