Loosening a Corroded Vacumatic Speedline Filler - Toaster Oven

[VacNut]

I try to restore or at least salvage Vacumatic Aluminum Speedline Fillers. They are getting more difficult to find, as they can be replaced by the plastic fillers or the reproduction fillers. I had three fillers with seized retaining collars. Based on the white chalk-like material, it looked like the aluminum had corroded either by the collar or plunger. I tried dry heat from a hair dryer, forcefully twisting the collar between rubber tire Inner tubes, and soaking the fillers in water for several days. I even tried soaking them in Naptha overnight. They remained seized.

 

After several months of intermittent repeated efforts, I was considering sawing the plunger in half and just salvaging the parts. Last night while streaming YouTube, I saw a swordsmith making traditional knife blades by heating the steel red hot and plunging it into oil, and a restoration video with a restorer using an acetylene torch to loosen steel gears on a Russian WWII Tank that had been seized together by rust. Thinking that heat followed by a quick chill may be the answer, I researched the melting point of aluminum and brass to determine melting point of the metals and decided I needed to find a way to apply more heat and then very quickly dip the metal into a cooling bath.

 

i didn’t have a torch, other than a plumber’s brazing torch for pipe, but decided it would be too difficult to hold the fillers in place and to control the heat source with the torch. Luckily I had a convenient and constant heat source available - the new toaster oven. 
 

Needless to say 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 6 minutes in the toaster oven with a quick dip in a ice water bath, and all the fillers easily came apart.

 

i was able to fuller recover one of the fillers. The other two needed more work to return them to somewhat working order. The most difficult part was inserting the small steel strip through the plunger and collar. None of the fillers are perfect, but they all work.

 

I am not sure if the baking and the quick cooling is really the answer, but I am looking forward to trying it again.

 

A word of slight caution. I did not fully trim the rubber diaphragm or remove the rubber pellet from the filler before I baked the fillers. The fillers started to smoke and a slight burnt plastic/rubber smell lingered in the kitchen - that is really why I took them out after 6 minutes. I would suggest removing the pellet from the fillers to keep the wife happy, especially if you are using a new toaster oven.

 

Before and after pics

 

[eckiethump]

Well that is not something I had thought of doing before ! I have used both Naptha and Ballistol, separately in  sealed vials in the ultrasonic in the past, with success.

et

[Ron Z]

NOTE -  he's talking about putting the removed fillers/pumps in the toaster oven, not the pen. 

 

Vinegar works too.

[VacNut]

2 minutes ago, Ron Z said:

NOTE -  he's talking about putting the removed fillers/pumps in the toaster oven, not the pen. 

 

Vinegar works too.

Ron,

Thank you for clarifying.

I had read about a similar method on this forum of using heat and cold to unseize a stuck plastic filler in a Vac.  I cannot remember the heat source they used, but the pen should definitely stay out of the oven. 
I hear dipping the pen in hot water may also work, but it may warp or discolor the pen.

[SamChevre]

4 hours ago, VacNut said:

Ron,

Thank you for clarifying.

I had read about a similar method on this forum of using heat and cold to unseize a stuck plastic filler in a Vac.  I cannot remember the heat source they used, but the pen should definitely stay out of the oven. 
I hear dipping the pen in hot water may also work, but it may warp or discolor the pen.

 

I used a similar approach, although mine was heat-only, on an aluminum filler with a plastic (celluloid) plunger (Vacumatic "51") AFTER REMOVING THE PLUNGER.

 

My collars seemed to be stuck together with some sort of an adhesive, as the surfaces did not look corroded once separated.