ARCHIVE Wits' End- I really hate galvanic corrosion

[Irish Reiver]

Fun fact: if you machine aluminium perfectly smooth, and keep it free of contamination (IE, fingerprints), it's perfectly reflective and never oxidises. Aluminium requires some level of surface pitting for the oxygen to "settle on" in order for oxidisation to occur. A perfectly smooth aluminium surface will not oxidise. We use machined aluminium "mirrors" inside laser scanners where I work. Lasts forever, and no refraction to mess with the deflection.

Wait, where I come from "Fun" facts involve stout or whiskey but I will give you a bonus point for spelling Aluminium correctly

 

[Kernal]

AFAIK both spellings are correct, depends which country you're in.

 

[FMC80]

IME I find it difficult to get good leverage on the small "wings" of the stock radiator petcock, would it be possible to design a plug that has larger/longer wings for easier removal? And/or develop a mini-tool that slides over the wings
for more leverage to help unstick a stuck petcock when working in that cramped area??

It's not the size of the petcock, it's how you use it.

It’s designed with a 10mm head so an open ended wrench fits right over

Sometimes tools on your petcock facilitate the end result.

I’m 100% in agreement. I have a brand new radiator in right now and it’s still hard to get the wings without tools.

It's not the size of the petcock, it's how you use it.

Yeah it felt like I was breaking my fingers on the petcock last December. A 10mm to loosen this would be a god send.

You need to be kinder to your petcock. Unless you're into that stuff.

The device would ship with either a 1/4" pipe plug or a 1/4" petcock of some sort.

Witness the marvel of medical advances. You too can make your petcock bigger.

I generally reach down from above to loosen the petcock and can barely reach it with my fingers.

You need to reexamine your Angle of Attack to access your petcock. Why make it weird?


Please let me know when I can send you more money. I don't even have an aluminum rad and I can reach my petcock just fine. Just let me know anyway.
In my defense, I'm immature.

 

[NLXTACY]

Very interesting. I'd think there would be a process involved beyond machining to get a "perfect" finish on aluminum- Like lapping. To get it to a perfect mirror finish.

One of the products I'm involved with uses mirrors for images. Those expensive little mirrors are first surface so the images aren't distorted. I will have to ask what kind of material they are made from.

In my last business we used beamsplitters for matching images for true 3D image capture. Think 4k/6k/8k images in 3D. All our glass was from JDS/s MOCVD lab and all were vapor deposition coated. Crazy expensive stuff but on water white glass it was a gorgeous image with a micron level coating. Fun times.

 

[DivByZero]

Very interesting. I'd think there would be a process involved beyond machining to get a "perfect" finish on aluminum- Like lapping. To get it to a perfect mirror finish.

Quite possibly. I work on the software side of the business rather than the hardware side, so I'm not as familiar with the process. I know we get the mirrors made in Germany, because there's nowhere in the country (Australia) that can do the work. We also get our servos from Japan because they're the only ones who can produce one to spec with the precision required. Everything else is made in-house or by Australian manufacturers. The fact we have to farm the work for those mirrors overseas speaks to how difficult it is, because it'd be made here if it could.

 

[Sonofaskipper]

They are a mess

Present company excluded.

 

[mr jits]

Ever heard of galvanic corrosion? Well after seeing what kind of damage it can do inside of our engines, I decided I really needed to do something about it.

Here is the start of what will be a solution for all 80 series owners and right after, 100 owners. Corrosion is a huge issue especially if you have an aluminum radiator.

One way to remedy it is to use a sacrificial anode. In this case zinc because it’s a less noble metal. With the coolant flowing (the electrolyte) ions will always try to pull electrons from weaker dissimilar metals. In our case, aluminum. Well introducing zinc makes the ions favor corroding the zinc instead of aluminum.

Right now this piece is ready but I still need to ground it for those with plastic tanks. Almost there.

Feedback welcome. I feel like I'm missing something but I'm not sure what it is

View attachment 2417366View attachment 2417367View attachment 2417369View attachment 2417370

Hey Joey, any plans for offering this product for the Tundra?

 

[NLXTACY]

Hey Joey, any plans for offering this product for the Tundra?

Would need access to the radiator. But if it’s like the 100 series it wouldn’t work as currently designed.