MTFCA Forum

Is there a good way to separate shims ? I alway have difficulty pealing off the thinnest shim. Finger nail,sharp knife?


John

I've used a small Exacto hobby knife before AND a magnifying visor ! I seem to recall reading something about heating up one end to delaminate the adhesive ?

Yup- Exacto knife.

Heat a corner with a small lighter to soften the adhesive, then us a sharp blade. I use a utility knife because it has a good handle and supports the blade well, but a single edge razor blade or exacto knife work as well.

I do more than heat the corner. I hold a propane torch near the shim stack until the adhesive, (paraffin?), burns away. They all come part nicely then. You obviously don't want to melt them...

I have good luck with single edge razor blades. That work fine for me.

Thanks for all the ideas. I will work on some shims tomarrow.

John

Jerry VanOoteghem wrote: ↑

Sun May 10, 2020 1:29 pm

I do more than heat the corner. I hold a propane torch near the shim stack until the adhesive, (paraffin?), burns away. They all come part nicely then. You obviously don't want to melt them...

A refinement on my suggestion above would be to put a tie wire through the hole and hold the shim over a stove flame, (which in retrospect, is what I actually did).

I don’t want the whole pack to come apart so I hold it with a pliers a ways from one end. Then hit the end with the torch.

I had good luck heating the shims with a micro torch. I held one end and heated just the outer layer all over. The outside layer would curl and loosen. They came off one at a time. The forum helps me once again.


John

Take your soldering gun, hold it on the pack until the top one slides off. Repeat as needed.

I have used an x-acto knife too, as well as a single edge razor blade. What I don't like is the shims are usually .003" which is too thick for close adjustments. I have to make my own .001" shims to get the adjustments I want.