Off topic: removing Araldite?

How'd you do it?

I've just tried to set up the blade height on my handheld planer, to
discover that the set screws have been locked into the blade carriers
with epoxy or similar at the factory. It's b***dy annoying, as it's not
a cheap machine, and the adjustment is shown in the diagrams (and in a
nearly-identical DeWalt model, which has the same blade carrier).

The blade carriers are blocks of steel, roughly the size and shape of a
door handle bar, with a grub-screw at each end to ensure the blade is at
the correct height and parallel to the sole plates of the machine, but
they're well and truly gunged-in. Frustratingly, I can see the hex heads
through the epoxy (if that's what it is), but have no chance of getting
an Allen key anywhere near them.

Carb cleaner, usually the death-ray of choice, won't touch
whatever-it-is. I'm wondering if a Mapp-gas blowlamp might do it, but
also if that might spoil the hardening of the blade carrier.

What do the team do* when trying to remove Araldite from steel?

TIA,

S.

*apart from curse volubly, that is.

 

Dremel and a steady hand to get the worst out then pry off the last
thin bits with a small pick. Heat can help but you need to be
carefull and use a tiny but hot flame. My butane soldering iron has
a nice little blowlamp tip. Oxyacetelene with a jewelers jet
would be better.

 

Soak it in a bucket of petrol.

 

something sharp like a long nail, gentle taps with a hammer
Araldite or any poxy resin is not that strong and will break easily 

 

Quick-set epoxy softens with boiling water. That's worth trying first.

 

Yeeha! Success.

Mapp gas did it nicely, but you have to start heating slowly otherwise
the plug of Araldite goes off like a rocket (fun in the dark next to the
garage). It seems to liquefy at a fairly hot temperature and it will run
out and burn off, leaving the threads clean-ish. It burns with a white
flame initially and lots of sparks and fizzing, which is interesting.

Quenching in oil freed the grub screw nicely and I can even get an Allen
key in the socket now. It originally had a blued finish anyway, so
that's OK, and I don't think the temper matters much (the grub screws
are for position, not grip), so I probably haven't done any harm.

I finished too late to set it up last night -- almost missed the Wire --
but this morning I'll clean off the oil and set it up properly (dial
gauge and blocks). I think WD40 is less likely to let the grub screws
work loose than 15:40, prob a good idea at 13000 RPM. I may even resort
to Loctite...

Thanks all for the suggestions. I did find 'general' answers from the
biology lab (microtome users:
<http://www.biotech.ufl.edu/EM/data/epoxrem.html>), but I wasn't tempted
to try any of them. Apparently, making up the solution required is a
strongly exothermic reaction ("cool with ice"), and anything requiring
concentrated NaOH mixed with ethanol has 'stay away!' written all over
it. Mapp gas I can cope with...

Cheers,

S.