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http://www.motors-direct.co.uk/index.php?_a=product&product_id=129
that shit is magic. Had the pleasure of meeting their sales chap at work a few weeks back. Apparently their chemicals are NATO approved. Serious.
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Yeah, I thought it was loctite as that seems like the standard with ital BBs and stopping them from unthreading, and acetone is supposed to dissolve that, but no love there. Have heated the hell out of it with a hot air gun and have got absolutely nothing from it too, the stuff definitely isn't responding to heat.
I think the problem is that I cant get any kind of purchase on it, so if I saw a hole down ot the threads of the frame there isn't any way I can then try and crush it
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I have no idea what the cups are made from, they seem quite soft though (compared the the rest of the fame), would that be alloy? It was just a generic campag cartridge bb, relatively new (late 80s onwards) as it had modern campag spines and should be undone with one of these guys
Would sodium hydroxide not touch the frame? -
http://www.motors-direct.co.uk/index.php?_a=product&product_id=129
that shit is magic. Had the pleasure of meeting their sales chap at work a few weeks back. Apparently their chemicals are NATO approved. Serious.
I might give that a go, a tenner including shipping isn't cheap and I'm off on holiday on Sunday so might leave it for a bit, but I'm guessing this might be the route I have to head down.
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Dissolve it, like rusty says. Proper caustic soda, not "soda crystals" from a supermarket.
Fill a washing up bowl or similar with water so that it covers the BB, and rig up a way of holding the frame so it sits in the water, then slowly add caustic soda once everything is nice and stable. You also need to make sure nobody or no animal can get close to it, this stuff can burn skin. Leave it for a few hours and stir occasionally.
After a while the alloy may neutralise the caustic soda, so replace the water and add some more caustic soda
You can pour the old stuff down the drains safely, in fact it is quite good for them. Eventually there will be nothing left but the frame threads, nice and clean and fresh, and with no risk of damage. -
Dissolve it, like rusty says. Proper caustic soda, not "soda crystals" from a supermarket.
Fill a washing up bowl or similar with water so that it covers the BB, and rig up a way of holding the frame so it sits in the water, then slowly add caustic soda once everything is nice and stable. You also need to make sure nobody or no animal can get close to it, this stuff can burn skin. Leave it for a few hours and stir occasionally.
After a while the alloy may neutralise the caustic soda, so replace the water and add some more caustic soda
You can pour the old stuff down the drains safely, in fact it is quite good for them. Eventually there will be nothing left but the frame threads, nice and clean and fresh, and with no risk of damage.I think this sounds like my next option
Would this do the job?
http://www.boots.com/en/Boots-Caustic-Soda-500g_923900/Any idea to the kind of water:caustic ratio. It won't burn through plastic tubs or anything will it?
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If your local Boots doesn't have it, most DIY stores will.
Read up on it before trying it though - You can cause yourself some damage if you get it on you.
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If your local Boots doesn't have it, most DIY stores will.
Read up on it before trying it though - You can cause yourself some damage if you get it on you.
Shit, I've just done a bit of reading online and cant figure out if my frame (Columbus SLX) is full steel or alloy. Differing opinions on a lot of website and nothing definitive, anyone have any ideas?! I'm guessing if it's alloy, the caustic soda will destroy that too, right?
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Ahh, can't make my mind up. Official places list the frame as being made of "cyclex steel", but don't list what that actually is, and some other sites (mainly forums) say that it's got aluminum in it. I'm guessing if it has any aluminum in it the caustic soda will just destroy it anyway.
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Failing that get SuperTed to melt it out. Worked a treat on Sally's stuck seatpost. Scary to watch but he knows what he is doing. Cost is about 20 quid and he will have the tools to tap the BB threads again to make sure everything is bang on. Good luck dude - SLX is defo worth saving!
Yeah, I think I'll go there next, £20 is fine if it works, and the costs are adding up with my buying all of these random chemicals and things anyway!
You wouldn't have any idea about the makeup of the SLX tubing would you? I'm already having nightmares about putting it in the caustic soda and picking it back up and only half of it is there! haha
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If it's seized, it's because the frame is steel and the BB is aluminium.
When aluminium bonds to aluminium, it can be dissolved with a mild acid.
If you're in doubt, dunk it in a bucket of coke for a few days and see if that works.
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SLX is steel AFAIK so will be fine. Steel is an alloy of iron and a load of other stuff which might be where the confusion is coming in. The BB is almost certainly aluminium (aka Alloy) so should melt out fine with caustic. The paint is already gone so nothing to damage there. Worst case scenario is the BB turns out to be steel also and stays put. I'm not offering a guarantee on any of this advice by the way as I have always taken stuff like this to SuperTed to let a proper frame builder do it.
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Holy shit it looks like the caustic soda is working. All fizz from inside the bb and nothing else is corroding. Fingers crossed!
Here's a little update pic
Seems to be working ok. BB has now turned black (although it doesn't seem to be actually be corroding properly yet, which is a tough worrying) and theres a sort of metallic froth inside the water now which I can only assume is the BB slowly being broken down.
And another pic of why I'm going through the hassle of this. Beautiful (albeit still a bit dirty!) lugwork. I effing love this bike.
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Caustic soda is dirt cheap. If it is steel it is magnetic, so easy to tell without having to read the internet. The reason it has seized is because the aluminium has oxidised probably due to salt from road deicing. The dissolving trick works fine, if you are careful and patient
But if you have a cool guy with a torch, and £20, it is well worth spending. What you did with a heat gun is not heat, warmth at best.
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Super seized bottom bracket
Posted by
I've got a beautiful Columbus SLX frame which was in a bit of a state when I bought it (rusty and a bit creaky, but fundamentally fine), I've stripped all of the paint off of the frame and have got down to removing the campag cartridge bb in preparation to getting it resprayed, but the bastard does NOT want to come out.
It's Italian threaded (had Italian measurements on the cup and the rest of the frame is too) so I'm aware of the reverse threading on the non-drive side, but it looks like the previous owner has glued it in, and it's siezed to an almost impossible point.
I had it down my LBS yesterday and managed with a couple of their guys to pound out the spindle and all of the insides of the bb with a massive hammer, but the two outer cups are still there and will not budge for love nor money. I've gone at them both with a drill and a hacksaw and it just isn't budging (I'll attach some pictures so you guys can see just how little of it is left - inside ones too so you can see the weird white substance around the inside of the cups too - I have no idea how it's still in there) but the metal is just breaking away rather than letting me actually get into it and make any decent size cuts, and I'm extremely aware that I'm perilously close to buggering the threads (so far I've nicked it in a few places, but I'm sure that's repairable, but I know any more is getting into dangerous territory) so was just wondering if anyone had some advice.
So far I've attempted, extensive drilling, a bit of sawing, using acetone to break down what I thought was loctite on the threads (it's not, it almost has a chalk like texture now, but only chips away in small bits), tried making holes and hammering it round, but there's not enough shell left to get any reliable holds on it, tried WD40, heating and cooling (all of this done with my LBS), NOTHING is working! My LBS has been great helping out for free (I think they see it as a test more than anything!) but I'm broke as hell at the moment so cant afford to go throwing £50+ on getting this out either.
Sorry for the huge message, but I love this frame, it's so well put together, lugs are beautiful, super light, and I would hate to have to chuck it because of this, but I'm fast running out of ideas! If anyone had a useful tip or two I would be forever indebted to you!
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