Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Bergeron
All the links are present and there is barely any wear at all except for the fact that the pins and links are frozen . Someone at some point thought it was a good idea to put a torch to the track to free up one link on each track to take them off a Carrier instead of pulling a pin in the conventional way ! !
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Heating up track to free it makes it go very brittle and although ok for static exhibit it is VERY dangerous to run on it as it WILL break. The great thing with molasses is that as it is a very slow process it will get between the pins and links and eventually unfreeze them. If you speed things up by heating or electrolysis or a different bath, the easy to get at surfaces will be cleaned quicker but there will be little penetration between the links and the pins. That just needs time. If the track can be flexed a little it will aid penetration if it is moved occasionally but of course there is always one joint that won't move so that is the limit on how long it takes.
With regard to the flash rusting that happens as soon as you remove it from the molasses: If you acquire some of the chemical that is used for removing calcium deposits from inside milking machines you will find that that is quite concentrated phosphoric acid which is the ideal chemical for neutralizing the instant rusting that would otherwise occur. It creates a chemically stable surface from the unstable one left by the molasses. I should mention that this product is not supposed to be used by the general public as it must be treated with great care but if you know a friendly dairy farmer it is ideal. Phosphoric acid is the active ingredient in self etching primers like Bondaprimer and is also used by dentists to etch your teeth before filling a cavity !
David