Re: ATM Nitric Acid for Daisy gun sight mod.?

[Robert Haler <rhaler@lymax.com>]

I tried nitric and it did work....but it's not the sort of chemical I would 
recommend everybody rush out to play with.  Since you survived using 
Muriatic acid, it would appear that you have some idea of what you are 
doing. Nitric acid is nasty stuff, and if you get too big a whiff of it, it 
eats the inner lining off of your lungs and they fill up with blood 
surprisingly fast.

A "safer" way (or at least more readily available material) is boiling 
sulfuric which you can buy at the hardware store.  Put the lens in a small 
pyrex dish and cover it with plenty of acid - leaving room in the dish so 
it won't boil over. Put it on electric hot plate in the middle of your 
backyard.  Run a 100 foot extension cord, surround the area with "police 
barrier - do not cross" tape, plug in the extension cord and watch the dish 
boil with binoculars.  Let it cook for about 30-45 minutes (DO NOT attempt 
to top up the acid if it boils low - just shut it off and let it cool), 
then unplug the power and let it cool completely to ambient temp. Now you 
dump the acid back in whatever you with use to store it and flood 
everything with water. I like to flood with water and a poop load of baking 
soda to neutralize the acid. You now have a clean lens - and a giant brown 
spot in your yard where the tiny droplets of acid have killed the grass.

This works on bigger lenses too - and SCT corrector plates if you can find 
a big enough pyrex dish.

As always, I disclaim all responsibility. If you do this it will explode 
and kill everybody in a 12 block radius, making the area uninhabitable for 
4 solar years.

Did I mention EYE PROTECTION, a RESPIRATOR, and NITRIL GLOVES?

Enjoy,

Bob


At 08:22 4/14/01 -0500, you wrote:

>Daisy gun sight mod: I saw it mentioned that Nitric acid might work
>since Muratic acid won't. I just happen to have access to some and
>wondered if anyone had actually successfully used it.
>
>Mike STephan