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Author: Subject: Electrolysis. See the light!
Liam

posted on 7/12/03 at 09:05 PM Reply With Quote
Electrolysis. See the light!

This is the single best thing I've ever found out!

Somebody quietly posted this link a little while back on TOL...

The Rust Removal FAQ

Opened it, read it, was sceptical, then tried it anyway. Wow!! I just cant find enough stuff to 'electrolyse'!

I first tried one of my 4x4 front uprights. I had already drifted out the bearing outer races (a complete bitch) and given it a good 20 minutes of 'The Tool' - not the soft wirey one but the voilent twisted one that leaves you looking like you have a piercing fetish, not to mention the instant parkinsons/arthritis. It was still covered with stubborn lumps of rust especially in all the hard to reach places.

After several hours in the tank, the rest of the rust fell off in my fingers under a tap (or with a tiny bit of wire brush persuasion), and with a quick dry in the oven it looked every bit as good as the day it came out of Henry Ford's finest casting shop. Totally amazing and no effort or money!

Then I tried my other upright straight off the car, covered in years of filth and rust, left the bearing races in. Same result. Awesome! All the crap just rubs off with your fingers!

Here's what others had to say...

"It's so cheap and easy! I just leave it going over night and in the morning my component is like new!" - Jessica, Middlesex.

"The best thing for me is it doesn't attack clean metal so it wont harm machined surfaces and parts like bearing races! I'll never use sand blasting again!" - Peter, Dudley.

"I find electrolysis very useful for dismantling rusty donor car assemblies like hubs, struts and the like!" - Jean, Doncaster.

"I'll never touch 'The Tool' again! Too bad I already got arthritis!" - Winston, Hereford.


It's fantastic. I used baking soda and it works fine. I use a bit of thin walled 6" diameter stainless tube i found as the electrode, and occasionally a small bit of inch tube to insert inside tricky bits if required. Draws about 2 amps with the electrode nice and close to the piece.

Give it a go. Even if you're already drivingyou must have something rusty.

Liam

EDIT: IMPORTANT!!!

In case you dont read the rest of the thread, read this: Be VERY careful with stainless electrodes. In fact - best not to use stainless at all. Produces nasty hazardous waste!! See the thread for more info!


[Edited on 16/2/05 by Liam]






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JoelP

posted on 7/12/03 at 09:14 PM Reply With Quote
i assume washing soda is different to caustic soda?! sounds like a good process, i may try my hubs soon...
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mackie

posted on 7/12/03 at 09:23 PM Reply With Quote
Very cool. Although it doesn't say anything about the kind of charger or voltage to use. I have a car battery charger kicking about, so as long as that's ok I may just give it a go.
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Liam

posted on 7/12/03 at 09:47 PM Reply With Quote
Didn't really know what the hell kind of soda they were on about in the faq but baking soda is fine. Water softener which claimed to be soda based didn't work.

I just use my halfords car battery charger which is essentially nothing more than a 12V power supply capable of supplying a few amps. The current drawn depends on how close you get your electrode to the rusty lump of crap. Draws about 2A for me.


From this... Rescued attachment rearbefore.JPG
Rescued attachment rearbefore.JPG







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Liam

posted on 7/12/03 at 09:49 PM Reply With Quote
To this. With no effort. Apart from a bit of a rinse/scrub, prime and a squirt of WD40 into the bits i dont want to paint. Rescued attachment rearafter.JPG
Rescued attachment rearafter.JPG







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Liam

posted on 7/12/03 at 09:50 PM Reply With Quote
This happenned while i was asleep! Rescued attachment frontupright.JPG
Rescued attachment frontupright.JPG







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JoelP

posted on 7/12/03 at 09:54 PM Reply With Quote
it'll be the elves...
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robinbastd

posted on 7/12/03 at 11:17 PM Reply With Quote
Liam,
Many,many thanks for the info. I've got lots of stuff to be reconditioned,and now the pixies can do it!
Cheers
Ian





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RichyMkIndy

posted on 8/12/03 at 01:38 AM Reply With Quote
im off to start my own company selling recon sierra bits ! tee hee !
bye !

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Jumpy Guy

posted on 9/12/03 at 05:28 PM Reply With Quote
Liam - what did you use as an electrode?

how crucial is it to 'surround the object';??
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mackie

posted on 9/12/03 at 05:34 PM Reply With Quote
I tried it last night with just a bit of RHS as the anode. It worked a treat but i'm going to make one out of some sheet because it'll get better results. It sort of works on "line of sight" because the current will flow along the easiest path, so if you make the easiest path wider you get better coverage. I'm not sure if my explanation was good or not but that's how I see it.
The solution gets very manky very quickly though! I looks like someone shat in it now

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Liam

posted on 9/12/03 at 11:58 PM Reply With Quote
My electrode is a piece of thin walled stainless tube about 5" diameter. Was gonna strap it under my 205 for that 'big bore' look but I think I've put it to better use now.

Surrounding the object dont seem massively important if you leave it in long enough. I tend to turn the rusty object round about half way to try and 'expose' the other side to the electrode. It just works much faster close to the electrode cos more current can flow.

I had a stubborn bit inside one of my uprights so i switched my normal electrode for a bit of inch round mild tube so i could get it in there. That learned that bit of rust to stick to my upright. Even after a few hours though the mild steel electrode was getting fairly well eaten, wheras the thin bit of stainless I usually use hasn't been touched.

Liam






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The Shootist

posted on 10/12/03 at 03:46 AM Reply With Quote
Washing Soda?

I think the washing soda may mean Borax. Borax is used to flux some metals for casting so I can see where it might do for this usage.

Since Borax is for washing it would also act as a degreaser.

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Ben_Copeland

posted on 10/12/03 at 08:42 AM Reply With Quote
Think i will try this.... not sure what rusty bits i have now.... I'll have to keep my eye's open for some





Ben

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Mix

posted on 11/12/03 at 09:45 AM Reply With Quote
Chemistry Lesson

Chemical name for 'washing soda is Sodium Carbonate, clear or whitish crystals used to 'soften' water. Should be obtainable from your local chemist.

Mick

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Ben_Copeland

posted on 11/12/03 at 12:18 PM Reply With Quote
Excellent That can go on the shopping list





Ben

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James

posted on 11/12/03 at 01:33 PM Reply With Quote
Liam, all I want to know is why you waited until I'd 'Tooled' everything to de-rust it before you posted this!

I'm gonna have to go buy another Sierra now just so I've got something decent to try it with!

James

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JoelP

posted on 11/12/03 at 01:45 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by James
I'm gonna have to go buy another Sierra now just so I've got something decent to try it with!

James


if you want, i can lend you some hubs to de rust?! want em back sparkling though!!

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Mix

posted on 11/12/03 at 04:00 PM Reply With Quote
Just tried my first 'experiment', what a result !!

Guess that's the bottom dropped out of the second hand market for angle grinders and twisted wire brushes.

Mick

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CairB

posted on 14/12/03 at 09:35 PM Reply With Quote
Good find.

I'm having a go at the moment with a few bits that I never quite got round to. To busy driving

I found this explanation as to whats actually going on:
electrolysis_explanation

One point though, anyone blown up their garage yet with the by products?

Cheers,

Colin

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paulbeyer

posted on 14/12/03 at 11:56 PM Reply With Quote
Hmmm, if you swapped the +ve and -ve leads from the battery charger and used gold instead of stainless steel would you end up gold plating your bits?





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greggors84

posted on 15/12/03 at 01:25 AM Reply With Quote
Shame this wasnt discovered earlier, richy almost killed himself with my twisted wire brush on angle grinder trying to get in those hard to reach places. This seems a hell of a lot easier. I mite leave my chassis out in the rain, just so i can try it!!





Chris

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steve m

posted on 15/12/03 at 02:47 AM Reply With Quote
Its going to be a big glass jar for chassis
to go into it

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blueshift

posted on 15/12/03 at 06:11 AM Reply With Quote
maybe greggors has a handy swimming pool and a skip full of washing soda?
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Browser

posted on 18/12/03 at 12:45 PM Reply With Quote
Thanks for the post, I was not looking forward to the start of my de-rusting process, I'm not so bothered now! Only improvement to this setup that I can think of would be an agitator to stir the solution, maybe that'd get it to those 'hard to reach' places.






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