Chalky aluminum on my Dillon

[Alec]

The toolheads and powder hoppers/measures on my 550 seem to have oxidized and now have a chalky feel to them that also leaves behind a white dust when wiped. I'll admit the corner of the garage where it used to live was less than climate controlled, but it was still otherwise consistently kept indoors.

Does anyone have suggestions for how to remove this chalkiness and prevent it from coming back? Some of this can't be oiled (like the inside of the powder hopper). I've already relocated it to a climate controlled area.

Thanks

 

[edleit]

Aluminum Jelly is a commonly used formulation which contains phosphoric acid as the active ingredient. It is not recommended for use on anodized surfaces, but it sounds as if your equipment did not have an anodize layer as protection, which leads to the aluminum naturally oxidizing. The chalky deposits suggest that there was a fair amount of moisture available to accelerate the process.

Loctite (among other companies) offer it in reasonably sized containers for consumer use. Your local hardware store probably has it on the shelf: http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/s_trmt_alum/overview/Loctite-Aluminum-Jelly.htm

Here's an interesting forum discussion that speaks of a few additional options:
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/020553.html

As far as prevention, you have taken the first most obvious step in relocating you equipment. If you have access to a local plating company, you may consider having your parts re-anodized. A clear hard coat can be used, or a variety of color options are usually available. Coating thickness is typically less than half a ten-thousandth of an inch (<.00005) for Type I & II coatings and .0005-.0045" for Type III hard coat, so consider that along with the functional surfaces to be processed.

Another option is to keep a desiccant in your work/storage area to help absorb excess moisture.

Good luck!
Ed

 

[LoonWulf]

If your willing to spend the money on it, anodizing is the longest lasting option. What i have done is used a polish to bright the metal, and then kept it waxed to help with some of the oxidation. The cheap option would be to just remove the oxidation then paint the exposed surfaces, or as much of them as use would allow.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

Are the 550 toolheads and the metal parts of the powder measure even aluminum? I always thought they were MIM/die cast pot metal like zamak or something.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Scotchbrite pads work great on aluminum. The green are too coarse, but blue, green or red work. You can also use scouring cleaners, but do not use anything with chlorine in any form. Highly corrosive to aluminum, and emits emits poisonous fumes.

To prevent further corrosion I would use a wax. I prefer Renaissance Wax, when it dries it doesn't attract any dust. If you have a bottle of Nufinish for your tumbler, try it.

 

[highlander 5]

I have several Dillon tool heads never experienced what you have but a general cleaning and a good car wax should solve the problem.

 

[Rule3]

clean them off with superfine wet dry or steel wool and paint them (regardless of metal type) with Brownells Aluma Hyde II

Do not think it comes in Smurf Blue however
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...re-aerosol-paints/aluma-hyde-ii-prod1117.aspx


If you bought LEE equipment you wouldn't have this issue,

 

[LoonWulf]

If you bought LEE equipment you wouldn't have this issue,

yeah, youd have to paint it RED

 

[RainDodger]

I would also call Dillon and ask... chances are they've heard of this and may have a good answer for you. I've had the same Square Deal since the mid 1980s and it hasn't done that, so maybe Dillon had a bad patch of alloy or something. Doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[Sunray]

Die cast pot metal is usually a zinc based alloy. Too soft for a press.
In any case, your Dillon 550 has a life time warrantee. Call 'em.
Put a magnet on the press to determine if it's steel or Al. Steel rusts until it's gone. Ma Nature dislikes man made stuff. Al oxidizes to a greyish colour then stops oxidizing. Hot water and soap and wash it away. Or water and add two tablespoons of plain white vinegar per quart of water.
Once it's clean you can anodize or just spray on some clear coat Al paint or paint the thing black with BBQ paint.

 

[lauderdale]

Dillon will have the sure cure call them.

 

[Rule3]

yeah, youd have to paint it RED

Red and Blue makes GREEN!

 

[lauderdale]

Im with yhea I have more green then blue/ rcbs spare part order in route = thanks to all that back there product! Redding+ also.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

Die cast pot metal is usually a zinc based alloy. Too soft for a press.
In any case, your Dillon 550 has a life time warrantee. Call 'em.
Put a magnet on the press to determine if it's steel or Al. Steel rusts until it's gone. Ma Nature dislikes man made stuff. Al oxidizes to a greyish colour then stops oxidizing. Hot water and soap and wash it away. Or water and add two tablespoons of plain white vinegar per quart of water.
Once it's clean you can anodize or just spray on some clear coat Al paint or paint the thing black with BBQ paint.

yeah, i'm not talking about the press frame itself. dillon's press frames are cast aluminum (except the 1050). no doubt about that. i'm talking about some of the metal parts on the powder measure and the toolhead. those parts, along with a few other parts on my 550, don't look like aluminum to me.

 

[HOWARD J]

I would call Dillon
I dropped the plastic powder holder & it broke.
I talked to Dillon-told them what happened & they sent me a free new one.
Great company

 

[rfwobbly]

IMHO, this issue is caused by your environment. As other have rightly pointed out, what you have is simply aluminum oxidation. This is usually brought on by exposure to strong alkaline substances. This could come from living close to salt water or having a salt water fish tank in the same room, in which case the air's natural humidity level will convey the salt into and around your garage. Or, it could come from common fertilizer, salt, or other alkaline substance stored in the same area. Get rid of these high pH number bases, and the issue will most likely disappear.

► Adding an air conditioner will lower the humidity level and stop this. The water in the air is the transport medium, and with no humidity control and NJ's temperature swings, you're getting microscopic amounts of dew on your equipment in a highly repetitive fashion.

► If you don't want to add an AC unit, then another thing to consider is to add a one-time protective chemical coating to these pieces. The easiest process is a gold chromate conversion, which also go under the industry name Iridite or Alodine. You'll most definitely want the "gold" as that's a higher level of protection than "clear", which is merely the gold with most of the actual protection leached back off. These are very low-cost dip processes (as opposed to an electrically applied plating process). Do a search and you'll probably see several sources for Gold Alodine which you can apply yourself in 15 minutes using plastic buckets in a multi-stage dip process.

► The only other method is to seal out the air and humidity with annual applications of a heavy spray wax. Hornady and Dillon spray-on case lube would do an admirable job, but leave a waxy feeling film. A one-piece experiment would tell you if you could live with this solution.

Note here that paint is not generally suggested because these organic coatings won't typically adhere to the material surface due to aluminum's very rapid oxidation process. However, local powder coaters may have processes that account for this.

Best of luck.

 

[nettlle]

This may be caused by condensation. I reload in a garage and if I take my powder measure out of the air conditioned house into a hot garage it will sweat. So in the summer I leave the measure in the garage. If I leave the powder measure in the warm house in the winter and take it out in the cold garage or leave it in the cold garage and rapidly heat the garage with a space heater it will sweat. In the winter I leave the measure in the house and don't take it into the garage until I already have the garage heated up.