An excuse for buying acids

[J]

Today I had the need to strip around 30 strands of extremely fine enamelled copper wire on both ends. Since sandpaper wouldn't do it reliably (and I didn't fancy stripping 60 ends with it anyway) I decided to try a chemical means. Paint stripper didn't work, but 91% H2SO4 (sold as drain opener) stripped the wire bare in 2 1/2 minutes.

Anyway, this is an unusual but perfectly legitimate use for strong acids if you happen to mess around with electronics. A quick internet search reveals that HNO3 will also work wonders for this, although no mention of H2SO4 is made anywhere.

I suspect that Citric acid and HCl will also work, since HCl has a warning about damaging enamel on the pack, and Linctus (cough medicine: CA and Glycerine) has a warning that it will take the enamel off your teeth if over used.

This could be a valid excuse for buying strong HNO3 from chemical suppliers too, providing you only order a liter or so.

If anyone else has any unusual but legitimate uses for common pyro chems, please share them.

[Zach]

Some of my friends use HNO3 to clean their rims ( all us bums in the midwest have got to do is work on our cars or get into trouble ).
why they dont use HCL I dont know, but hey, free HNO3 for me!
one of the guys has an aunt who works for a company that does pharmacutical/chemical research... sounds like a F but starts with a Ph... so anyways, he can get pretty much any chemical he wants.

[NoltaiR]

Well the only acid I ever have available to buy anyways is H2SO4 (for batteries and for drain cleaner) and HCL (Muriatic acid for swimming pools. HNO3 is the only other acid that I use and I make it from KNO3 and H2SO4.. so acids are usually the least of my worries.

However I have a just one question, J, you said you use 91% H2SO4 drain cleaner (the same concentration my drain cleaner has)... what color is yours? Is it yellow like it is supposed to be or some other exotic color (mine is black.. I have to boil it to separate the H2SO4 and the additives and then use a pipet to get the H2SO4 at the bottom.

[mark]

Mines dark brown. I dont mess with purification, as AP was a know frills explosive.

[J]

It's purple, the same shade as Meths additive. I guess it's to stop idiots drinking it.

[NoltaiR]

Oh I just found out that mine is 94%. I tried it last night without purifying it in a 40g batch of AP and the product looks fine, although I haven't had time to test it out yet.

[DarkAngel]

For some chemicals it can help in order to succesfully buy them to know where it's going to be used for(In my opinion you should always know this in case they ask).
The way you come over to the one behind the check-out is also important and for some situations it's necessary to say who will use the product.

In alot of big hardware stores it's mostly easy to buy whatever you wan't.
But in some stores (Drug stores,Pharmacy's) it can become difficult as the chemicals you buy mostly aren't provided with a tag on it that explains where it's normally used for but need to be specially ordered or normally not sold to the public in there pure form.
So you need to explain them where you are going to use it for.

If you need to buy things like fertillizers in agriculture stores you could say where you need it for but still isn't sometimes enough as alot of teenagers like most of us are ,are not the kind of people that look like they work with fertillizers.
So you could say that someone else (Dad,Uncle..)asked it to you to buy it for him.

Also if you only now a little bit about where a certain chemical is used for say that someone else asked you to buy this certain chemical and if they start asking questions like,Example:"So you wan't to buy pure Nitro Methane,what do you mix with it in order to get airplane fuel?" simple say i don't know but my dad knows it.
(BTW it's Methanol and Castor oil)

Especially for the more dangerous/special chemicals it helps if you don't look like a "bad" or sinister looking guy.
Be friendly,smile a bit,talk with the person behind the desk or even make a few jokes.
With this way the chances that the person behind the desk think's that you will do other things than that you are supposed to do with the chemicals are smaller as you don't look/act like that kind of guy.
I ones bought some KCLO4 in a drug store and said that my dad needed it for killing weed in our garden (CLO3's do that but they believed me) and after they gave me it,they said to me that i needed to be carefull not to mix it with fuels as they form explosive mixtures.
I believe i said something like: "We wouldn't wan't that to happen thanks for the advise"
They never even thought about it that i would make such a mix.
But i also had other experients in stores when buying Sulfer.
Where they said that they thought that i would make bombs with it.
You could try to convince them that your not want to do that but if that doesn't work make sure you don't start to blush (As this will tells them they dismantle you),say something like "Unfortunately you have the wrong impression of me" and walk out of the store.

If you wan't to know more about where a certain chemical is used for,simple use a search engine and see what you can find before going to the store.

Try to buy something when there are no other customers around.
With this way you could explain where you need the item for,or if they ask questions like: "You aren't going to make/do bombs/bad things with it?" you can deal with it quietly without other customers hear it and start to interfere with it.

If you don't know where a certain chemical is used for just lie(KCLO4 story).
Example:
You:Do guys sell 30% H202?
Store:Where do you need it for?
You:Well me and my dad just made a wooden frame and we need to bleach the wood which is done with H202.(They bleach hair with 6%/12% so why not use 30% for wood;)?)

[drstrangelove]

I have found buying chemicals from chemical supply houses is not as scary as it would first seem,in my mind I thought chemical supplyers would only sell to profesionals,and would know straight away that I was up to no good.The first time I ordered I gave a false name but my real phone number and enquired about aluminium powder,they said they would have a look "out the back" and give me a ring back.I thought they will never ring back but with-in a half hour they rang back and said no worrys I ordered a kilo which cost around $70 dollars.When I went to pick it up I was concerned the staff might question me but to my suprise a huge shifty looking fat bastard appered at the counter,I explained I had rang earlier and was here to pick up my goods.He asked my name and I gave him the falsey and he grabbed my goods and I was out of there.My reciept was in the dodgy name with no phone number or address-he didnt even ask!-LOVELY-

[vulture]

Here in Brussels there is a paintstore which sells virtually everything you need for pyrotechnics.
So funny alot of explosive precursors are used in painting.
Al, Mg, Zn, Fe2O3,... al used to make metal paint.
toluene, xylene, sulfuric acid, nitric acid and H2O2 to clean up stains, bleach or etch surfaces.
Normally they can be bought without excuse. Damn shame Zn and Mg are so expensive.

However, chem suppliers don't like individuals here. They only ship to company addresses and people which have a company and a BTW number. (kind of identification number for your bizz with the IRS)

I almost lost my nerve in chemistry class last week where we were doing redox. Al that Zn and Mg wasted to extract Cu from CuSO4! AAAARRRGGH! What a waste! :(

That's a hell of a lot of money you payed for your Al drstrangelove! I get a Kg for $30! Maybe you should order technical grade or dust grade next time, works just as good.
NEVER order A.C.S. or HPLC grade chemicals for pyrotechnic/explosive use. They are insanely pure, mostly 99.99%, which you don't need.
97% is good enough.

Try visiting a company which make Al or Mg frames/objects. Ask if you can collect their dust.

<small>[ March 16, 2002, 06:22 AM: Message edited by: vulture ]</small>

[DarkAngel]

I think i know that store is it called Lion?
You have everything there,those kind of stores are the ones you need to have in your city.