I just tried the de-rusting procedure using water and baking soda and a battery charger, and it worked out great. It took a couple of days, but it got all the rust off of an old steering column and box, and freed it up. Aftert I took it out I used a wire brush and brushed the now turned black rust right off. Has anyone else tried this, or is there another method of ridding metal pieces of rust. I have my brake and clutch pedals cooking as we speak.
1320stang, a coworker, has recently had favorable results with his electrolytic bath. another he's trying is molasses. pretty stinky, but evidently effective.
Yeah, I got a 60 gallon plastic barrel and a couple of 5/8" rebar pieces for my anodes and am using a Schumacher deep cycle battery charger. My latest trial was a old rusty crescent wrench, but all it did was clean up the handle. The screw and moving jaw evidently weren't making good contact with the handle. I've since put it into the 5 gallon metal bucket with the mole-asses in it, I'll leave it for another week and try it out again. I need to get a turkey fryer burner base for it as I understand heat works better. When I end up replacing my water heater I intend on salvaging the element bung and the thermostat and getting a 55 gallon drum so I can do bigger parts. I also need to get a bigger battery charger, mine doesn't make the foam like some of the other pics I've seen. I'm also wondering if proximity has anything to do with it, like use a container closer to the size of the part or get the anodes closer to the part without letting it arc out.
Just put the parts in vinegar, simple as pie. It is .99 a gallon at the grocery store and it can be used over and over again.
A friend of mine has been usng the water and molasses bath and says it works very well, but it takes longer. I was amazed at howfast this worked. The steering column I put in there had sat outside for a long time and was frozen. First the column came loose and the box freed up and now I'm working on freeing up the spark and throttle levers along with my pedals.
get a rubber or plastic tub a battery charger a piece of metal strap or rebar and several boxes of baking soda. fill the tub with enough water to submerge your parts to be cleaned secure your piece of metal to the tub with a c clamp clamp you negative cable to the part to be cleaned clamp your positive clamp to the metal piece sticking out of the tub p;ug in the charger, then add enough baking soda to increase the amps opn your charger to about half of the charging capacity. Let the parts sit overnight and check them...the rust shold turn black and you shold be able to brush it off with a wire brush.
I've been using electrolysis on sheetmetal with great results. The box for my 30/31 rpu is on pieces. I'm dipping one piece at a time. I do not like sandblasting old tin. Don't have a decent sandblaster and can't trust others to do it right. I use washing sode.. not baking soda. I built a wooden tub that I can "size" to the desired shape and size. I then line it with a thick tarp or plastic and make some hydrogen! That is a BIG issue if you are new to this. It makes hydrogen! DON'T DO IT INSIDE without good venying! BOOM!
Man, the hamster in my head is getting a lot of excersice with all the ideas im getting. Im wondering if i can dip my whole car with a makeshift tub? What about lead? Will it get eaten away. I did a lot of leadwork on some panels.
Dude read the thread in the Techomatic that I posted for you.It has links to other web sites that deal w/ just what your wanting to do. There are a Shitload of threads on this subject you just have to have the ability to type in the search box.
Like S.T.P. says... There are LOTS of decent articles on this. This is a good one: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm And of course there is a lot on here too. Start doing some good reading so you really understand the process. If you don't want to try it.. watch out with vinegar. you MUST "neutralize" it after or it will keep eating away at the steel. I sure thought this was a joke but try 1 part molasses with about 6 parts water, degrease the part to be dipped and then stick it in the mixture for a couple of weeks or more. Stinks nasty as it works but does a nice job. Tried them all. I like electrolysis. Gentler than sandblasting or vinegar and faster than molasses.
More of my 2 cents... 1320stang: Yes.. proximity does come into play (in my experience). Closer seems better but remember that it's "line of site" so if it's too close to the piece you might not get as good a coverage as you would if you pulled it back a little further. Closer also draws more current from your power source.. as does the size of your cathode so watch the power supply. I've been using old strips of body metal that I had laying around. I can cut them as wide or long as I need. 6deucecaddy: 12 volts works well. Believe it or not I have been using a 1/2 amp, 12 volt adaptor from a laptop computer for most pieces (largest was a pickup bed side). If the electrolyte mixer is too strong it will draw too much power and peg-out the power supply. Either weaken the mixture, move back the cathodes or (not preferred) get a bigger power supply. As for dipping a whole body.. as I mentioned the process is line of sight so you would have to place electrodes in strange places (sounds painful). I think I'd use electrolysis to get the most off and the dip it in a molasses dip for a couple weeks to get the rest of it from out of the cracks and crevices. Or just do the molasses thing. Just remember to degrease first with molasses or it isn't as effective. This isn't an effortless process. you need to build the tank, set it all up and then scrub off the black magnetite that forms on the metal after. If that's too much work for you.. blast and pray you have something left after.
After dipping the parts in vinegar, just wash them off with water and a brush, then dry them and primer them as fast as you can.
yeah, it will work great on sheetmetal, you just might not like what you find after. If the metal is pitted it may have many pinholes after you pull it out. Thats what I found anyway. The nicest thing about this method is that it doesn't remove any material, any kind of dipping in an acid will remove rust as well as good steel, electrolysis only converts the rust molecules allowing you to brush them off with a wire brush. Darren
doubledawg.. don't you find that sandblasting removes more metal than electrolysis making for more of a surprise once clean? I find blasting creates holes where electrolysis or molasses doesn't I've seen in other posts about "safest rust remover". Anyone in this post have any experience with that stuff? That reminds me.. I have to go take a part out of a molasses dip. willys truck... I guess I just didn't have much luck getting all of the vinegar off. Maybe I'll try again. I see that heating the vinegar solution helps but stinks to high heaven. Did you heat it?
The vinegar is not harsh to the metal, i have dipped spindles in vinegar and the machining lines are still visable. Gizmojoe, I use pure distilled vinegar just like you buy at the grocery store, I put 3 or 4 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket with a top on the bucket. I do not heat it, I just leave the bucket out in front of my shop with the top on, so I do not have to smell vinegar all the time. (the top also keeps the vinegar from evaporating) If the part is heavily rusted, it may take a week or a little longer to take the rust off. When the parts are free of rust, pull the parts out of the vat, they will have a black film on them, wash the parts off then wash the parts while scrubbing them with a brush to get the black stuff off. Then I usuall dry the parts with compressed air, then I prime them. You can use the vinegar over and over again.
Thanks willys truck. I've been going off of information from a bunch of sources off of the web and the HAMB. One is: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72425&showall=1 I will try vinegar too but I must say I will do a good job at getting it off of the body panels... just in case. My old rpu parts need all the help they can get.
Forgive me if this is a stupid Question!!! I know there are A LOT of HAMB police out there ready to pounce on dumb questions, but here it goes. Where do you buy molases? It bust be a lot more available on the east coast, but Im from CA.
Great question... You know, most of us really don't consider local issues like that. You CA folk sometimes forget that the rest of us don't have perpetual sun and us country folk forget you don't have the luxuries that we do. Any CA guys (or gals) know? I have used regular molasses. Really. BUT.. you might have some sort of feed store there if there are any horses around. Surely a riding school is around there somewhere. They might have molasses. It's used to add to animal feed in some circles. And yes.. there seems to be a growing number of "police" these days. That's one word for them.
you can buy buckets of molasses at tack and feed shops, the place where farmers and ranchers go. I buy it in 30 pound buckets at about $18, and mix it with 10 parts water. Has worked well for five years now getting rust off 33-34 Ford parts.
Forgive me, but I ain't no chemestry major... With an aluminum anode, could you de-paint, de-grease and de-oxidize aluminum with the same washing powder/water, battery charger combo?
Hopefully someone else can help with your question. I haven't done anything with aluminum. This process does get rid of paint, grease and rust. It is slower and less "even" looking when done unless I degrease first. And for the amount of time involved I try to pass a wire wheel over the surface. Less work for the electrolysis to do.
One thing to watch out for on the electrolysis.... I did some front inner fender panels on my '55 Merc. I washed them down and let them dry. Then I shot them with primer. NOW the primer is flaking off. I didn't get the electrolysis solution completely off the metal. There was residue left over that screwed my paint. Soooo.... 1. WASH THE PARTS THROUGHLY when you are done. 2. let them dry COMPELTELY. 3. Wash them again. Repeat the above till they dry CLEAN and not powdery white. 4. PREP the metal VERY THROUGHLY with a good paint prep etching process. I was amazed at how the process works. The panels came out with NO rust.
I've thought the same thing. I have some pieces of extruded aluminum to use for anodes, I need to find an old corroded alternator case or something and try it out.
I've used this process many times for big and small parts and even did a tech on it a while back. Check out the pictures: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=184264
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