The Stars Have Been In Alignment For Me This Week. Just Got My First Lathe, A D/r 11x36, 25-100

[TomKro]

Nice "derustificator".

Very curious if the solution is aggressive enough to leave some sort of rust line at the liquid line? When using Pine-Sol, I found the item had to be completely submerged, or it left a nasty ring. Please take another picture when you decide to flip that bed over.

Coming along very nicely.

 

[AR1911]

TomKro - you used PineSol to derust? It etches metal? More info please!

I just did two lathe beds with Evaporust. One I was able to completely submerge, the other had feet cast into the bed, which stuck up out of the solution. Since it was rough cast and mostly painted, I did not worry about etching. But it will certainly etch bare metal.

I think that Ford gray is what I need to paint my Wade, looks pretty close. Thanks for the tip!

 

[TomKro]

AR1911: I was using Pine-Sol for bearing cleanup, and just happened to drop a small cast part in the coffee can to take the grease off. It takes some time (weeks), but it appears to penetrate and loosen the old thick layers of paint, appears to etch off the rust, and doesn't smell as nasty as some of the paint removers.

The down side is you have to remember not to leave bare steel parts in it for too long, as you get some sort of soft black film. Also, iron/steel must be completely submerged, or you get a gunk/rust line where the air hits the part.

I have not used Evapo-rust, and it may actually be cheaper (and faster) then Pine-Sol. I have a large plastic drawer filled with Pin-Sol, and I use the empty Pine-Sol bottles, filled with water, to bring the liquid level up around odd shaped castings. It is slow, but it works for me. After I clean up a casting, I coat the casting in light oil and set them inside another large plastic tub with a lid, waiting for decent outdoor weather, so I can prime and paint.

I'm curious to see the liquid line on Tony's effort to see if there's a nasty "ring". If not, Evapo-rust may be the better route.

 

[AR1911]

Interesting. I'll try some of that for cleaning at least.

The etching is very clear, but it takes a week or more to happen. I have a set of parallels with a diagonal etched line across them. I'll try to post a photo in a few days.

 

[John Hasler]

AR1911: I was using Pine-Sol for bearing cleanup, and just happened to drop a small cast part in the coffee can to take the grease off. It takes some time (weeks), but it appears to penetrate and loosen the old thick layers of paint, appears to etch off the rust, and doesn't smell as nasty as some of the paint removers.

The down side is you have to remember not to leave bare steel parts in it for too long, as you get some sort of soft black film. Also, iron/steel must be completely submerged, or you get a gunk/rust line where the air hits the part.

I have not used Evapo-rust, and it may actually be cheaper (and faster) then Pine-Sol. I have a large plastic drawer filled with Pin-Sol, and I use the empty Pine-Sol bottles, filled with water, to bring the liquid level up around odd shaped castings. It is slow, but it works for me. After I clean up a casting, I coat the casting in light oil and set them inside another large plastic tub with a lid, waiting for decent outdoor weather, so I can prime and paint.

I'm curious to see the liquid line on Tony's effort to see if there's a nasty "ring". If not, Evapo-rust may be the better route.

Pine-Sol has a bit of glycolic acid in it, which is probably what attacks the rust. IMHO you'd get equal or better results cheaper with phosphoric acid and dish detergent.

 

[thenrie]

Evaporust will not actually "etch" metal. It simply removes any rust on the metal, which sometimes leaves the bare metal with a slight etched feel where the rust had eroded the metal. I believe one of the active ingredients must be phosphoric acid, which attacks the rust and leaves a fine black protective surface on the metal. I have found that some hardened steel comes out looking like it has been "blued". The coating is not durable and comes off with a little touch of steel wool, leaving a shiny metal part.

Etching is where the chemical actually eats metal, leaving a roughened surface. These kinds of products are used for prepping bare, virgin steel for paint. They actually etch the metal like sandblasting will etch glass. Evaporust and similar products do not etch metal. It will, however, soften paint, which is probably why you got the line you were talking about. I had the liquid coming up just barely over the machined surfaces of the bedways, so even if there is a line it will not be noticeable.

The temps were up yesterday, above the recommended 60 degrees minimum for using Evaporust, so I left the lathe bed in the solution for about 6 hours and got my son to help me lift it out. My camera battery was dead, so I don't yet have a photo. I'll try to post one later. It appears to have removed all the rust, but there are still dark stains left by the Evaporust. I hit it with 0000 steel wool a little bit, but it didn't do much good. In the final analysis, I don't think the results were worth the $80+ I spent on the Evaporust. It looks a little better, because the stains are gray/black, rather than rust brown, and I have the satisfaction of knowing there is no more rust, but I certainly could have spent that money in better ways, I think.

Still working on the paint on the castings.

 

[AR1911]

The gray frost is microscopic pitting where the rust used to be. If you know a product that will leave that shiny and smooth, patent it.

also, Evaporust works fine with a layer of ice on top, as I learned last month. It just works more slowly but the results are the same.

 

[thenrie]

The gray frost is microscopic pitting where the rust used to be. If you know a product that will leave that shiny and smooth, patent it.

also, Evaporust works fine with a layer of ice on top, as I learned last month. It just works more slowly but the results are the same.

Most of the parts I have "de-rusted" with Evaporust have come out very shiny and smooth after hitting them with a wire brush or steel wool (depending on the part). Now, I didn't say mirror finish. You are right. Once a part has been rusted, the only way to take it back to its original finish is to remove the surface down past the rust pitting. That's where I am with the lathe bed. Can't take it down past the pitting without ruining the bed. So I'll live with the little bit of pitting that is left after removing the rust.

As for temperatures, I have found that the effectiveness of Evaporust is greatly enhanced by warming it. I have a large crock pot that will hold a gallon. I set it on warm and leave parts in it overnight. Works wonderfully.

Here are some pics of the bed, before and after. You be the judge (remember, the flash enhances colors and makes things look worse than they are in reality).

Before:



This picture was after cleaning with a razor blade and WD-40:



After tanking in Evaporust:



Looks a lot better than before, now that I look at the pictures. After I removed the carriage and tailstock, I scraped the ways with a razor blade and WD-40. That took the rust down to flush and smooth with the good steel. The Evaporust removed the remainder. After the evaporust, I went over the ways a few swipes with 0000 steel wool to remove the Evaporust "frost" (I hadn't thought of that word, but it is a good one to describe it).

Hopefully, I'll be putting things back together over the next two weeks. All the necessary parts have been purchased or made. All the castings are in the process of being painted, except the bed and cabinet, which I will leave for some other time. Both are getting a very thorough cleaning.

Still looking for a new cross feed screw and nut.

- - - Updated - - -

A couple of those pics came out really bad. Don't know why. I'll try to get better ones on Monday.

- - - Updated - - -

By the way, I finished the workbench for the South Bend lathe. I'm going to try to get it installed on the workbench next week. Once I finish the DR it will be the SB's turn.

 

[TomKro]

Tony:

That bed is coming right along. Looks solid. Thanks for the pics.

Also, very nice workbench. Looks good enough to use it for a kitchen table.

I guess you needed a lot of Evapo-rust to cover those ways, but the Pine-Sol wasn't so cheap either. I like John Hasler's idea, but I'm in need of a chemistry review in order to get a formula for the proper mix. I'd hate to go too strong and start chewing things up.

 

[astjp2]

Tony, Dick has new crossfeed nuts for a good price. Tim