ok so heres what happened, i lined a bucket that was big enough for all 4, only problem was it had holes on the bottom. so i lined the bucket with plastic first. filled with vinegar ( white distilled ). came back after a week and a couple days, somehow there was a hole about halfway up the bag. needless to say about half drained out while the other half still covered some of the drums. these are the results: before: after: notice the different amounts of rust removal depending on how long each was submerged. (sidenote: i used an electric powerwasher to remove the rust)
yeah, i figured with all the crap lying around my uncles roofing shop id find something but couldnt. today i took them out of the bucket and put them in an old garbage can so i wont have to worry.
Get some Muriatic Acid; it'll do a much better job and faster too. Just don't breath the fumes or smoke around them. Neutralize with a dip of baking soda in hot water. Then dry them off and coat or seal the surface so it does'nt rust again. Try it, you'll like it! You can get Muriatic Acid at hardware stores or swimming pool chemical suppliers.
Yes the acid works well also keep it sealed . I take way out behind the shop when i use it or every thing with in 20ft will start rusting, I heard MOLASSES from the feed store works also.
i used Evaporust, amazing stuff, the metal looks like it was freshly bead blasted when done...and its not harmful to the environment nor rubber/plastic vinegar is indeed cheaper though.
Also you can get vinegar with more acidity than the stuff from the grocery store. If you have a wholesale food dealer in your area (one that sell to restaurants) go there it will be less expensive and available in more variety. Cider vinegar 5-6% (the amber stuff) is stronger than the white salad 2%vstuff from the A & P. Plastic car wash buckets are good for this usage. Some times the vinegar at the food service supply places is sold in the same style bucket.
I've used these before(250liters!!) ,no need to empty them ,just leave it out on the street each tuesday night and it's magically empty in the morning.
I'm able to get molasses by the gallon locally and have used it for years to de-rust parts. I have a big blue 55 gallon barrel with a lid [very important] to keep the foul smell in the barrel. I put 15 gallons of molasses in and fill the rest with water....stir the shit out of it to mix the water and molasses and I drilled a series ot 1/8th inch holes around the top edge of the barrel to attach wire. The other end of the wire goes on my parts so I don't have to dig around in the bottom of the barrel for the parts. Don't put any pot metal or aluminum in the mix or it will ruin it and the molasses will eat your part. I leave my rusty parts in the barrel for about 2 weeks, pull 'em out and hose 'em off on the grass. [the yard loves the molasses] but primer and paint the parts immediately or they'll begin to flash-rust in a few minutes...
I've used vinegar for years. 1)I throw my parts in the vinegar and leave for a couple of days. 2)Pull the parts out and use the standard garden hose with a nozzle to blast off the rust. If you don't do this step it just doesn't seem like it works. If after doing this step you still have rust, start at step 1) again. Then repeat step 2. 3)After blasting off the rust, wash with soapy water to kill the acid and keep the parts from flash rusting.
Costco(a big-box warehouse-type store), if there is one in your area, sells gallons of vinegar cheap. Be careful of muratic acid. I once left some open near a radial arm saw. Besides the rusting, it seems to remove any coating or anodizing from aluminum, you won't like the results of any aluminum piece in the immediate area.
I'm a big fan of vinegar for rust removal. Does seem to work better in a warmer envirorment, and being just vinegar, there are no health issues to worry about. A good rinse will remove the residue, but I found scrubbing a surface after a few hours helped speed the process. For rinsing, you can just use another container, immerse in water with baking soda, that will neutralize it and then rinse.
Hydrochloric acid will remove rust, but it also eats into the good metal if left long enough. Bigger concern is that it causes hydrogen embrittlement. Not recommended for parts that endure any stress. Terry
You can bake the hydrogen embrittlement out, on aircraft landing gear parts it is 395 degrees for 8 hours.
The muratic acid will chemically mill your parts, too. Like if you're building a sleeper and want to shave weight off the front bumper mounts, battery tray, etc. You have to vent the container, or it will build up pressure. I stripped some stuff with vinegar in an orange 5-gallon pail with a lid from Home Depot. Those lids are air tight, and actually have a rubber o-ring gasket in them. It built up enough pressure to dome the plastic lid--fortunately, it didn't burst or blow the lid off. Just drill a pin-hole in the lid and it'll be fine. Much later, I found out that vinegar can, in fact, go rancid. One of the more unpleasant smells I've had in the shop. And that's saying something. -Brad
Kinda like making hard cider. Cap the bucket and vent it with a tube into a container with some water in it. The water will allow the gas out but not allow air back in. the fellow using the bucket from home depot says they come with lids. I used to work in the commercial food service industry and lots of stuff comes in those platic buckets, three and 5 gallon sizes. If you have a college close by go to one of the dining halls on campus. They can probably hook you up with several with lids if you ask nice.
so many choices! Is there anything besides pot metal and aluminum that should not be cleaned this way?
If you use muriatic acid treat it like nuclear waste. Wear gloves, wear a respirator and keep it away from everything. We used it once to clean railroad glass insulators, put it in a bucket with the insulators, put a lid on it and put it in my folks guest bathroom for a couple of days. The fumes ate chrome off of every plumbing fixture in the room and ruined the copper wiring in the wall plugs and switchs. Stuff is mean, but we had some damn clean insulators (and some unhappy parents)
seems to me that I read something really bad about mixing acids and zinc such as would be found on a metal garbage can.
I'm not cutting on anyone and maybe I'm stupid,but wouldn't it be easier to sandblast or beadblast the drums.
I think your right. The vinegar and molassis seem to have a place though. I'm thinking about trying this on my grille which is too delicate for blasting. As far as the drums, 5 min. with the blaster it's a done deal.
Vinegar will save hours of blasting, but any soak process leaves a very coarse surface that will require sanding or blasting to look right under paint. I've used assorted acids and vinegar, they each have their place and they all work, I use vinegar for soaking, acids for brushing. IMO, use the vinegar at home for easy disposal reasons. I'm sure a city inspector or the insurance man would look more kindly on a bucket of pickles than a bucket of muriatic acid. Fumes rusting nearby components is a problem with both, as is concrete exposure. A tip I picked up here- the cider vinegar doesn't seem to flash rust as bad as white vinegar. Dunno why, but it's true. Happy soaking
I just put them in the blast cabinet and hit them with alum oxide, then cut the drum down at my buddies shop (good to have friends with machine shops). no fuss mess'n with chemicals, in fact I'm selling my empire blast cabinet for $225 over in the misc for sale section. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=238575 the one at work is great, it's 4' x 4' x 4' inside and has a power'd rotating carasell on a track set up that will hold 1000 lbs! also has a blast nozzle holder that you pre aim at your work piece before you turn on the carasell all you have to do is watch and flip the pcs over if needed.
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