De-rusting project

[falcoron]

24 hours in washing soda water and a battery charger
Yeah it doesn’t work lol

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[SwallownAmazon]

Originally Posted by falcoron

24 hours in washing soda water and a battery charger
Yeah it doesn’t work lol

I was referring to your incorrect assertion that washing soda is basically salt, not that washing soda may offer some cleaning properties. Washing soda is a reasonable electrolyte but you should NOT use salt as a substitute which you seemed to suggest and which is why this discussion took off. End of.....

[falcoron]

Sorry you are wrong again! I’ve done this with washing soda, I’ve done it with salt and with salt with a drop of vinegar they all worked well.
The solution is as you say an electrolyte, some are better that others and some like salt or salt and vinegar take longer. The anodes take the rust off the part and are attracted to them so no damage is done with salt as you are only in the solution when the electric charge ie electrolysis is happening. Once the rust is gone the electrolysis process stops so you wash all the parts with clean water dry well and get primed ASAP to stop flash rusting occurring.
I’ve been doing this for years and it works perfectly well and is much safer and kinder to the environment than caustic which is nasty stuff.
I have proved it so many times and saved old but genuine parts which are far better made than most the new alternatives most of which are made in China, especially the wish bone arms which are twice as robust that any new ones are.
But each to their own. I was giving my opinion to the op and surly that’s what a forum is all about.
Cheers and stay safe!

[droopsnoot]

Originally Posted by tractor Dave

Bilt Hamber do a brilliant rust remover soak. It's a powder you mix with water and you can use it many times over.

That's "Deox C", which I believe is just citric acid, which is available at much lower cost generically. It looks the same, acts the same, mixing instructions are the same.

I was about to ask what settings / power / etc. were being used to get that strut so clean in "only" 24 hours as I'm doing a rear brake caliper bracket using the same electrolytic method and it's been on for a while now. But then I remembered I only leave it going while I'm in the shed, which is about 2-3 hours per afternoon, so it's probably working out about the same. I am several miles from the shed, and all electric is powered off before I leave.

[falcoron]

Originally Posted by droopsnoot

That's "Deox C", which I believe is just citric acid, which is available at much lower cost generically. It looks the same, acts the same, mixing instructions are the same.

I was about to ask what settings / power / etc. were being used to get that strut so clean in "only" 24 hours as I'm doing a rear brake caliper bracket using the same electrolytic method and it's been on for a while now. But then I remembered I only leave it going while I'm in the shed, which is about 2-3 hours per afternoon, so it's probably working out about the same. I am several miles from the shed, and all electric is powered off before I leave.

Hi mate, the washing soda is 75p a bag so really cheap!
I put that part in the bath after washing really well with a degreaser to remove any oils or grease. Rinsed with a power washers and popped into the solution ( 1 bag of soda in about 20lts water, stirred for a few mins to dissolve and put old type battery charger on ( live to anodes negative to part ) which puts out 2-5 amps needle was sitting about 3-4 amp.
Left for 12 hours, removed and power washed the sludge off. Give a wee scrub with a wire brush to see what was left and washed again. I also removed the steel anodes and cleaned off all the now attracted rust from the part which was now stuck to them. Put part back in for another 12 hours and repeated the process came our fantastically well! Did loads of parts including wishbones and callipers all cane up great
Good thing about this is you can’t over do it, once the rush has gone the fizzing stops and you know you are done

[droopsnoot]

Originally Posted by falcoron

Hi mate, the washing soda is 75p a bag so really cheap!

Well, except when Aldi have a special and it's 26p. I even use the same make you do.

I think my trouble is getting enough current through it, I've always struggled to get anything like as much as other people seem to be able to get. I've swapped now from an old battery charger to a regulated power supply, and that shows current at about 0.2A. It's cleaning, but it's not doing it very quickly. I'll have another look at it later and check the connections.

The top half of the caliper bracket is pretty good now, just trying to do the lower part to match. I did a pair for my "modern" recently and they came out well enough. Too pitted to plate afterwards, but paint is good enough.

[falcoron]

I got better results with more anodes I started with one at beginning but had 4 all linked with steel wire. As long as the rusty part does not contact the anodes it works a treat
Smart battery chargers won’t work you need an older type one that will put in 2-5 amps
That’s my finding and got the results

[droopsnoot]

I'm using two anodes, I don't want to go further than that as I'm using a standard bucket and there isn't a lot of room to start with. I don't think either battery charger is "smart" - they're both old ones from a car boot sale. For a while I tried having a car battery in parallel as there was a suggestion somewhere that might help to convince the charger to output more. As it can sit while I do other things, I don't think it makes much difference that it's taking a long time.

Technique worked quite effectively for this subframe, but I've got rid of the bath now.

[Audi stan]

Hi, just been meandering through this interesting subject, please can you attach an image of a simple diagram of the circuitry you have used. I probably should taken more interest in my science lessons.
Big thanks

[falcoron]

This is a good video
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=54ADeB6V1rQ