help with electrolysis rust removal

[steveo3002]

okay i know a few of you use this method for rust removal

ive rigged myself a set up together

hefty 1" round prybar
small trickle charger
soda crsytals

now i found an old exh manifold that i thought would be a good test , within an hour i could see it was at least 50% rust free , but after turning it and leaving it on for several more hours I'm not seeing such good results

does the last remains of rust take longer ?
or should i relace the water/soda mix
would less water make it more powerfull?

any other tips?

[dave21478]

I don't know why, but any parts I have to turn around always take much longer for the second half.... It will work eventually, just seems to take longer. I gave up that and fitted more electrodes around the outside of the basin, so there is "line of sight" to all parts of the rusty item to at least one electrode - this eliminates having to turn parts over and seems to work well.
Also, the more currnt you have, the better, if you have a heftier power supply, it will work quicker. My battery charger puts out around 4 amps when I use it on it "boost" setting. I always have my eye out for a 12v supply that puts out more current, Ideally, I would like to try it with 10 - 15 amps, but I'm too tight to buy a beefy suply, so this will have to wait till I find/aquire something suitable.

[steveo3002]

hmm yeah i was mega impressed after the first hour but now its gone really slow

does more water mean more current is needed (guessing so lol) ive tried it in another tub now that holds less water

would a tin bucket work as the container and electrode?

[dave21478]

Depends on what the bucket is made of...I have an old stainless steel sink that I was going to use for smaller parts, but stainless gives off seriously nasty by-products. If the bucket is galvanised steel, the zinc coating might interfere with the process.
I dare-say that if you could find a suitable sized steel container, it would work....but... as you use it, the electrode is corroded, so after a while your container would rot away and leak. You could run it in "reverse" every now and then using a random but of steel and clean up the container though.
I have no idea what the ideal concentration is, but the way I see it - soda crystals are dirt cheap so better to make the soluton too concentated than too weak. I kept pouring the stuff into my water till no more would dissolve - a saturated solution.

[Tefal]

i did it to clean some rusty calipers up, left em in overnight and jobs a gooden, i found they still had rust but i just took them out the solution and preassure washed them and they were then rust free and spotless