My attempts at electrolysis

[metalmonkey47]

After much contemplation, I've decided to finally toy with some chemistry using a process called electrolytic rust removal.

 

I starter with a big tub I bough from the local Wally World, filled it with 7 gallons of water, and 7 table spoons of baking soda.

 

Next step was to find some steel (NOT stainless) to use as a sacrificial anode. I didn't have much at the moment, so I grabbed some old thing I welded together a while back when I was playing around. Wasn't the best choice, since it was small and electrolysis is just line of sight really, and surface area was kind of small, but still yielded great results.

 

 

 

Won't get too in-depth since google can provide more info then I have time to type, but here's what I've come up with on my first attempt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATTEMPT #1: Kawasaki gas tank. I dipped it, and used the petcock bolt as a ground, so i didn't have to strip any of the nice paint in order to get a good ground. It's old and filled with rust, so theres no way I was going to try and use it as is.

 

This is what I started with:

 

The charger I used was an old battery charger my dad acquired in his years.It's got a 2/10/50 amp selection, so I decided to go with it for the first shot.

 

 

 

[metalmonkey47]

Here's the progress after it went underway. At 10 amps for one hour, there wasn't a huge difference, but it was noticeable. I didn't even notice until after about two hours that the positive lead on the sacrificial anode was loose, so that slowed the process more. I still have to refine the rig, but this is some seriously cool shit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time I had turned it off for the night, the rust around the petcock holes had melted away. I could literally wipe it off the surface of the metal as if it was nothing. I FOUND A CURE FOR CANCER.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2011 by metalmonkey47

[metalmonkey47]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P135360GAWs Edited September 4, 2011 by metalmonkey47

[metalmonkey47]

Tomorrows project is gonna be some hardware and a cam gear for my Z20

[justin 620]

That, is some cool shit! Science these days...

[flatcat19]

Tomorrows project is gonna be some hardware and a cam gear for my Z20

 

Hardware?

Like nuts and bolts?

 

I like to use a rock tumbler for that.

Harbor freight tumbler, some reptile bedding and some Nu-Finish polish.

 

There's a write up about it in the Project Car mag that had the 620 in it.

I learned this from my Grandpa(restores old Vettes.)

Fucking magic.

[metalmonkey47]

Hardware?

Like nuts and bolts?

 

I like to use a rock tumbler for that.

Harbor freight tumbler, some reptile bedding and some Nu-Finish polish.

 

There's a write up about it in the Project Car mag that had the 620 in it.

I learned this from my Grandpa(restores old Vettes.)

Fucking magic.

 

More like big ass bumper bolts, and rotted out hardware. Not for re-using, just seeing how well it works.

 

 

I have an old rock tumbler under my sink in the other room We used it on my old Honda CB to clean up some old hardware.

[I'm BLUE]

Good Work MM47 !!!

 

Although apparently ,,,, I will have plenty of parts I will wish to use in this process this winter (if I ever get around to it soon enough :rolleyes: )!!!

[mklotz70]

Cool stuff!

I think DanielC did a write up last year on electrolysis.

 

It's a bit "line of site", so if you want to do the inside of the tank, you will probably need to put an anode inside the tank. :) The molasses method works nice too when you want to keep the paint.

[metalmonkey47]

This is some seriously cool stuff!

 

 

The Z20 cam gear was done in about 20 minuets. Did an old valve core removal tool in about 7 minutes, all at 50amps.

 

 

 

 

 

Pics coming soon.

[Stupid_fast]

Hmm someone just has to drop their chassis in a pool and use this method... Now that would be interesting.

[OkieRA29]

Been doing this for years. I use a couple different tubs for different parts. The uses are only limited by your imagination. You can do parts in sections. I did a fender the other weekend using a 30 gallon tote and doing it in sections. Took all day, but got most of the rust off. I did my struts on my celica before rebuilding them. Here is the set up I used.

 

 

Before...

 

After the electrolysis and a wire brush...

 

I have done a ton of parts this way. I have seen people do an entire trailer chassis this way by building the tub to fit the chassis and then going from there. Make sure to do it in a well ventilated place as it gives off, I believe, hydrogen as it works. Looks like you did a good job. Just remember to dry the part off throughly after removing as the rust will restart very quickly!!!

[justin 620]

It strips paint off too!? That is bitchen.

[bonvo]

i dont think it takes paint off hence why mm47 used it to remove rust from the bike tank though i could be wrong

[justin 620]

Well that strut was painted, and after it came out, it wasn't... I could be missing something tho

[bonvo]

he did say he wire brushed it afterwards

[justin 620]

It would be a ridiculous task to wire brush all that paint off. Mostly because it is designed and formulated to not come off...

[DanielC]

Here is the thread I did no electrolytic rust removal.

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/3012-electrolytic-rust-removal/page__p__40613__hl__electrolysis__fromsearch__1#entry40613

 

It will remove some paint, but not all the paint. I got better results, I think if you kept the sacrificial anode larger than the part you are trying to remove rust from.

I am not sure of this, but I think that if there is any rust under the paint, the reaction causes the paint to lift.

[Skib]

It would be a ridiculous task to wire brush all that paint off.

 

lulz thats a ridiculous statement in itself.

 

[OkieRA29]

If there is rust under the paint, then it will lift off or at least bubble the paint. The paint on that strut was 36 years old, so it was pretty crusty. My fender that I did did not lose near as much paint. Where there was rust under the paint, the paint came off. I did and do wire brush all parts that come out of the solution. I use just what skib showed and a couple different wheels to get in all the nooks and crannies. The part then gets dried with paper towels and a heat gun if needed. It then gets a quick wipe down with a tack cloth and some metal prep before getting hit with primer. The big thing with this method is to get the part dried and into paint as quick as possible. I did both front strut tubes in the solution at the same time. I made the mistake of pulling them both out at the same time and not dring both off. I got distracted and one strut tube did not get worked on till the next day. Here is what it looked like after sitting out overnight.

 

 

The darker color on the strut tube is what the rust is turned into. You can see how quickly the rust came back. Luckily, it was just surface rust and most of it wiped off. You can see the drill and the wire cup in both of the pictures of the strut. The only place that I used an actual wire brush was in the spring seat as there were some spots were the drill could not reach. I think I am gonna get a dremel for the really tight places next time as it took quite a bit with the wire brush to get the small places.

 

One more thing, I, like others, tend to leave the part in for longer than it needs. It doesn't hurt the part and you stand a better chance of getting all the rust off. I also use more like 2 tablespoons baking soda to each gallon of water. More is more as they say.

[metalmonkey47]

It strips paint off too!? That is bitchen.

 

 

i dont think it takes paint off hence why mm47 used it to remove rust from the bike tank though i could be wrong

 

No, I don't think it will strip the paint off, unless there is rust. My tank didn't so much as fade in the electrolysis, and was still glossy when it came out.

 

 

 

Although, I did notice that the rust doesn't all literally fall off, a lot of it ha to be wiper off, or wire brushed.

 

 

My anode was too small for what I was trying to do, so I need to re-asses it before doing any more. I might go weld up a bigger anode out of some steel scraps laying around.

[OkieRA29]

Yeah, it helps if the anode is bigger than the metal being de-rusted. My anode, which you can see in the pic, is about twice the mass of the strut casing. You can also use several smaller pieces in series to get the size you need. I have used several pieces of rebar wired around the outer edge of the tub.

[metalmonkey47]

Speaking of bigger anodes ^^^^

 

 

I used an old brake rotor and my 50 amp charger (clown shoes) on my flywheel and got this end result:

 

This is it fresh out of the water. The bottom section was still wet so it still looks kinda funky. I sprayed it with brake parts cleaner and it looks better now. Moar oics later.

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2011 by metalmonkey47

[DanielC]

One issue with electrolysis is a process called hydrogen embrittlement.

Here is the wiki page about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement

 

long story short, during the electrolysis process, the hydrogen created on the part you are derusting can seep into the metal, and make it weaker. this is bot a problem on a cosmetic body panel, but on suspension components, or engine components, it could be a problem.

[mklotz70]

I'm not positive, but I think this is also a problem when using acid too. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I don't remember if the molasses method has this problem.