Removing Steel in Aluminum

Briann1177

Goblin Guru
Seeing a few threads on busted off bolt heads reminded me of this tip although it won't help their situations. Sorry. :(

Awhile back I managed to break off a tap in my ignition switch. I really didn't want to buy a new one so I did some research and found out that you can dissolve steel using an aqueous solution of alum powder. Sure enough after about 36 hours of soaking the tap was dissolved enough to force it out in chunks. A lot of people said it would work, but I was still pretty amazed that it was able to do that while leaving the aluminum pretty much unscathed. It saved me about $60 to replace the housing.

Just though I'd throw that out there to anybody who has ever broken off something steel in an aluminum part.
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
When I bought my donor through Copart, I think they stuck it in me and broke it off. Maybe I should have tried this trick! :D

Where does one get an aqueous solutions of alum powder?
 

Briann1177

Goblin Guru
You can get powdered alum from you local supermarket. Its used in pickling to keep things crunchy. Just dissolve some in water. I think I bought a 1 lb bag on eBay for like $10.
 
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