Post by Robin Wiggs on Jun 20, 2016 0:18:36 GMT
I've also been trialling electrolysis for rust removal - with pleasing success.
I started out with a plastic bucket, a 12v battery charger, some sodium carbonate from Amazon at a rate of 1 tblsp per litre and a piece of steel bar. I started with one of the engine mount casings:
I left it overnight with the charger in "fast" mode - 6 amps. And this was the result after a quick wash in clean water and a very gentle brushing:
And the cathode does what it is supposed to:
I tried one of the wishbones next, again overnight. I'd already cleaned this up with a wire brush on the angle grinder, but hadn't been able to get to any of the difficult spots or the internal sections. It also took me 30 mins, and I got a lungful of dust. The wishbone came up lovely - the best part was a quick dunk in clean water and a gentle agitation with the end of a screwdriver and all the internal areas came up nice and clean.
Spurred on by this, and viewing all my parts larger than a bucket, I made up version 2.
A 70l plastic tub from Homebase cost me under a fiver. I also made the surface area of the cathode much larger - using a piece of steel plate for the base of the tank and a couple of bars at each end. I'm thinking of having the thing essentially lined with steel plate. I also brought the electrical connection outside of the tank - as it kept rusting through the trial version!
I've cut up some plastic soup pots (ham and pea, but I assume any flavour will work just as well!) to rest items on in the tank:
This piece was rusted quite badly. After treatment overnight, and a quick wash and light wire brushing by hand it looks perfectly new. And the best thing is, it all happened whilst I was asleep and my lungs aren't getting assaulted. The electrolysis produces hydrogen gas (if my school chemistry is correct) - and provided you use sodium carbonate powder and steel only, you shouldn't get any nasty gases produced. As my workshop is a large and open barn, I'm not worried.
We'll see how it handles this brake calliper bracket overnight:
It certainly fizzes much faster with the larger cathode. I understand that if I upgrade to an old laptop powersupply at 18v, then things may electrolyse even faster - but to be honest, an overnight treatment is fine for my purposes. If the calliper is successful, I will load a number of components wired together at the same time.
I started out with a plastic bucket, a 12v battery charger, some sodium carbonate from Amazon at a rate of 1 tblsp per litre and a piece of steel bar. I started with one of the engine mount casings:
I left it overnight with the charger in "fast" mode - 6 amps. And this was the result after a quick wash in clean water and a very gentle brushing:
And the cathode does what it is supposed to:
I tried one of the wishbones next, again overnight. I'd already cleaned this up with a wire brush on the angle grinder, but hadn't been able to get to any of the difficult spots or the internal sections. It also took me 30 mins, and I got a lungful of dust. The wishbone came up lovely - the best part was a quick dunk in clean water and a gentle agitation with the end of a screwdriver and all the internal areas came up nice and clean.
Spurred on by this, and viewing all my parts larger than a bucket, I made up version 2.
A 70l plastic tub from Homebase cost me under a fiver. I also made the surface area of the cathode much larger - using a piece of steel plate for the base of the tank and a couple of bars at each end. I'm thinking of having the thing essentially lined with steel plate. I also brought the electrical connection outside of the tank - as it kept rusting through the trial version!
I've cut up some plastic soup pots (ham and pea, but I assume any flavour will work just as well!) to rest items on in the tank:
This piece was rusted quite badly. After treatment overnight, and a quick wash and light wire brushing by hand it looks perfectly new. And the best thing is, it all happened whilst I was asleep and my lungs aren't getting assaulted. The electrolysis produces hydrogen gas (if my school chemistry is correct) - and provided you use sodium carbonate powder and steel only, you shouldn't get any nasty gases produced. As my workshop is a large and open barn, I'm not worried.
We'll see how it handles this brake calliper bracket overnight:
It certainly fizzes much faster with the larger cathode. I understand that if I upgrade to an old laptop powersupply at 18v, then things may electrolyse even faster - but to be honest, an overnight treatment is fine for my purposes. If the calliper is successful, I will load a number of components wired together at the same time.
