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Have you had one of these weekends recently?

This past weekend, I was trying to get the leveler feet off of my V63 and managed to get 3 out of 4 rusty feet off of the machine in preparation for taking care of all of the accumulated rust (by the way, the POR15 tip was right on the money!).  Of course, there is always one bolt that will not cooperate.  I used Selig's Master Mechanic as well as PR Blaster to no avail.  I was using a 1 1/16 wrench on the feet, but only managed to round off the edges.  So... I dragged out the pipe wrench as a last resort.  I got great leverage.  So great, in fact, that I snapped the foot off of the leveler.  At this point, I did not have a bolt extractor, so I decided to use some more of the trusty solvents and moved to the other end of the leveler foot bolt.  Naturally, I broke that end off the bolt too.   :darn:  So, off to the hardware store I went to get more tools.  I first went with a stud remover, but the stud remover required more length to the shank of the bolt than I had available.  So, back to the store I went.  This time I elected to purchase the more elaborate and expensive bolt extractor option.  Confident that I now had the tool I needed, I drove back home to give it a whirl.  Not only did the tool not work for the task at hand, it also wound up reversing (it's the way the 'tool' works) the chuck, bit, and all right off the end of my drill.   :veryangry:  By this time, Sunday was nearly gone, so I decided to take a "break".

I didn't have to go to work on Monday, so I decided I was going to give this process another try.  I went to Lowe's and picked up a newer, more powerful drill to use with my fancy new tool.  And, in a moment of pessimism, I also purchased a tap in case I had to drill the bolt out and re-tap the threads.  So, I get home and happily sit down to my task.  This time, not only does the chuck, bit, etc. come off the end of my brand new drill, but I also crack the collet on my day-old bolt extractor.  :Oo:  I needed another break, so I went to lunch and returned my day-old bolt extractor.  As soon as I got back home, I sat down with my drill and tap.  I drilled out the old bolt, and attempted to refresh the threads in the nut that the leveler foot goes through.  I managed to get the threads refreshed enough that the bolt will accept the leveler foot, though it's not as tight as it should be.  In retrospect, I should have probably simply drilled out the bolt in the first place, and had a better hole to tap.

In the process of my weekend spent trying to remove ONE bolt from my V63 I may have discovered an important weapon in the fight against seized bolts.  I was told by a guy who works at Sears that he has begun to use a product called Anti-Seize by a company called (I believe) Permanex.  Apparently, this stuff is supposed to work under extreme temperatures (-65 to 1500 F) and corrosive conditions.  You simply have a cleaned part, and you put a thin coat of the Anti-Seize on it, reassemble the parts, and wipe off any excess compound.  Allegedly, it solves the problem of bolts rusting together.  So, I now plan on using this stuff on all of my bolts that will be exposed to significant moisture in my machine.  Does anyone else have any experience with this product?

Sounds like a tough battle!!
This topic was discussed earlier this year.
http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,11291.0.html

Anti-seize compounds has been around for awhile. It works well, but is a mess to work with. Locktite brand comes in a stick form also that is much nicer to work with.

We in the military have used Anti-sieze compound for years in various periodic maintenance procedures, it works great!

You would be amazed a what some heat on that Leg lever would have done... Heat it up with a torch for a few minutes and ususually they losen right up.

Yep thats what I do. Hit it with a blow torch and it will come right out.

Anyone ever put wheels on their machines for easy movement? If so, what kind, size, etc?

Next time I'll have to go with heat... you only heat the area around the bolt as opposed to the bolt itself, right?  If you were to heat the bolt, the bolt would expand and make the problem worse. Is my thinking correct?

Some machines had handle/dolly kits as optional equipment - V-39, V-44, ST V-56 and lots of others.
Be careful putting casters on uprights as it can make them top heavy.

I am not sure of the physical properties but it works. maybe it expands it, breaks all the rust free and then as it cools it becomes looose.. all I know is that it works every time.

This is correct. Don't heat the bolt, but the area around it. It smokes like hell, but I have also gone a step further and hit the bolt with WD-40 after heating the area around it. This helps cool the bolt quicker and lubes at the same time. Just don't spray when the flame is on :smile:

I always heat the bolt itself. All it does is expand and contract and breaks the rust.