Currently melting an aluminum seat post - first hand experience of dumb in here
04-17-16, 05:31 PM
#26
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Update: I figured out how to plug up a semi-cut seat post and the surrounding collar: wad up a ton of nitrile gloves, then wrap the wad around the rear of the seat cluster. Too bad I didn't think of this like...five hours ago. I think I wasted at least one container of lye due to Svelty McSievey. The off-gassing from the eyelet is pretty pronounced, and the detritus is a lot darker. Which either means I'm more effectively melting the post...or the frame is being eaten away. Oh well.
04-17-16, 08:09 PM
#27
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Make a plug with caulking, it shouldn't be harmed by the lye. If you use silicone caulking you might need to buy that chemical stuff to dissolve it. I've used lye successfully doing this. I was doing it on a frame that didn't have any paint left so I didn't mind ruining it. I have another frame that is awaiting the treatment too. I cut some slots in a big tupperware tote to hold the frame so that the foam didn't get everywhere. I also wore a face shield (I have it for grinding and cutting), long sleeves and rubber gloves with long gauntlets. The first frame I did took a few days, I didn't keep any records about how strong I made the lye.
04-17-16, 08:17 PM
#28
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DAYS? The youtube video I saw said it took hours. I am so confused. I'm currently going at about 1:1 ratio, which is stupidly dangerous, but I don't have the patience/weather pattern to do it at a 2:1 ratio, or weaker. I was thinking about using caulk, but it seems like a giant waste to open a tube for the size of a super ball (I should have thought of using one earlier. Darn.)
I'm no longer running into the leakage issue; the problem now is to figure out realistically how long this is going to take/how much more lye will I need, as well as how to fix the melting board on my deck.
As of right now, there doesn't seem to be much of a reaction going on, despite applying a new mixture. Whatever is gassing off is coming out clear, so I might take it into the garage and take a look.
I'm no longer running into the leakage issue; the problem now is to figure out realistically how long this is going to take/how much more lye will I need, as well as how to fix the melting board on my deck.
As of right now, there doesn't seem to be much of a reaction going on, despite applying a new mixture. Whatever is gassing off is coming out clear, so I might take it into the garage and take a look.
04-17-16, 08:48 PM
#29
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Smoothness....hmmmm.
I have been thinking I will run into one of these really rough ones and wondered how I might handle. Glad I would not be alone although I may have already decided just to cut frame in half or something so I could quit trying.
I have been thinking I will run into one of these really rough ones and wondered how I might handle. Glad I would not be alone although I may have already decided just to cut frame in half or something so I could quit trying.
Last edited by Bikerider007; 04-17-16 at 09:04 PM.
04-17-16, 09:04 PM
#30
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I'm going to need OSHA approval before riding this after the build 
things i've used on this frame:
MAPP torch
Louisville slugger (baseball bat of freedom)
Sledgehammer (soviet hammer of submission)
Six-foot breaker bar ("it's all about length, baby")
more MAPP (bored)
Dry Ice (application error on my behalf - did not get frame hot enough, and ended up just creating a dry ice volcano inside a bicycle frame. also threw a lot of it at my lab assistant)
...
and just general whacking it on my cross-section of a tree trunk (it brings stumping to a whole new meaning)
I would have tried tig, but I don't have access to a welder. if I did, I would have just tried to weld it to a sheet of metal and extracted via tow hook on a car.
I can't really see how I could use the starter battery...except for maybe making a ghetto welder. BRING ON THE AMPS.
UPDATE ON MELTY GOODNESS:
The cork I put in the seat post is no longer functioning as named, and should now be named Sveltey McSievey, of clan Slippery. Surprisingly, it hasn't melted to nothing yet. The oxide coating on the exposed bit of seatpost is definitely melting away with each application; the only issue is whether any of the solution is getting between the tube and the post. I've run halfway through my solution of lye, and my boots are definitely ruined.
MAPP torch
Louisville slugger (baseball bat of freedom)
Sledgehammer (soviet hammer of submission)
Six-foot breaker bar ("it's all about length, baby")
more MAPP (bored)
Dry Ice (application error on my behalf - did not get frame hot enough, and ended up just creating a dry ice volcano inside a bicycle frame. also threw a lot of it at my lab assistant)
...
and just general whacking it on my cross-section of a tree trunk (it brings stumping to a whole new meaning)
I would have tried tig, but I don't have access to a welder. if I did, I would have just tried to weld it to a sheet of metal and extracted via tow hook on a car.
I can't really see how I could use the starter battery...except for maybe making a ghetto welder. BRING ON THE AMPS.
UPDATE ON MELTY GOODNESS:
The cork I put in the seat post is no longer functioning as named, and should now be named Sveltey McSievey, of clan Slippery. Surprisingly, it hasn't melted to nothing yet. The oxide coating on the exposed bit of seatpost is definitely melting away with each application; the only issue is whether any of the solution is getting between the tube and the post. I've run halfway through my solution of lye, and my boots are definitely ruined.
04-17-16, 09:05 PM
#31
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Someone gave a report with pictures recently of a erode the seat post out of a frame with success. Darn BF search just does not work well enough… his efforts seemed so much less hassle than the danger here.
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shutuppostman
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06-20-17 07:43 AM
