I don't know if this is where to post this, but thought it may be another alternative to add to your tool kit.
Yesterday I snapped 1" of a 1/4 x 20 tap off in an aluminium hub I was building. There are many different ways of getting one removed. I tried a few, then.....
An old boy(older than me) said I could remove it chemically. He stated he uses the process with brass to remove taps and drill bits and will work in all non-ferrous metals. Many of you may have known this, I didn't. So I gave it a try.
You use a common household item, ALUM(aluminium sulfate) a component of the wife's pickling process. You can purchase it in the spice isle at you local grocery store.
You simmer distilled water and keep adding Alum until it gets to the saturation point. Then submerge the part and let it work. Continue heating the solution and adding water as needed. I checked on it every half hour while working in the shop. Heat definitely speeds up the process. As a note, I started this process inside and moved it outdoors. The warmer you can keep the solution the quicker it works. The hour I had it in the shop half of the tap was gone. Outside temps and wind slowed the process. In four hours the tap was completely gone. In the pictures you will see bubbling in the taps location and floating tap flakes. The chemical process will leave your threads intact.
It will slightly discolor the aluminium but polishes out.
Yesterday I snapped 1" of a 1/4 x 20 tap off in an aluminium hub I was building. There are many different ways of getting one removed. I tried a few, then.....
An old boy(older than me) said I could remove it chemically. He stated he uses the process with brass to remove taps and drill bits and will work in all non-ferrous metals. Many of you may have known this, I didn't. So I gave it a try.
You use a common household item, ALUM(aluminium sulfate) a component of the wife's pickling process. You can purchase it in the spice isle at you local grocery store.
You simmer distilled water and keep adding Alum until it gets to the saturation point. Then submerge the part and let it work. Continue heating the solution and adding water as needed. I checked on it every half hour while working in the shop. Heat definitely speeds up the process. As a note, I started this process inside and moved it outdoors. The warmer you can keep the solution the quicker it works. The hour I had it in the shop half of the tap was gone. Outside temps and wind slowed the process. In four hours the tap was completely gone. In the pictures you will see bubbling in the taps location and floating tap flakes. The chemical process will leave your threads intact.
It will slightly discolor the aluminium but polishes out.
Last edited:
