How do you remove galvanizing?

I've got some old style freeze plugs I'd like to use to cap the end of the digger rails but they are galvanized. What's a good wat to take the galvanizing off before I weld?

 

Buff it off with a flapwheel. Don't know an easier way.

 

muriatic acid
60'

 

X2 acid

 

Kerry, I don't know about Kansas but in Oklahoma the wind takes it off in big sheets.

Gonna have the digger ready for this year?

 

Wire wheel or brush has worked fine for me.

 

60' has got it. I have used muriatic acid for years to remove cad plating, galv etc. Easy to get and very effective.

Roo

 

x2 on the wire wheel, should take more than that to take the galvanizing off, at least that's always worked for me

 

But don't forget the 60 foot part. The fumes are killer, so give it plenty of distance.

 

Quickest way is to grind off with co**** grinder wheel, grind down to "WHITE METAL" (past galv.) before trying to weld on material.-------------Don

 

Works so you dont have to,brush on rinse off, but I'm lazy

 

Muratic acid it is.

Yeah George, I'm shooting for the HAMB drags this year. Time won't be the problem as much as $$$ or the lack of it.

Gary Roushkolb has pretty much gotten the tig work done on it for me. I met him when I had him build the blower for the coupe. I'm taking the 6/71 for the digger to him this weekend. While The ch***is is at his place I'm going to have him make the seat for me too. He's a stand up guy and I'm learning a lot from him.

 

EMS likes to galvanize their patch panels, so I end up sandblasting them with aluminum oxide. Keeps the panels nice and smooth, no s****es or wire wheel marks in the sheet metal.

If your a fan of metal finishing, this works well. If your a fan of bondo, it hardly matters!

 

Hi Kerry, I use store bought vinegar (acetic acid) to remove cad plating from hardware bolts that I want to paint. It works well. Just put your parts(freeze plugs) in some type of plastic or tupperware bowl and cover with vinegar. After 15 minutes or so you will see fine bubbles form on the parts and then small streams of bubbles will follow. I usually let it work overnight. Good luck, Sam

 

Cool Sam. I've got plenty of vinegar left over from a de-rusting project.

 

On another topic, how bad was it when you blew the coolant at the starting line (Hamb Drags) last year? Seems like I heard that the fan took out the radiator.

 

Don't get any on ya!

If you try one in vinegar, and one in muratic acid just for science's sake, post us a couple of pics!

~Jason

 

Vinegar and water !! Something smells Fishy here !! But it does work >>>>.

 

I use a bench grinder with a wire wheel and works great . It's better & safer than muriatic acid but still work good too !

 

Pretty bad. The 5/8" water pump shaft broke throwing the fan, clutch, and pulleys into the radiator. The lower blower pulley made sure it pushed the fan all the way through the radiator. The replacement radiator fit differently (closer to the engine) so I had to re-engineer the fan setup. Nothing to hard to do, just frustrating and $$$. Compared to this digger the $$$ was chump change though. This all adds up but I'm committed,... or maybe I should be. ;-)

 

I would rather risk the fumes you can stand aways from it grinding off the plating you are going to be inhaling that junk!

 

You can weld galvanized. We do it all the time with angle iron building little sheds for portable generators. Although, make sure if you do decide to do that, not to breath the fumes. Get some good fans blowing, and hold your breath till the smoke is all gone. Atleast, thats what we do.

 

Here is pic.

 

ems auto does not galvanize our products, we use the same double side rust resisant steel as ford & gm use on the 2009 cars & trucks. grinding the our panels will only make them rust faster. this metal can be mig welded and spot welded just fine.

 

VonMoldy is right!
The Galvanizing is cancerous as all get out,
don't breathe that scidt and keep skin exposure down too.

 

Don't bring muriatic acid into your shop! Use it outside. The fumes will rust everything in sight. Don't ask how I know............

 

I don't know if you're talking about O.E.M "freeze" plugs or not but if they are real Chevy plugs they are NOT galvanized. Rather they are "Terne Plate" or lead coated material-same as gas tanks. I remember from when I worked in material control at Chevy Mfg in Flint in 1960. In fact the part number for a "water jacket plug" was 838538.

 

I am with Mark, yes it is dangerous and you can get poisoning from the fumes when welding. It does not take all that much to kill you out right.
I have had the fume poisoning and I can tell you it is seriously no fun at all.

I believe the grinding is possible the best of the worst solutions but use all the safety stuff.

On large jobs they will use reverse electrolisis like rust or chrome removal since that is how it was put on first up.

 

any acid or acid based cleaner soaked on it will do the trick.

 

Caustic soda, long ago when I worked for redi-strip we had a big tank of caustic soda to remove paint, grease, etc from car bodies, engine blocks, etc. Caustic soda will remove the galvanize (along with aluminum, pewter, etc) without hurting the steel like acid does.