Thread: Electrolysis supplies

Dunno if IGA Supermarkets are in the West...but it's a Stock item in that chain also.

Have fun with it.

I tried a couple of IGA supermarkets over here but had no luck. I think you just have to either be lucky or very patient if you go the supermarket path.

I had similar trouble finding it until I stumbled across probably the same bag (white with a 50's style picture of a woman) of Lectric Soda at my regular Safeway in Maryborough (Vic).

Granted, I wasn't looking too hard but was chuffed to bits when I finally saw it by accident.

Good luck with the restoring. My success with it was...not what I'd hoped for.

What happened? Got any tips?

Dunno what RSG will advise, but from my experience I can add the following:

1. Because you have an Anode and a Cathode arrangement, and the current passes directly between the two, only one side of your "Item to be cleaned" gets done effectively.
2. I got around this by making the anode a circle around the perimeter of the bath (my electrolysis bath is a plastic 30litre barrel).
3. Using the "Circular Anode" method took a lot longer, but both sides of the object got done at the same rate.
4. The "Circular Anode" method time was shortened by making more current available (i.e use a larger battery charger).
5. My Number One tip.....don't let anything copper touch the solution.....like battery clips etc.

Hi guys, any pool shop can supply washing soda as it also goes by the name of soda ash. Bunnings will also carry it.

I use baking soda, you can get it anywhere.

Watson pretty much covered anything I tried, but a couple of things to add:

- Knowing what is coming out of your electricity source would be useful. The battery charger I used was ancient and had no readout so I never knew exactly what sort of current I was really getting.

- Having the solution moving (like in photographic silver recovery) didn't work as well as I'd expected. It seems for tool cleaning having the crud build up on the tool is actually a good thing.

My results are in this thread. By all means, have a crack at it. It can't do much harm and is actually a bit of fun. It may have just been that my expectations were too high.

Hi bookend,
If you Google " HTPAA " ( Hand Tool Preservation Assoc. of Australia ), then look up that Electrolysis bit by
Kevin Chamberlain, you will get all the answers you will want.
Regards,
issatree.

Cheers for that. I've read the HTPAA article but I haven't come across the circular anode trick before. It makes perfect sense though.

I wasn't sure about using a larger charger because some reactions change with a larger current but if it works- terrific. I take it you mean a 24v charger RedShirtGuy?

The one I used *should* have been only 12v, but who knows...all the labelling etc was long gone. All I knew was that it worked for charging car batteries so that was good enough for me (I'm such a hack )

Originally Posted by bookend

I wasn't sure about using a larger charger because some reactions change with a larger current but if it works- terrific. I take it you mean a 24v charger RedShirtGuy?

I think what RSG is trying to say is the amperage, if you look at the availability of chargers out there, they come in different amperage outputs, usually the cheaper and smaller ones are 4 or less amps and the better ones are generally 8 or more amps. So in theory, one that puts out more amps will give a stronger reaction.

Originally Posted by johnc

I use baking soda, you can get it anywhere.

I didn't think that was the same stuff!

Last time found "Lectric soda" in Safeways/Woolworths it was near the bath stuff. I guess cos these days thats what people use it for. In a big plastic 1 kg jar. Can't remember the price.

Originally Posted by tea lady

I didn't think that was the same stuff!

Last time found "Lectric soda" in Safeways/Woolworths it was near the bath stuff. I guess cos these days thats what people use it for. In a big plastic 1 kg jar. Can't remember the price.

They aren't the same thing but baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) will work. It's a poorer electrolyte that sodium carbonate because it only partially dissociates into Na+ and HCO3-, while the sodium carbonate completely dissociates into 2 Na+ and CO3--, so you get more electrolyte from the same number of molecules.
You can make your own washing soda , enough to use in electrolysis, by heating bicarb soda above 150ºC for an hour or so, say in an oven.

Cheers
Michael