Hi guys, does anyone know a way of freeing off the air buttons on a Bialaddin burner? I have tried WD40 etc but no luck.. they are well and truely ceased tight. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks, Neil
Heat them up with a blowlamp and dunk them in a bucket of water. A couple of heat/quenchs will free them up. Sid.
Hello Neil, stick the burner and hood in a tub of vinegar and leave them there for a few days, the vinegar will soften the carbon and other muck and the air buttons should unscrew. You may have to tighten them a touch first to free them, the vinegar will also clean the muck from the burner and hood and make them easier to restore, Jeff.
Thanks Sid and Jeff, never thought of using vinegar.. would this tarnish the hood though? quenching is also a solution and would give me a chance to actually use the paraffin blow toch that i have had for a while but never used for anything productive.. until now
I've soaked brass parts in vinegar in the past and it does a great job of removing the dirt & muck. However there are other threads on this forum which discourage the use of acids as it has a detrimental effect on the brass. Have a look here http://0flo.com/index.php?threads/3208 Sid.
Hi Jeff, the hood is one of the all iron manufactured ones that were enamelled green. Sid, I must admit that i use citric acid to clean the filth off burners, and other brass parts, is this not advisable for brass? There seems to be mixed opinions.
Hello Neil, I have not had any problems with using vinegar, if a part is not to dirty, then I only put it in the vinegar for half an hour and I check it every 10 minutes or so. I also use that method for plated items. I have not soaked an enamelled hood in vinegar, but I don't see why it would be harmed, you could try it and keep a watch on it. Jeff.
Heat and quench is the fastest and best method of freeing up tight threads but with enamell close by it is perhaps not advisable because the heat required to get the brass dull red may partially melt the enamell. Depends how near to the hood you get the flame. If you can get the buttons red without over heating the hood then go for it. Generally acids and brass do not do well but really that is only a problem on sheet brass. Heavy cast brass such as a burner will not be affected enough to be a worry. Vinegar will be OK on the enamell. Whilst on the subject I am pretty relaxed about using an acid such as citric or vinegar on nickel plate. Acid may damage brass by removing zinc but on plated parts it will only remove a thin layer of the plate and that plated layer is not structural so if there is no brass visible then acid treating a plated lamp to clean seems to me to be a reasonably safe operation. ::Neil::
Quenching was the way forward..2 of the buttons took one quench each and the 3rd took 3!!! but they came off in the end. Thanks for all the advice guys. Neil
Kool, another convert to the brute force and ignorance method. Heat and quench always works and I can never summon the patience for soaking things for days. ::Neil::
