Rusty screws

[SteveK]

Steve,
for the record, Fastener Express is much cheaper than Mcmaster Carr for 4-40 hardware

Wow, they really are. 100 3/8" 4-40 screws, black steel, are $10.47 at McMaster, and $3.94 at Fastener Express. Not sure if they are the same black screws like McMaster, but that's a pretty big price difference. If you're into the colors, they have a ton of anodized aluminum stuff too.

Now I just need to find a couple of parts boxes with fixed dividers; I keep knocking the moveable ones loose and the screws get mixed together. The ones I have are too big to fit on the workbench easily too, I need some with like 12 sections or something.

[Y'ernat Al]

...I keep knocking the moveable ones loose and the screws get mixed together....

I had the same problem. Got CA glue in any of the slots?

[mikedealer]

i like naval jelly from home depot.

[Y'ernat Al]

That pink stuff! Good call. I'd forgotten about that. They still make it?!? My dad used that all over his 1929 model A resto when I was a kid.

[mikedealer]

they still sell it, its in the paint section usually, i use it all the time to clean rust, works fabulous, i think the trick is to apply heavy, tap and wipe most of it off, but leave a coating on and the item wont re-rust

[SteveK]

I remember naval jelly from years ago, trying to treat the rust on my '84 Omni. I was looking at degreasers a couple weeks ago at Lowe's, and again today, they've been out of that stuff for weeks.

Soaked all the screws in Purple Power, rinsed them off, then soaked them in WD-40 for a couple of days, seems to have worked pretty well. They are all clean at least, if not totally rust-free. The ball studs have been soaking in WD-40 for a few days now, I'll pull them out today and let them air-dry like the screws.

Those purple fine Dremel buffs work awesome, but they seem to wear really quickly on anything with a sharp edge. I was polishing some diff outdrives and that seems to wear them down fast, but then I they were already used for a while before that. I'll get a couple of new ones when I go to clean up the ball studs.