Anybody know of a cheap and easy way of removing the rubber (other than burning) around the brass valve stems from tires? I have collected a few of them and would like to add them to my bucket of clean brass.
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Anybody know of a cheap and easy way of removing the rubber (other than burning) around the brass valve stems from tires? I have collected a few of them and would like to add them to my bucket of clean brass.
If they're the same truck valve stems I'm thinking of, they should be easily split using a grinder. Then grab the rubber with a pair of pliers.
Also, here is an old thread on the same subject: http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/disma...lve-stems.html
I agree that's it's probably not worth the trouble to do it, but if you're set on it, I had this idea:
I know that MEK will swell/soften/dissolve rubber and plastic materials. I suspect plenty of different solvents will work the same. If you have any of that, throw a valve stem or two into a container of whatever you've got and see if it makes it easier to pull the rubber off of the brass. If it works good, you can do big bucket loads at a time. I used to work in a machine shop/plastic factory, and we used buckets of MEK to clean tools and stuff all the time, and when the MEK started getting dirty, we would just pour it through a filter and that would "clean" it enough to keep using for quite a while. Don't let it sit on your skin, though. NOT GOOD FOR YOU.
And don't work with it in an enclosed area. Fumes will fry your brain cells.