small part rust removal

[MatMan]

I tried searching "rust removal by electrolysis"; "electrolysis" and "rust removal" and found nothing as specific as this:

 

(Tthis link is to The Jalopy Journal, as referenced in a post by palosfv3)

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10461

 

This sounds like HybridZ material to me!

 

I can only imagine the size of parts to be cleaned by members here!

[TrumpetRhapsody]

I've done this, works well. Cleaned my headers right up!

[MatMan]

I'm curious, did it get the inside, as well?

[TrumpetRhapsody]

I didn't look, but I'm sure it would have. I didn't paint the inside though, so it would just re-rust after bout an hour or two of being exposed.

[AK-Z]

I use this.

 

 

You can get it from walmart at the auto section. Make sure you get the one with the grey lable and not the black label. The black one is suppose to be paint, but it just sucks to work with.

 

THe stuff is just phosphoric acid (its in cola) and you just have to brush it on , wait and wipe and rinse.

 

I use it for spots that I don't want to grind.

 

an example on my busted bumper that I scrapped.

[m1ghtymaxXx]

I played with electralysis last summer. I took a ton of pics but can't find them for some reason.

 

Anywho, it worked great and I would certainly recommend it. All rust comes off with a few strokes of a wire brush.

 

Heres some more links in the mean time:

 

 

http://www.bhi.co.uk/hints/rust.htm

http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/r...c_derusting.htm

http://www3.telus.net/public/aschoe...olyticrust.html

[blairjj]

Max,

 

The first, third and fourth links were no good for me.

 

Jay

[m1ghtymaxXx]

Max,

 

The first, third and fourth links were no good for me.

 

Jay

 

 

Sorry. I had made a thread on a local car forum last year when I tried this, and I went back to it to find the pics but they appear to no longer be hosted, the links were in that thread as well which I copy and pasted. Its pretty simple realy, just don't reverse polarity, or you'll find that your part has been dissolved in the morning, no joke.

 

I think the pics may be gone for good, but I'll copy and paste the text I posted on the other forum:

 

Electralosys rust removal *pics*

Here's the story of i spent my rainy weekend.

 

 

First found out about this handy little trick on the mr2 forums a few years ago. I've always been meaning to try it out, but until now, and nothing to try it on.

 

Last weekend i went to the boneyard to pick up some strut housings to clean up and use with my performance strut cartridges and lowering springs i'll be ordering soon. After taking a die grinder to one of the struts, i figured there had to be an easier way. Then i remembered the electralosys bath i read about a long time ago. Well here's how it went...

 

As for materials, you need:

-12v battery charger

-baking soda

-water

-electrode (any piece of iron, copper or steel works. I used coathangers)

 

Whatever you do, do not put stainless steel in the bath, or use it as an electrode. I makes extremely toxic (carcenogenic) fumes, liquid.

 

fill up your bucket with water, disolving in one tablespoon of baking soda for every gallon of water. I used an icecream pail to measure.

 

Now pick something to use as an electrode. I used a coat hanger, as its nice and easy to shape and cut. If your doing this be sure to sand the clearcoat stuff off the coathanger. Also keep in mind that your electrode will rust into nothing over time. Don't spend money on it. I've heard of people using a brake rotor as an electrode, and suspending there piece over top of it.

 

The electrode can not touch the part you are cleaning. Also, it works using an "line of sight". Surfaces visible from the electrode will be treated better than ones "out of sight"

 

 

Now submerge your part in the bath. Connect your positive clamp on the charger to the electrode, and negative to the part. Polarity is crucial. As i mentioned already, the electrode will rust away into nothing. Reversing polarity will turn your part into the electrode, corroding away into nothing, while you end up with a nice clean electrode.

 

Now just set it and forget it. I was using a 1 amp charger, so it took about 24 hours to get the effect i wanted. A higher power charger should take less time.

 

After long enough, you will notice the rust has scaling and falling off on its own. The part will be left rust free, but covered in black oxide coating. I found a wire brush works wonders to clean off remaing rust. Steel wool or scotch bright will take care of the black coating.

 

This process will only remove oxidized metal, and won't touch clean metal. Of course whatever metal has already rusted away is gone for good, so pitting is expected.

 

 

Pics are coming in a bit, once i can get photoshop to work again

 

Hers a hub and rotor i did. Of course i got carried away and forgot to take after pics. In the case, the rotor is pressed onto the hub, and wouldn't budge at first. After a few hours in the bath, it came apart pretty easy

[kiwi303]

I've used electrolysis to remove copper fouling from a 1940 milsurp rifle bore. ended up with a nice copper plated electrode rod and a clean bore.

 

 

As to the comment in the quote above about stainless causing toxic fumes, any nickel steel will do that, not just stainless, nickel carbryl I think it forms.

[rudypoochris]

Into milsurp also? ^

 

I use G96 "Triple Action" gun treatment. You spray it on rust, wait a few, grab a quarter and it rubs it right off and it is good as new. For small parts I would just toss them into my tumbler, but this is impressive for larger parts and people willing to sacrifice their bathtub.

[kiwi303]

Into milsurp also? ^

 

Yep. 1940 Lee Enfield, SMLE No 1 Mk III* Ishapore manufactured. 1898 MLE with NZ markings enfield small arms factory. Parker Hale Safari war reparations Mauser 98 action with the stripper clip thumb cutout in the side showing it was made on former german military machinery

 

and a 10/22 and H&R topper, both much newer

[rudypoochris]

Yep. 1940 Lee Enfield, SMLE No 1 Mk III* Ishapore manufactured. 1898 MLE with NZ markings enfield small arms factory. Parker Hale Safari war reparations Mauser 98 action with the stripper clip thumb cutout in the side showing it was made on former german military machinery

 

and a 10/22 and H&R topper, both much newer

 

1891 Argentine Mauser. Full length. I started reloading about 3 months ago. It is surprisingly accurate. Thats for another thread though.

[kiwi303]

time for the non-tech forum you reckon?

 

back on the car topic, I'm using a pottle of Septone rust converter on my fairlady, however it's too cold at the moment to work quickly, and a long way from the closes power outlet to run a hairdryer cord

[zgeezer]

Sorry. I had made a thread on a local car forum last year when I tried this, and I went back to it to find the pics but they appear to no longer be hosted, the links were in that thread as well which I copy and pasted. Its pretty simple realy, just don't reverse polarity, or you'll find that your part has been dissolved in the morning, no joke.

 

I think the pics may be gone for good, but I'll copy and paste the text I posted on the other forum:

 

I use three different methods of dealing with rust in general.

 

1. I like sand/media blasting. This I used on my Z tub. Very aggressive and will cut down all metal plating...like galvanized or other OEM surface treatments.

2. If I have a number of small parts, I'll pop them into a brass cleaner filled with a very fine sand. Silica cuts right now. A brass cleaner for those who are not into firearms is often a plastic bowl filled with an abrasive media and sitting on a vibrating table. Drop in the small parts, secure the top, turn on the machine and come back after the movie. Rust will be gone, along with chrome and all. This leaves a clean, but not slick, surface. Great for painting: good "tooth".

3. If I have small parts very heavily rusted, like this 300ZT brake rotor that was left out in the junk pit for three years, I'll set up an electrolysis bath. Here's how it works.

 

First, here's the setup: a plastic bin, a battery charger, some baling wire, an anode, which in this case is a flat bar of steel, and a cathode, which are two very rusty cow bells.

 

 

I used about 1/2 cup of automatic dishwasher detergent in this case. I hooked up the battery charger and let it rip. In about 30 seconds you begin to see bubbles coming off the the cathode and a green/black/red jelly forming on the anode. In this photo the anode is in the upper left corner and the white material in the center are thousands of bubbles moving rapidly off the cathode. It sets up a current and you can actually see the circular low from the bottom of the tank to the top.

 

.

 

The following photos show the difference. This rotor was submerged 1/2 into the electrolyte. The outside of the rotor was substantially more than surface rust. The inside of the rotor is heavy crusted rust. These photos were taken after 3 hours in the tub. Note that rust will cause pits and that the side with the lighter rust shows the marking from the pads. This has not re-rusted in four days. Cast iron must be treated within the hour of being dried because it will re-rust. The surface is great for paint or POR-15, which is what I generally use immediately after drying out the part.

 

 

 

 

What to do with the electrolyte? Depends upon what you used as an electrolyte and how socially conscience you may be. If you used baking soda and NOT salt... sodium or potassium, then you could dump it on your wife's Azaleas. The solution is, no surprise here, very iron rich. Some electrolytes are HAZMAT: don't use them.

 

g

[rudypoochris]

I second the brass cleaner. I have only run it with walnuts and it works spectacularly. Next up from the gun cabinet would be "G96 Gun treatment" I think that is what it is called. It is 'triple action'. Let this stuff soak for ~10 minutes, then rub a coin edge or other abrasive over it and all the rust comes off.