Drain unblockers

Momentum

One pedal axle is fused into non drive side crank so I got the pedals and cranks (generic 170mm road doubles) for about £2. Been trying to get the axle out every so often ever since with no luck, a spiralled allen key and a few broken dremel cutting disks!

Hopefully I can dissolve it out and feel extremely smug and happy. They are wickedly cool looking pedals.

Well that worked well. Cut the end of the crank off, filed all the alu surfaces to get rid of any anodisation and thin the oxide layer a bit and dropped it in a mug of warm caustic soda. Fizzed like a bastard and got quite hot. Left it there for a bit and occassionally fished it out with pliers and wearing marigolds to see what was up. Took about 40 minutes for half the aluminium to dissolve and that was enough for me to unscrew the axle. Quick clean and the axle is as good as new.

This could be useful for getting stems and seatposts out as well if you plugged holes and filled the fork/frame. Couple of things to bear in mind for anyone who's gonna try it. First, the shit is called caustic soda for a reason. The bottle explains how to mix it for unblocking drains and stripping paint so don't get on your skin or anywhere else that won't be cool with a chemical burn. Second - it makes hydrogen so make sure it can all escape so you don't reenact the hindenburg.