Author Topic: Cleaning parallels - the wrong way  (Read 3947 times)

Offline Gas_mantle

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Cleaning parallels - the wrong way
« on: May 08, 2019, 04:08:50 PM »
A couple of my parallel were showing a bit of tarnish so in a fit of madness I thought a quick dip in some citric acid that I use when soldering ought to do the job.

I forgot about them and 2 days later had a jar of black liquid plus these 2 :-




Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Cleaning parallels - the wrong way
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2019, 05:07:55 PM »
Yikes!! Well, good excuse to get a new set now ;)

Bill

Offline Gas_mantle

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Re: Cleaning parallels - the wrong way
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2019, 05:22:38 PM »
Yikes!! Well, good excuse to get a new set now ;)

Bill

Yea, its a lesson learnt. I can't believe how much the acid ate into them - I was only a solution of citric acid crystals in water and not particularly concentrated either.

Offline Vixen

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Re: Cleaning parallels - the wrong way
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2019, 05:24:27 PM »
Try and convince yourself you have simply provided an etched oil retaining surface.

You can keep on using them, the sides will still be parallel

Mike
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Sometimes, it can be a long and winding road

Offline Jo

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Re: Cleaning parallels - the wrong way
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2019, 05:25:39 PM »
 :thinking: I have had numerous set of parallels for over 30 years and other than the odd home made "feature"  ::) they have never shown the slightest sign of wanting to tarnish even if abused and left damp  :facepalm2: .

Where did you get them from Peter? Give them a little rub on a bit of wet and dry on a surface plate and see if it comes off, if not I would try to buy replacements made of a better quality steel.

Jo
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Offline Gas_mantle

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Re: Cleaning parallels - the wrong way
« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2019, 05:39:47 PM »
They are part of a Soba budget set that I think I bought from Chronos for maybe about £50.

When I say tarnish I don't mean any deep pitted contamination but just a slight surface staining. The idea was to leave them for 5 or 10 mins and just give them a bit of a clean - I forgot about them so a 48hr soak was overdoing it a bit  :'(

Like a few others have suggested its an excuse to buy better ones and the rest in the set are ok.

Offline pgp001

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Re: Cleaning parallels - the wrong way
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2019, 09:13:26 PM »
I wouldn't get too hung up about it Peter.
As has already been said, they will still serve their purpose as parallels.

If you fancy a laugh at my expense, I just paid £30 for some new trousers for work.
I was "carefully" opening the plastic packet with some scissors to have a look, but did not realise how close to the packaging they were and I managed to cut a hole right through the derriere  :facepalm:

Phil
« Last Edit: May 08, 2019, 09:18:05 PM by pgp001 »

Offline Gas_mantle

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Re: Cleaning parallels - the wrong way
« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2019, 10:02:10 PM »
I wouldn't get too hung up about it Peter.
As has already been said, they will still serve their purpose as parallels.

If you fancy a laugh at my expense, I just paid £30 for some new trousers for work.
I was "carefully" opening the plastic packet with some scissors to have a look, but did not realise how close to the packaging they were and I managed to cut a hole right through the derriere  :facepalm:

Phil

Cheers Phil, I guess I can still use them as parallels and treat them as +/- 0.5mm  ;)

 

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