Grumps wrote:
Guy King wrote:
The message
from "Grumps" contains these words:

I am trying to dismantle a child's climbing frame. It is contructed
from metal tubes. It has six legs which are formed by inserting
short tubes into each other. It has been standing for 7 years, and I
cannot pull these pieces
apart (well, I have managed two). Any advice?

Graphited penetrating and easing oil. WD40 claims it's good, but it's
not a patch on the proper stuff.

Dribble it round the joint (invert the frame if needed so the oil can
trickle down into the crevices) and leave it a day.

Warming it will help, too. With concentric rings, the outer one will
always expand more than the inner as they're heated.

Question is, can I heat it without causing any discolouration? I've tried
boiling water, but not reached for the blowtorch yet. Actually, there are
plastic inserts in the end of the tubes, so a blowtorch may not be such a
good idea (although spare inserts would be supplied free).

Then you dont want to be heating it, as you have to get things
seriously hot for that method to work. There would be no plastic or
paint remains bar charcoal. Best in this case would probably be to take
a lump of wood and go round the joint repeatedly, hammering it all
over, but not hard enough to dent it. This will slowly break up the
rust pieces and bonds.

I guess it cant be taken without this dismantling step.


NT