Thread: more rust removal

Tried and tested

I hooked up a Projecta 10 amp charger (set on power supply mode) to two sheets of S/S, one hanging on the side connected to the positive wire and the second lying on the bottom connected to the negative wire. Filled up the tub with water, added a couple of tablespoons of soda, laid the rusted parts on the the bottom sheet and switched on. Only had it on for a couple of hours but it did an excellent job. My wife even came out to have a look at what I was doing with the soda she got me, feigned mild interest, commented on the bubbles and 'yucky stuff' floating on top and left

I suggest that you do some research before you go much further. It has been recommended not to use Stainless Steel for this purpose. The elements are dissolved into the solution and this can cause problems with toxicity. There have been threads on the Forum which discuss this.

Dean

Edit. Also see Posts No. 25, 28 and 29 from this thread.

I have used both molasses and Electrolysis ,no doubt the Electrolysis is Quicker and will remove paint and grease, but for cleaning a lot of parts like when you are restoring a car ,molasses, in my opinion is better as you can load a large drum up and leave it,no worrying about the battery charger.

Eddie
,

Yes I read the bit about chromium and carcinogens along with a million other articles on the web, supposedly if the amperage is low enough there shouldn't be a problem. I also didn't see any silver bits and the only reason I used the S/S is because it was handy at the time, as was the Projecta. I had a bit of a rummage around today and found some reo and an old 3.5 amp charger, so the projecta can go back in the van and the stainless back in the scrap bin. The material I need to clean is fairly long so I may have to make up some sort of container to suit.

Originally Posted by emanon

The molasses does an excellent job, I'll have to remember that one.
For now though, I have a couple of dumb battery chargers I was going to throw out, one is 8 amp the other 10, will they suffice,or do I need more/less amps?

Gotta hang to those old 'dumb' battery chargers. 240V in 12V (or whatever) out - every time, no excuses.

These modern ones only seem to be good for charging batteries, and even then they can be a bit flighty.

Originally Posted by bob ward

Gotta hang to those old 'dumb' battery chargers. 240V in 12V (or whatever) out - every time, no excuses.

These modern ones only seem to be good for charging batteries, and even then they can be a bit flighty.

The older "battery chargers" pretty much only put out a constany voltage and let the battery dictate the charge rate, tapering off at the endpoint as they reached their nominal charged voltage. They were pretty rough and ready but good source of power for these type of projects. The newer smart chargers are certainly much better for charging. They go through a charging algorithm and even have dedicated charging programs for each battery chemistry. They get close the the theoretical 100% charge without overcharging the battery. BUT, they can't be used as a purely DC power source.

Simon

Sorry to pick you up on this one guys but the modern 'smart' chargers, as well as having presets for charging AGM, Gel, camcium and normal starter type batteries, also have a power supply function. The Projecta I used has a power supply mode and a CTEK I also have also has a power supply mode as well. I think you'll find 'most' modern chargers that are capable of charging different type batteries are the same. Problem is, they are expensive at $180+, whereas the 'dumb chargers can be had for just a few bucks, less to go wrong too!

Older battery chargers are best for this process, particularly if the unit in question has an ammeter on it.

For effective managment of this process you need an ammeter.

This allows you to reposition the items for best action and within the current capacity of the power supply.


On the matter of using stanless steel.

Remember there are people using this process on an industrial scale.... very large baths and large amounts of current....all sorts of things become an issue when they are done on an industrial scale.

Any hobbyist that is using this process should be doing so in a very well ventilated area, if not outdoors.

AND hobbyists like us will be doing so at a small scale at lower currents I myself run my bath under 4 amps.

The reason we use stanless steel is very simple......there is not much else availabe to us that will stand up...not corrode rapidly and contaminate the bath to the point that it does not work well.

If you are concerned about toxic and carcenogenic compounds of chromium......investigate zinc chromate paint and that stanless steel cookwear you have in the kitchen.

If you are involved in restoration and removal of paint from anything older than 20 years ( particularly industrial or automotive) you will be encountering zinc chromate primers and lead pigments in top coats. Most of the bright paint colours of the past where produced my use of one heavy metal or another.


There are people pushing a paranoind line about teflon coatngs on cookwear......the argument against stanless steel in high temperature cookwear ( ovens and frypans) is far stronger than the teflon argument.

Like all things we need to be carfull about how we do things

Any of the derusting baths molassis and tomato sauce included will produce a " toxic" product of uncertain composition.

cheers

I have been using a PROJECTA brand charger in the same way as EMANON has said in his post #37 (power supply mode )I also use LECTRIC brand washing soada from woolies supermarket, It retails for about $3.50 for a 1kg bag, I have used this method for quite sometime now and I have had no problems at all, I sometimes leave the charger on for days at a time with out any trouble.

I found with electrolysis you have to degrease the part, as the grease protects that area from the reaction. Some creative type may be able to work this to advantage

I forgot to mention that the power supply from an old PC have been reported as effective instead of a battery charger.

I returned the Projecta from whence it came this morning and hooked up an old 12 volt 5 amp power supply I had in my box of bits (electronic rather than transformer type), seems to work just as well as the Projecta. I also hooked up an ammeter and voltmeter and took some readings: interestingly, I found the more items in the bath the higher the amps, no where near the 5 amp rating of the supply though. I also found the further away the pieces were from the anode the higher the voltage, distribution of the parts in the tub made no difference.
Nice looking pot belly BTW, that would look nice the shed!

Originally Posted by emanon

I returned the Projecta from whence it came this morning and hooked up an old 12 volt 5 amp power supply I had in my box of bits (electronic rather than transformer type), seems to work just as well as the Projecta. I also hooked up an ammeter and voltmeter and took some readings: interestingly, I found the more items in the bath the higher the amps, no where near the 5 amp rating of the supply though. I also found the further away the pieces were from the anode the higher the voltage, distribution of the parts in the tub made no difference.
Nice looking pot belly BTW, that would look nice the shed!

That all makes sense, the more items or the larger the items in the bath, all other things being equal, means that the electrical resistance will be lower, so more current. If you increase the distance between anode and cathode, the resistance between them goes up, so the voltage drop across the load will increase.

Those using molasses, do ants become a big problem? Bees?

No have no problem with Ants or Bees, unless the part is to long to keep the lid on, it is always covered
with a lid.
Eddie