i used 40 gallons of water and 10 gallons of the feed grade molasses..i got a bunch of stuff in a 55 gallon drum..ive had the stuff in for 2 weeks now.i was plannin on taking it out this weekend,but the engine blew up in my daily and im deep into a rebuild...is there any harm in letting the stuff soak for 3 or 4 weeks?
Yes! After the rust is gone or scarce, the good metal will get eaten. I have pretty well ruined a trans case and did completely ruin cast iron carb.
i thought i read somewhere that guys put parts in for about 2 weeks?...but i also read somewhere that heat speeds up the process..its been pretty cold lately..maybe im ok?..im guna take them out in the morning.hopefully i still have something left.
I'm not an expert or a chemist... I just read a lot. My experiences and findings: Copper, aluminum, magnesium or manganese shouldn't be dipped in molasses. It will eat those materials. A 50/50 solution of molasses and water has been used to successfully bio-leach those materials from shale! Some cast items are composites that do not do well. Same with some other composites. Imagine a piece of wood with termite or worm holes. Not a good thing for metal. Don't dip springs. I use it for body panels, steel brackets and bolts. Degrease first (or you are wasting your time). I've mixed up to 1:9 mol. to water with good results after leaving for 2 weeks without heat. I was happy with the results. Heat helps speed things up. I've left steel things in for over a month with no issues. Some say it should be this or that type of molasses. Maybe one type works better than others but the first time I tried it I used "light" table molasses from the cupboard. It worked! If I worry about the composition of the material I use Evapo-Rust (equi.: Safest Rust Remover). It's not cheap like molasses but it won't hurt most things. Joe
thanks gizmo..i remember reading one of youre posts before i started this..you convinced me to try it..i used 10 gallons of molasses and 40 gallons of water.waited 3 weeks and here are the results.before and after. i had to rub this stuff down with some oil..it wants to rust in a few minutes
I don't care what POR 15 says or how well you follow the directions....sooner or later the rust will come back. Plus, painting over rust is just half-assed regardless. Another problem with POR 15 is that it is very difficult to work with if you in fact are going to follow the directions. It doesn't spray that well, even when thinned, and it brushes poorly also. I use it only in select cases and only over non-rusty, blasted metal.
i have a large collection of large hamers and use them liberally. just sayin. excellent info and i plan to try some of these suggestion on my next project.
I have not heard of anybody using muratic acid !!! I see many frown on this.? I got some from the pool guy, they use it..just wash off with water.?? I have not tried it, but wondered why it was not mentioned.. Lloyd... I did try the rust remover from O"Rielys, and it worked great..
i think someone mentioned it.but yeah it works..ive used it to clean rusty motorcycle gas tanks.there are few things that suck about it.its really strong and can eat through metal pretty quick.the smoke that comes off it will choke you out,and the metal flash rusts immediately after you wipe it down...im all about the molasses now bro!..it works,its not dangerous and its super cheap.
Sorry in advance for the long post... I'm never in enough of a rush to want to use a chemical that will kill me or flash rust every piece of metal in a 30 sq. ft. area... or use an acid that you need to neutralize or it will keep eating away at the part I'm trying to save. I really like using electrolysis IF I have a simple part with no nooks an crannies, which this method won't clean well enough. I love Evapo-Rust but I only use it on parts that I don't know what metals they are made of or if the part is super important. It's faster than some methods but it ain't cheap and I am. I'm hooked. I will ONLY use molasses now. I'm not in production. If a part takes 2 weeks to clean I usually have plenty of other work to be doing while waiting. Plus if I have enough parts on the go that I won't be waiting for the parts to clean.. they will be waiting for me! We have rust. Serious rust. Blasted or dipped metal will flash rust in less that 5 minutes on a humid day. 5 minutes! No joke or exaggeration. Our humidity levels are high some days.. well over 80%. So I take rust seriously. This is what I do on most parts: 1. Wash and degrease the part. If it's not degreased you are wasting a lot of time. 2. Wire brush away as much rust as I can. Why not? Why make the mixture work harder than it needs to. 3. Dip in 1 part molasses to 9 parts water. Stronger doesn't seem to help. 4. Remove from dip after 3 days and clean. Re-dip. Helps it work faster and you get to check the progress. Been told not to do that because it slows it down a lot. Not in my experience. It helps. 5. Remove from dip when you are satisfied with how it's done, wire brush while running water over it. 6. I may rinse with Evapo-Rust to get any left over rust then water rinse. 7. Dry as fast as possible. Hot air seems best. Depends on humidity level. 8. Spray or brush on a rust convertor like the one Plasticote or Rustcheck make. I bought some parts from an older gentleman and wanted to show him how this works. The attached pictures where done for contrast to show him and others. I did finish them after.
With the extent of rust shown in the posts a couple of posts prior to yours, your question is ridiculous and asinine.
I'm not completely clear on the process, Saxman...but it's actually quite complex. Something called chelation. Has to do with the way iron oxide molecules bind. Here's a link to the full explanation. Read it if you want...but if you can understand it, you're smarter than I am...lol. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelation
And I've gotta add...some of you guys need to show some basic respect for each other. Nothing wrong with disagreeing, but there's a way to say something, and a way not to say something...you know the difference. Be nice, and don't hit the other children.
Same as Coke - Phosphoric Acid. It's in higher concentration (75%) in a $13 jug of Tractor Supply's Milk Stone Remover, too... not that you have any milking machines to clean. LOL! ~Jason
Thanks Rickybop. I started to read that, then my eyes glazed over and it felt like my head would explode. I guess I'm not curious enough to try to make sense of that. It could take me days...or weeks.
Ah! I was wondering if that might be the case. It seems like a diluted phos acid solution would be less messy and speed up the process. No?
No milking machines but it works great in the brewery. I'll have to try some on some rusty binder parts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelation Chelating: Ricky, this reads like the better of the two reactions, wins out, and...breaks the 0's and 0-3's away from the Fe's! So molasses has the sugars that react wit-da- metal. The material science/chem terms can get awful murky, it can take hours of self-abuse to get much common sense out of them.
No.. not like phosphoric acid... It's not an acid at all. It's a chelator as stated above. Complex indeed. Most acids will eat just about anything including the good metal. A chelator will only bond to certain things. In this case iron oxide. I've had parts dipping for 2 months just test. Never hurt the good metal at all. A good phosphoric acid will do it's best to convert the iron oxide to ferric phosphate, which is inert and won't rust after but it can't penetrate very deep so some rust will remain. Messy? Heck ya! But cleans up with soap and water. Stick your hands in it... Breathe the fumes... Dump it on the lawn... Try that with acids. The hardest part here is find molasses in larger quantities cheap. Happy de-rusting.. whatever method you use.
The Jalopy Journal
