"How-to" on Electrolysis for cleaning?

Splat

Splat

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I'm in the process of refurbing my Heavy 10. I picked up a bottle of Citristrip yesterday and have been letting the headstock sit overnight with a couple of coats on it. I haven't started to clean it yet but it looks promising ....hopefully not too much work left to do after cleaning the Citristrip off it. Just had lunch and got to thinking about electrolysis. I found two helpful "how to's" here and here and was wondering if anyone had any other links or would care to post their own "how to"?
 
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I did a similar process using washing soda for the electrolysis solution, an old PC power supply for the 12v circuit, and some scrap metal for the anode. the anode will end up being corroded, but it being a scrap metal it can be discarded after your part is clean, or can be scrubbed/sanded/ground down to clean off the corrosion for reusing it in the future.

you can see my take on this here:

https://sites.google.com/site/metworx/clausing-4902/13rusticelements
 
I've read somewhere about a guy that made a swimming pool using a plastic tarp, just deep enough to fit the car frame in he was cleaning up. . . . mixed up the stuff and connected his welder to it. . . . great results. . I have a 5 gal bucket with some rebar around the inside, welded to a plate that sits on the bottom. that's where the stuff does its fancy thing. I really like it, just do it with ventilation.
 
Sounds interesting guys and I think I'm going to try it. The Citristrip did a helluva job on my headstock but I definitely would have to do another treatment of it to get everything completely off. I've got some non-stainless metal pieces laying around. For something like a Heavy 10 headstock how much sacrificial metal would I need.... is it a "more is better" thing?
 
Splat said:
Sounds interesting guys and I think I'm going to try it. The Citristrip did a helluva job on my headstock but I definitely would have to do another treatment of it to get everything completely off. I've got some non-stainless metal pieces laying around. For something like a Heavy 10 headstock how much sacrificial metal would I need.... is it a "more is better" thing?
Click to expand...

you'd need a sacrificial piece that is at least larger than the part you are cleaning, and yes more is better.
 
Splat said:
I'm in the process of refurbing my Heavy 10. I picked up a bottle of Citristrip yesterday and have been letting the headstock sit overnight with a couple of coats on it. I haven't started to clean it yet but it looks promising ....hopefully not too much work left to do after cleaning the Citristrip off it. Just had lunch and got to thinking about electrolysis. I found two helpful "how to's" here and here and was wondering if anyone had any other links or would care to post their own "how to"?
Click to expand...

I tried the electrolysis process a while back on a four jaw chuck and an old hammer, which I found in the garden buried for years, and two swivel casters which has been setting in a bucket outside for ten years in the rain. I figured this pile of scrap would make a good test.

Well an old plastic 5 gallon bucket, some scrap steel for the anodes, some Arm & Hammer soda, cooked at 350 degrees in the oven for an hour, the car's battery charger and I was set to go.
First the hammer and casters, and a day later they were all covered with rust, a complete failure, seems I hooked the battery charger up backwards and transferred the rust the wrong way. Well I quickly reversed the leads and the next day the two parts were completely free of rust. Washed the black residue off of the parts, coated the hammer and casters with WD40 and put the hammer in the drawer. The casters were totally usable, be bearings were clean and functioned. They are stored for another project.

Same thing happened with the four jaw chuck, the process works great! I am now waiting to help a friend de-rust a complete super modified race car chassis he is restoring. We are going to construct a large tank, drop the chassis in and away we go.

This is the best kept secret around, so simple and cheap and it works!
 
I use expanded metal for the sacrificial anode and it works great, I can bend it to the contour of the bucket and provide a much greater footprint. This is a great process that is environmentally friendly, relatively easy, and best of all cheap.
 
This was the how-to that really got me started: http://www.instructables.com/id/Electrolytic-Rust-Removal-aka-Magic/

A well made rubbermaid trashcan works well...I put a block of wood on the inside bottom to keep parts from penetrating. YOU DO NOT WANT LEAKS....ELECTRICITY KILLS. A GFCI OUTLET IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Because the process is "line of sight" it works better to have a wide, flat anode. It doesn't have to be bigger than the part but I prefer multiple anodes around the perimeter. I like rebar because it is cheap and can reach all the way to the bottom of a deep tank....but I have had better results with old lawnmower blades on all 4 sides. BIG TIP: For the best results, kill the power, skim the surface of sludge, and take a wire brush to the anodes. It really keeps things going, since the process is less effective once the anode gets gunked up. You can also scrub the part a bit which will open more "channels" for ion transfer.

For simple rust conversion, you don't need more than a few hours. For removing paint, grease, etc. I have let parts marinate for several days with the above maintenance. Works really well and is very low maintenance. Beats messing with stripper.

FWIW, I've had about equal results with baking soda versus washing soda.
 
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ScubaSteve said:
This was the how-to that really got me started: http://www.instructables.com/id/Electrolytic-Rust-Removal-aka-Magic/

A well made rubbermaid trashcan works well...I put a block of wood on the inside bottom to keep parts from penetrating. YOU DO NOT WANT LEAKS....ELECTRICITY KILLS. A GFCI OUTLET IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Because the process is "line of sight" it works better to have a wide, flat anode. It doesn't have to be bigger than the part but I prefer multiple anodes around the perimeter. I like rebar because it is cheap and can reach all the way to the bottom of a deep tank....but I have had better results with old lawnmower blades on all 4 sides. BIG TIP: For the best results, kill the power, skim the surface of sludge, and take a wire brush to the anodes. It really keeps things going, since the process is less effective once the anode gets gunked up. You can also scrub the part a bit which will open more "channels" for ion transfer.

For simple rust conversion, you don't need more than a few hours. For removing paint, grease, etc. I have let parts marinate for several days with the above maintenance. Works really well and is very low maintenance. Beats messing with stripper.

FWIW, I've had about equal results with baking soda versus washing soda.
Click to expand...


I believe that Baking Soda converts to Washing Soda after it has been heated, I read that in a posting a while back. Baking soda is Sodium Bicarbonate (NA CO3), where Washing Soda is Sodium Carbonate (NA2 CO3). Twice the number of Sodium irons.
 
I de-rusted the inside of a motorcycle tank using a battery charger, washing soda, and a strip of bar stock for the anode.
Had to wire brush the anode a couple times, and move it from the hole for the gauge sending unit to the filler hole to get the whole tank, but it did a good job.
I coated it with Red-Cote afterwards and it has not rusted since.
 
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