now, theres many ways of removing rust. most are either expensive, labour-intensive, or both, or just don't work very well!
ive got a load of model A ford parts I need to clean up, and removing 80 years of rust, mud, and general curse word off them takes a while.
I have a sandblaster, which is ok for some stuff, but I find messy, hard work, and difficult to see what I'm doing. also the sand never quite seems to get right into the bottom of the pitting on the rougher parts. I find it more use for removing paint than rust tbh.
wire wheel on a grinder works well, but is really hard work and also very messy.
acid dip works well, but doesnt just stop at the rust, itll eat the metal away too!!
what I wanted was a lazy, effective, non-destructive way of doing it, so I decided to make myself up a little electrolysis tank. whats that then?
well, its basically an electrically charged tank full of water and cleaning solution. as rust itself is an electric reaction, this method strips it off. sounds dangerous? well its not, the voltages and currents are low, so you wont frazzle yourself. No fumes are produced, except a very small amount of hydrogen and oxygen- this potentially could explode, plus the oxygen would act as a catylist, but common sense and basic ventilation would easily dismiss this concern. The method is self limiting: it is impossible to over clean an object. once the steel is clean, the reaction stops. I can leave this running whilst I'm working on other stuff, and then when I take the parts out they require only a minute to shine up. what this basically does is set up an electrical reaction within the rusty component, that 'floats' the rust off the surface, as the steel conducts, but the rust doesnt. it also removes dirt and paint, but its not so hot on grease/oil. itll move it, but not like a degreasing cabinet does.
its not a labour-free method, but its loads less work then mechanically removing the rust, as it softens it all and makes it easy to remove. it turns the rust into a slimy black gloop that wire brushes/wire wools/wipes off, depending on how long you leave it in for. then I go over it lightly with a wire wheel mounted to a washing machine motor (like a wire wheel on a bench grinder) to give a nice shiny surface.
what you need-
a plastic tank
some steel bar(not stainless)
some large gauge copper wire- thicker the better, 30A cooker cable stripped back is good
a power pack- see further down about this
speaker wire
copper pipe/bar
water
washing powder.
for the tank I used a green recycling bin I found lying around. I washed it out and found it had 4 drain holes in the bottom, but I wanted to use it as its that funny flexible green shatterproof plastic like water butts are made from, in case I dropped anything on it or knocked it over it wouldnt smash and empty itself across the workshop, so bunged them up with roofing bolts and silicon sealer and its good to go. use something with a size and shape relevant to what you need to clean.
steel bar- this is to make your sacrificial anodes. anything clean-ish thats a decent thickness that wont rot away in 5 mins will do, a good few lumps of 3/4" re-bar or something like that as its really cheap if youre having to buy it. you need it to have a large surface are than the part youre trying to clean for it to be effective. also as electricity always wants to take the shortest route, this method is quite 'line of sight'- it wont clean the backside of an object in you only have one anode straight in front of it. so its best to have a multitude of bars spread around the periphery of your tank, to ensure maximum cleaning. these need to be used in series, not parallel.
DO NOT USE STAINLESS STEEL. the chromium in it gives of carcenogens when reacted in this way, so only use mild steel or iron.
powerpack- for this you need something that coverts a mains current to a DC feed, with an output of LESS that 6amps. anymore than that is enough to kill you if you put your hand in the water, so its best you stay below 6amps really........
voltage doesnt matter as much, it can be anywhere 6-12v. a lot of the cheap old crappy tin-box battery chargers are this spec, most laptop chargers are about 5v too, if you want it variable(theres no need for this really) use a train set power pack. for mine, ive used a scalextic power pack, as its 10V/4A, a waterproof-ish sealed box, has easily wired screw terminals, and most importantly, it was free
any of these options should be easily car-bootable for a couple of quid if you don't already have something to hand to cannibalise.
copper wire- this is to attach the anodes and wire them up, and dangle ya bits into the tank from. thicker/stiffer the better really so it conducts well and doesnt bend when you hang stuff from it.
speaker wire- I used this to wire the anodes as its twin core so keeps it neat. any wire will do really though.
copper pipe/bar- this is to hang ya bits off, and forms the negative electrical connection- it needs to be clean, and strong enough to take the weight of whatever youre hanging in there.
washing soda- everything ive seen on line for this recommends arm and hammer washing powder, but I used a cupful of surf 'small and mighty' liquid cos it was all I had, and it works just fine. makes the workshop smell a bit 'feminine' mind........
more on how this lot goes together later on..........
ive got a load of model A ford parts I need to clean up, and removing 80 years of rust, mud, and general curse word off them takes a while.
I have a sandblaster, which is ok for some stuff, but I find messy, hard work, and difficult to see what I'm doing. also the sand never quite seems to get right into the bottom of the pitting on the rougher parts. I find it more use for removing paint than rust tbh.
wire wheel on a grinder works well, but is really hard work and also very messy.
acid dip works well, but doesnt just stop at the rust, itll eat the metal away too!!
what I wanted was a lazy, effective, non-destructive way of doing it, so I decided to make myself up a little electrolysis tank. whats that then?
well, its basically an electrically charged tank full of water and cleaning solution. as rust itself is an electric reaction, this method strips it off. sounds dangerous? well its not, the voltages and currents are low, so you wont frazzle yourself. No fumes are produced, except a very small amount of hydrogen and oxygen- this potentially could explode, plus the oxygen would act as a catylist, but common sense and basic ventilation would easily dismiss this concern. The method is self limiting: it is impossible to over clean an object. once the steel is clean, the reaction stops. I can leave this running whilst I'm working on other stuff, and then when I take the parts out they require only a minute to shine up. what this basically does is set up an electrical reaction within the rusty component, that 'floats' the rust off the surface, as the steel conducts, but the rust doesnt. it also removes dirt and paint, but its not so hot on grease/oil. itll move it, but not like a degreasing cabinet does.
its not a labour-free method, but its loads less work then mechanically removing the rust, as it softens it all and makes it easy to remove. it turns the rust into a slimy black gloop that wire brushes/wire wools/wipes off, depending on how long you leave it in for. then I go over it lightly with a wire wheel mounted to a washing machine motor (like a wire wheel on a bench grinder) to give a nice shiny surface.
what you need-
a plastic tank
some steel bar(not stainless)
some large gauge copper wire- thicker the better, 30A cooker cable stripped back is good
a power pack- see further down about this
speaker wire
copper pipe/bar
water
washing powder.
for the tank I used a green recycling bin I found lying around. I washed it out and found it had 4 drain holes in the bottom, but I wanted to use it as its that funny flexible green shatterproof plastic like water butts are made from, in case I dropped anything on it or knocked it over it wouldnt smash and empty itself across the workshop, so bunged them up with roofing bolts and silicon sealer and its good to go. use something with a size and shape relevant to what you need to clean.
steel bar- this is to make your sacrificial anodes. anything clean-ish thats a decent thickness that wont rot away in 5 mins will do, a good few lumps of 3/4" re-bar or something like that as its really cheap if youre having to buy it. you need it to have a large surface are than the part youre trying to clean for it to be effective. also as electricity always wants to take the shortest route, this method is quite 'line of sight'- it wont clean the backside of an object in you only have one anode straight in front of it. so its best to have a multitude of bars spread around the periphery of your tank, to ensure maximum cleaning. these need to be used in series, not parallel.
DO NOT USE STAINLESS STEEL. the chromium in it gives of carcenogens when reacted in this way, so only use mild steel or iron.
powerpack- for this you need something that coverts a mains current to a DC feed, with an output of LESS that 6amps. anymore than that is enough to kill you if you put your hand in the water, so its best you stay below 6amps really........
voltage doesnt matter as much, it can be anywhere 6-12v. a lot of the cheap old crappy tin-box battery chargers are this spec, most laptop chargers are about 5v too, if you want it variable(theres no need for this really) use a train set power pack. for mine, ive used a scalextic power pack, as its 10V/4A, a waterproof-ish sealed box, has easily wired screw terminals, and most importantly, it was free
any of these options should be easily car-bootable for a couple of quid if you don't already have something to hand to cannibalise.
copper wire- this is to attach the anodes and wire them up, and dangle ya bits into the tank from. thicker/stiffer the better really so it conducts well and doesnt bend when you hang stuff from it.
speaker wire- I used this to wire the anodes as its twin core so keeps it neat. any wire will do really though.
copper pipe/bar- this is to hang ya bits off, and forms the negative electrical connection- it needs to be clean, and strong enough to take the weight of whatever youre hanging in there.
washing soda- everything ive seen on line for this recommends arm and hammer washing powder, but I used a cupful of surf 'small and mighty' liquid cos it was all I had, and it works just fine. makes the workshop smell a bit 'feminine' mind........
more on how this lot goes together later on..........
