Can vinegar remove lacquer?

quinterbourne · Post by **quinterbourne** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:38 am

Can vinegar remove lacquer, even if exposed/soaked in it for many hours? I'm working on a 5 year old PT-6p and if I remove any lacquer I am a dead man.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:47 am

I wouldn't want to expose lacquer to ANY liquid for several hours... not even water! Especially not vinegar... which is a mild acid. It might not hurt anything, but why take the chance?

quinterbourne · Post by **quinterbourne** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 2:19 am

I was considering letting the valve caps soak in the vinegar overnight... I agree it probably wouldn't be a problem and that it's not worth the risk. I had them in there for about an hour, took them out, rinsed and scrubbed. Probably wouldn't have gotten much cleaner if soaked overnight anyways, and they're already as clean as they'll ever need to be.

Thanks, TubaTinker.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:14 am

Generally, vinegar is OK and won't harm anything. Now, if you've been messing around with acetone (i.e., nail polish remover), your lacquer finish can disappear in no time!

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:07 am

quinterbourne wrote:I was considering letting the valve caps soak in the vinegar overnight... ... Thanks, TubaTinker.

The crud I usually find in the bottom of valve caps is mostly residue from dried lubricants. Use a stiff toothbrush that is made for scrubbing dentures and scrub the inside of the cap with Dawn and warm water first. If there are any visible mineral deposits inside the caps after the scrubbing, lightly scrape the deposits off with a small screwdriver and repeat the Dawn bit.

MartyNeilan · Post by **MartyNeilan** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:05 pm

LoyalTubist wrote:Generally, vinegar is OK and won't harm anything.

The previous owner of my F tuba gave it a bath in warm water with some vinegar in it. Most of the lacquer on the 30 year old Cerveny flaked off. The lacquer on your PT6 may be better. Not a chance I would want to take.

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:19 pm

I have posted on other threads and forums a kind of "witches brew" of warm to hot water, hand dishsoap, vinegar and salt for really tough cases. It probably will take lacquer, especially if heated. But it's second only to ultrasound cleaning for the crud it can get out of a horn. Then rinse. Oh, yeah -- rinse. Did I say rinse? Rinse some more. Rinse....

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:20 pm

There is no way that vinegar in cold water is going to remove properly-applied lacquer.

Now, for the weasel words:

Hot water (or hot vinegar) will do a job on any nitrocellulose-based (read: older) lacquer. Nitrocellulose just doesn't stick to bare metal terribly well to begin with and some coaxing with hot water will damage it. Properly-applied and cured epoxy lacquers should be immune to most anything save a tactical nuke or belt sander.

If there are scratches in the lacquer in the valve caps that you're soaking, they will turn pink in vinegar. That's primarily from the vinegar leaching a bit of zinc out of the unprotected brass surface. It's not harmful, but it may be unsightly.

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:22 pm

Gee... you think if the metal expands, the lacquer kinda breaks up!?

RyanSchultz · Post by **RyanSchultz** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:14 pm

When working on my old PT-3 I've found that cold vinegar does remove the lacquer. On my PT6p any valve surface (in my case valve stems) soaked in cold vinegar has come away with noticeably less lacquer.

I'd be careful.

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:58 pm

RyanSchultz wrote:When working on my old PT-3 I've found that cold vinegar does remove the lacquer. On my PT6p any valve surface (in my case valve stems) soaked in cold vinegar has come away with noticeably less lacquer.

I'd be careful.

I wouldn't have given lacquer a chance in Hades on a valve stem (oil, water, mechanical abrasion). Why lacquer a valve stem anyway? They're easy enough to nickel-plate.

Strange German custom, I guess...

XtremeEuph · Post by **XtremeEuph** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 5:10 pm

How long are you supposed to keep your tuba bathing anyway?..............or do you let it sit at all?

XtremeEuph · Post by **XtremeEuph** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:02 pm

velocity?

MartyNeilan · Post by **MartyNeilan** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:12 pm

Velocity in action:

Using water to cut metal.

XtremeEuph · Post by **XtremeEuph** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:13 pm

oh , ok...................JEEZE BLOKE! Why do you have to make my life so complicated? lol

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:10 pm

bloke wrote:Cannot most anything remove most anything - given enough time and/or velocity?

Sure! The Colorado River and the Grand Canyon started out as a small stream over a mud puddle!

MartyNeilan · Post by **MartyNeilan** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 8:51 am

iiipopes wrote: Sure! The Colorado River and the Grand Canyon started out as a small stream over a mud puddle!

I thought illegal immigrants dug the Grand Canyon?!?

Marty "waiting to see how fast this post gets pulled

)

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