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How to refurbish hardware

janschutz

janschutz

Corn Hauler
This will be a topic on how to refurbish various pieces of hardware. First off is a Phosphate and oil finish.

A pile of rusty and dirty bolts right off my Parts Car.
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After cleaning and degreasing in the tumbler for 3 hours.
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Sandblasted!
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Bolt threads here chased and then polished on the wire wheel. They have a great natural finish now.
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Acid dipped for a phosphate finish and oil coated to prevent rusting.
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I got the tumbler (shaker) and green grit from Eastwood. The dry (Just add water) degrease/cleaner came from Caswell.

Now that the son's wedding is over, I can focus on some little projects that have been piling up.

Next up will be either Zinc or Stainless Steel Hardware.
 
you have been busy! looks nice but if you sand blasted them, why did you tumble them? What exactly does that do? sorry for the stupid question but I have coffee cans full of nuts and bolts I might want to try this on.
 
I tumble them to get the dirt, grime and grease of of them. It will get some rust but not in the crevasses like threads. The sandblaster is quicker and removes the paint the tumbler did not get. I just do not want the dirt and grease in my sandblaster grit.
 
Unless they are really caked with decades of grease and grime, I just go straight to the wire wheel for clean-up. At a good rpm most everything flies off and doesn't even dirty the wheel. It is a good idea to run a die down the bolts and a tap through the nuts, though.

A word of caution, hold onto the parts tightly. Having one ripped from your grasp and flung across the garage will get your attention!
 
ahh, yes dirt in the sandblaster. not good!
"Horseplay" said:
A word of caution, hold onto the parts tightly. Having one ripped from your grasp and flung across the garage will get your attention!
Click to expand...
been there and done that! still looking for a couple of bolts I lost a few years back :beat
 
Saturday, I wanted a boring day after a tough week at work, so polishing out some of my stainless hardware was just the ticket.

I keep my sand paper in folders, and keep the folder in a rack.
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I put tape on my needle nose pliers to keep from scratching the polished hardware
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Showing what the bolts look like are each grit of sanding and also the final polish with white compound.
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Final Results
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You should weld a nut to a pair of pliers, screw the bolt to the nut and use a sander, seems like it would save a LOT of time on the bolts, the washers on the other hand....
 
Sandblasted some more parts.
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Parts polished and the threads chased
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Parts are now zinc plated. Took a picture of my plating setup but it came out blurry. I will try again later.
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