Electrolytic Rust Removal

[AWC]

No worries about drips and runs that may crack later as the primer dries and the drips shrink?

[RIP260Z]

26th,

Thank you for sharing what you are doing/ going to your body shell. I read this with great interest, and look forward to reading any full article/thread.

Cheers

Ian

[AWC]

Okay, I've tried this process twice and failed both times.

The first time I used a battery charger that was too smart for its own good. It threw an error code that said the battery was too far dead to be charged. I was trying to use 2 amps and it was a 12-volt charger.

So I bought a simpler charger designed for smaller batteries. It is a 6 or 12 volt (you can select which) and 1.5 amps. This charger has three lights that indicate what it is up to: "Charging," "Charged," and "Trouble." Well about five minutes after I start it up it will switch over to "Trouble" and quit sending current.

Can anyone recommend a charger or other power source that will just send current without asking questions?

[MikeW]

Can anyone recommend a charger or other power source that will just send current without asking questions?

I tested this process recently with a cheap trickle charger that doesn't have any of the fancy settings like yours do. You could probably even use your car battery itself. You could use jumper cables to the project and then hook up the charger to keep the battery charged.

Another option would be to use a standard 12-volt power supply. I have no experience with the following products but it came from a Google search and will at least let you know what I'm talking about:

http://www.baproducts.com/pyramid.htm

Here's something similar from Radio Shack:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F009%5F001%5F005%5F000&product%5Fid=22%2D507

[V8-240Z]

I just used a basic 12V charger that was rated at 10 amp.

There will about 1 to 3 amps of charging current at the start

and rising to about 4 or 5 amps. You could use a car battery

and the charger to keep it charged. But put a head light in

series between the battery and the electrode so a dead short

will just make the light bright. The light will glow as this

contraption is working

I did mine a little different but still the same results.

I used a garage sale stainless steel sink.

http://67.42.8.86:8884/Files/Datsun/Rust/

After a a few days the sink gave up and I cut it up

and used the plastic bucket with what was left of the

sink for the + electrode

[26th-Z]

Dave,

The solution they are using in Wauchula is Sodium Gluconate, Sodium Hydroxide, and Sodium Cyanide. They use copper plate for the annode. The plate covers the entire tank.

26th-Z is back home in Sarasota. We found her a nice air-conditioned body shop for me to grind welds. Just spent the whole afternoon grinding welds. Nicked my fingers a good one or two!

[TomoHawk]

Did you notice any outgassing? I'd like to do mine indoors, and don't care for any explosion hazard.

thx

[TomoHawk]

I did finally build myself a de-rusting setup, and it really works!

I used a steel bolt as the anode, but I didn't have any copper wire for the connections. I put it all in an empty 1 gal windsheild washer fluid bottle which had the top half cut off & some notches for a cross-support. I found a 12V power adapter to use for the power supply, and hooked it all up to de-rust some heater hose holders. The 150mA power dapter was enough to do the small part.

The only thing I had a problem with was the black stuff left on the part after de-rusting. What have others done to remove the black stuff and get the part shiney- or clean- looking?

thxZ

[TomoHawk]

Successs on an engine block!

I helped a professional Rolls-Royce restorer guy de-rust an engine block using the electrolytic method. We used a big plastic 50-gallon drum for the container, rested the engine block on wood blocks on the bottom, and used 8 rods of rebar around the perimeter as the electrodes. the rods were flattened on the ends with holes drilled for screws for the best electrical connections. 12 ga. stranded wire with eye-connectors were used all-around (there was a big roll handy.) The power was a 20 Amp, 6-volt battery charger; 12 volts didn't look to make any difference. Current was about 17 amps to start, and smoothed out to about 10 Amps at the end.

The process took about 20 hours total.

There was probably a good inch or so is rusty crud floating on top,which was scooped off with a paper cup and the electrodes were barely affected.

The block was finished off with water to flush the cooling passages, and a rinse with some light scrubbing to get the black oxide coating off, and the bare metal was protected with a spray-on waxy coating that resembled furniture polish. The waxy coating will be removed with solvent before painting the block.

The cylnder bores were examined before and after the process with NO CHANGES. The diameter was not affected, nor was the cross-hatching from the previous (original) honing. A light honing of the cylinder bores will be done anyway.

I think the total cost was about $50 -60 from the quantity of distilled water used, and the rebar rods. the rest was on-hand (plastic drum, wire, battery charger and washing powder.)

thxZ

Edited April 13, 2009 by TomoHawk