I left the pickle pot on and it cooked down to just a chemical slab, no water. I have done this before and had it work fine after cleaning and refilling…Not this time.
I was filling it with hot water to melt the hardened chemicals and I heard a “snap”… I knew what must have happened and I was right. The beaker broke.
I found a reasonably priced used one on Ebay and ordered it but want to try to replace the beaker in the one I just broke. Have any of you ever done this repair ?
Amazon has the 800 ml beaker for less than $12 US. IMO, it is worth trying to fix, at least I’ll have a spare but any advice from anyone who has replaced the beaker in the past would be greatly appreciated.
BTW, anyone have a suggestion for a 110 volt timer I can plug the new pot into so I don’t fry this new one ? All the ones on Amazon seem designed to turn on and off, I just want one that will turn off in 4 hours or so, I’ll turn it back on myself.
I’ve never done the repair you suggested. But if you are looking for an economical solution to your problem, why not consider a slow cooker/crock pot from your nearest store. Most of them come with programmable timers and locking lids to keep the fumes down. Liners are ceramic so no problem with contamination. I use the one in the link below set on low, power it on when I enter the shop and let it run until it shuts off. I’ve never had a problem and the space is huge I can put entire sheets of silver in the pickle without having to do the end over end flip.
No connection to the seller or the maker of the crock pot I’ve mentioned.
Don’t know about replacing the pot (but using a slow cooker is what we do) but for a timer, you should be able to find an on and off timer in any hardware store, Walmart or most anywhere. The light timers used for turning lights on and off in your house. Just make sure the timer is able to handle the wattage of the pickle heater. Graingers has more industrial timers as do most swimming pool suppliers. There are all sorts of timers available, just do a search to get an idea….
I agree with Dave, but i purchased a small crock pot with a ceramic liner and lid at a thrift store. It was new and unused. It holds a liter of fluid. I don’t always turn out on unless I’m in a real hurry. Ours on a power strip surge protector, so I use the strip to turn off little things in my studio. I’ve found that if I just use room temp pickle overnight, it does the job for castings, in particular. I can also use special containers (large yogurt or cottage cheese with lids) for non cross contaminating pickle environments - each one for its own metal: brasses, bronze, silver & gold. Of course, it’s just me and I have plenty to do, so I adjust priorities and generally use the hot pickle for either sterling or gold, changing out the container solutions when need be.
The cracking beaker was thermal shock. I tend to add fluid to a glass container at room temp if it’s empty. And only if the glass container is at room temp itself… safe side precaution. Between my older brother having a bent towards mad scientist with a full chemistry lab in our garage as kid in the 60’s & dealing with a slew of hot glass coffee pots in a restaurant in college, I am respectful of glass, even if its pyrex or or safety glass. And use gloves & goggles, etc if you want to live dangerously. I keep fluid containers with pickle in a larger heavy plastic tray original used for photographic developmentv with no spillage to clean up.
I’m glad you weren’t injured.
Eileen
It had cooled off for a week. I think that perhaps the hot water I used to dissolve the chemical “puck” maybe expanded the puck and it fractured the beaker…just a guess but the pot was not hot.
Thanks all of you for your quick responses and suggestions…I have a story of why I will never use a crock pot.
I had a small crock pot with a blue colored ceramic liner. I had used it for awhile and the glaze was etched by the pickle. I had no issues with it up to the point of this story.
I had completed a small hinged silver box (method taught by the Great John Cogswell) and I was raising the fine silver on it. Upon removal from the pickle one of the times I noticed what looked like a small blob of white metal on the lid (it sorta looked like soft solder or lead) I’m sure it wasn’t lead but it was some type of “white metal” and upon reheating the piece for its next pickle bath, the white metal melted and ate into the silver (I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about…creating a cancerous pit !) Luckily it was on a textured piece of the lid. I used a small chisel or graver (I don’t recall exactly which) to remove it and some of the surrounding silver and salvaged the piece.
Thus I will never again take a chance using a crock pot as a pickle pot. The Ferris pot is a small price to pay to not have a repeat of what I experienced before.
I will try the beaker replacement repair and report my success (or lack thereof) to the Forum. If anyone has some suggestion for the repair I would appreciate. My main questions are: 1 - What material is the black tape looking stuff at the top of the beaker? 2 - What is the white plaster of Paris looking material surrounding the beaker ?
I think the repair is surely doable but having answers to those two questions would surely help.
This is another reply that does not help you repair your busted pickle pot. But after ruining my last (of several) pickle pot doing exactly the same thing and worried about burning my shop down, I stopped using them. Now I just keep a lidded jar with pickle handy and when needed I put it in the basket of my hot sonic. The ultrasonic is always on so if I need warm pickle it does the job. Plus the vibration doesn’t hurt.
Mark
PS I’ve often wished I had a few main switches by the shop exit that would power down the whole shop. That would have kept me from frying all those picklers.
Just buy a crock-pot at the local Bed, Bath and Beyond. When it dies, buy another one. A timer can be made from a bathroom fan rotary switch, outlet and junction box. You can buy the switch at Lowes or Amazon. Don’t sweat this stuff, make jewelry instead. Go to my website www.robmeixner.com and the very last shop picture to see what I make for a timing switch. Should be at
