Electrolysis - Rust Removal WORKS AWSOME!!!!!!

[87hardtop]

What do you need to make this work? Not much, really:

 A large non-conductive container that will hold the part in water - A Rubbermaid tub, a plastic bucket, or a large non-metal trash can all work great as long as they don't leak.
 A battery charger or other source of 12V DC power.
 Wires or cables to connect the electrodes together
 Sacrificial electrodes - iron re-bar works great, stainless steel is very bad (and the result is illegal and dangerous).
 Arm & Hammer LAUNDRY Soda, also known as washing soda.
 Some chains or steel wire to suspend the part in the solution - copper wire is bad and messy.
 Water
The basics are pretty simple.

Find a container big enough to hold your part, plus some room to spare for the electrodes - they must not touch the part for this to work.
Fill the container with water and add 1/3 to 1/2 cup laundry soda per every 5 gallons of water. Mix thoroughly.
Position the sacrificial electrodes around the edge of the container and clamp them in place so that you have at least 4" of electrode above the water to connect to. The more the merrier - this is essentially a "line of sight" process between the part and the electrodes.
Wire all of the electrodes together so they are, electrically speaking, one big electrode. Make sure all connections are on clean metal and sufficiently tight to work.
Suspend your part in the solution using the wire/chains so it is not touching the bottom and is not touching any electrodes. The part must be electrically connected to the support mechanism and not connected to the electrodes for this to work.
Attach the battery charger NEGATIVE lead to the part and the POSITIVE lead to the electrodes. Do not get this backwards! If you do, you'll use metal from your part to de-rust your electrodes instead of the other way around -the positive electrodes are sacrificial and will erode over time. That's how the water becomes iron-rich.
Double check everything to be sure the right things are touching, the wrong things are not touching, and the cables are hooked up correctly.
Turn on the power - plug in the charger and turn it on.
Within seconds you should see a large volume of tiny bubbles in the solution - these bubbles are oxygen and hydrogen (very flammable!). The rust and gunk will bubble up to the top and form a gunky layer there. More gunk will form on the electrodes - after some amount of use, they will need to be cleaned and/or replaced - the electrodes give up metal over time. That's why re-bar is such a nice choice - it's cheap and easy to get in pre-cut lengths.

The process is self-halting - when there is no more rust to remove, the reaction stops. This is handy because you don't have to monitor it, and because you can do large parts where they are not totally submersed at one time (aka, by rotating them and doing half at a time) without worrying about "lines" in the final part.

Once you are done, the part should immediately be final cleaned and painted - the part is very susceptible to surface rust after being removed from the solution. There will be a fine layer of black on the part that can be easily removed, and once it is removed, the part can be primed/painted as needed.

 

Safety Precautions
You're playing with serious stuff here, so stay safe. It's not rocket science, but if you're new to this, you might not know all of this - so read up before you do any of this.

 This process produces highly flammable and explosive hydrogen gas (remember the Hindenburg?), so do it outside, or in some other well ventilated area. Hydrogen is lighter than air (like natural gas), so it will collect near the ceiling - not sink to the floor like some other flammable vapors will (like propane and gasoline). If you have open flames near this (Hint: gas appliances like water heaters and furnaces have pilot lights!) you will most likely severely injure or kill yourself (and others near you) and become a contender for the Darwin Awards in the process.
 Assuming you used re-bar and steel wire/chain like you were told to, the waste water resulting from this is iron-rich - it's perfectly safe to pour it out onto the grass and your lawn will love it. Beware of ornamental shrubs that don't like iron-rich soil though, unless you like making your wife mad at you.
 Make sure the battery charger (or whatever source of power you use) stays dry. All of the usual cautions about any electrical device in a wet environment apply here.
 The solution is electrically "live" - it is a conductor in this system. Turn off the power before making adjustments or sticking your hands into the solution. You can get a mild shock if you stick your hands into the water with the power on.
 The solution is fairly alkaline and will irritate your skin and eyes. Use gloves and eye protection. Immediately wash off any part of your body the solution comes into contact with with plenty of fresh water.
 Don't use stainless steel for the electrodes. The results are toxic and illegal to dump out.
 Don't use copper for the electrodes and anything else in the water - the results are messy.
If you are unsure of any of this or unsure about your safety - STOP! Get help before you do something stupid. Use common sense, be smart about what you're doing, and stay safe so you can finish your restoration project and enjoy it

[bmp]

sounds neat.    do you have any pics?

[87hardtop]

no but i tried this on my stock shackels that i removed and it worked awsome.

[zuk91]

here is a video on rust removal

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZhTZkvkivDQ

[87hardtop]

Good vid. I Used a 12 amp charger it worked really fast about 15 min per shackle. Cleaned them up real nice. I ould play in the water on 12 amps 2 long though.

[bearingman]

they showed this on the powerblock last week or the week before.

[87hardtop]

Yea i saw it 2 man just sharing with others who dont know about it. I really workd and i figured i would share 

[dptyrob]

I'm using this now on a t-19 tranny.  I'll try to post up some before and after pics when I'm done.  It's been in about 24 hours (last time I looked at it) and you could really see that things are happening from the gunk coming to the top of the water.  It's probably going to take a while to do this big chunk, though. 

[87hardtop]

Nice man post some up.

[dptyrob]

Okay, here is what it looked like inside when I started (probably worse because the before pictures are a couple of years old):




And here is what things are looking like during the process (water is too murky to give you pictures of the tranny):





It's been in for about 40 hours now and I've cleaned the piece of metal pictured above several times during the process.  I just added an old file cabinet drawer as an electrode in addition to the piece of metal pictured after taking these pictures.  The whole process really kicked into high gear when I did that.  The piece of metal pictured above is really pitting like crazy too. 

I could sit outside for hours and watch this thing.  My neighbors probably all think I've lost my mind. 

[87hardtop]

try putting the min. amount of water needed to cover up the parts. this worked better for me with less water.

[Transpoquick]

wear your safety glasses and rubber gloves for this one, straight muriatic acid strips rust really good and its cheap + easy.

[bmp]

Okay, here is what it looked like inside when I started (probably worse because the before pictures are a couple of years old):




And here is what things are looking like during the process (water is too murky to give you pictures of the tranny):





It's been in for about 40 hours now and I've cleaned the piece of metal pictured above several times during the process.  I just added an old file cabinet drawer as an electrode in addition to the piece of metal pictured after taking these pictures.  The whole process really kicked into high gear when I did that.  The piece of metal pictured above is really pitting like crazy too. 

I could sit outside for hours and watch this thing.  My neighbors probably all think I've lost my mind. 

any after pics?

[dptyrob]

any after pics?

Not yet.  It's still out there in the water.  The process seems to have stalled.  I'm thinking that it may have something to do with the sub-freezing temperatures we've been having the last few days. 

[norzuki]

Not yet.  It's still out there in the water.  The process seems to have stalled.  I'm thinking that it may have something to do with the sub-freezing temperatures we've been having the last few days. 

I have been trying this process also and 2 or 3 times the process has stopped with me. I think it might be the charger because I can unplug the charger and in about 1 - 2 minutes plug it back in and it starts back up.

dptyrob ...... wonder if your charger is doing the same thing?

David

[dptyrob]

I have been trying this process also and 2 or 3 times the process has stopped with me. I think it might be the charger because I can unplug the charger and in about 1 - 2 minutes plug it back in and it starts back up.

dptyrob ...... wonder if your charger is doing the same thing?

David

I've considered that too.  I'll have to give it a little breather and see what happens.  It'll be a day or two before I can get back to y'all on that though. 

[HUMZUKI]

Not yet.  It's still out there in the water.  The process seems to have stalled.  I'm thinking that it may have something to do with the sub-freezing temperatures we've been having the last few days. 

I just did this a few days ago with a header for my yota. The majority of the work happened in the first 24hr then basically stopped after that. It was still bubbling  for another 48 hrs but no change really. I didnt wash it off or anything I DID however grind a spot to weld a clean tab to make sure my connection was solid and the "electrode" I used was a new piece of 4" bar stock.

[HUMZUKI]

first is 24 hr second is 48hr MORE not total. So I took it out. Its all white now. Im totally satisfied with doing it,,,how else are you gona clean out the INSIDE of a header with out some crazy "snake" sander drill thing

[87hardtop]

 

[HUMZUKI]

http://www.rickswoodshopcreations.com/Miscellaneous/Rust_Removal.htm


Alota info on here too! Since alot of people seem to be getting in to this 

[87hardtop]

Thanks man for the info... It's hard not to try this seeing how it is so easy to do.. Less work = 

[HUMZUKI]

Thanks man for the info... It's hard not to try this seeing how it is so easy to do.. Less work = 

LOL Just google it theres ALOT of info out there

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=electrolysis+rust+removal&btnG=Search

[dptyrob]

Okay, here are some before and after pics (below: I'm posting before and after together, so don't panic when you see the before).  I let mine go for about 2 weeks or better due to the amount of metal involved.  It also probably set in the water turned off for a week or two before I got around to draining it and scrubbing it off.  I was really amazed at what I found today when I started scrubbing with a nylon brush.  And as you can see, it really devoured the pieces of metal that I used for anodes (?).  One was a file cabinet drawer and the other a piece of galvanized sheet metal. 





The piece of sheet metal:


The file cabinet drawer:


What was left in the bottom of the tub:

[bmp]

cool

[HUMZUKI]

Yea WOW!!! Maybe I should start mine back up

[87hardtop]

Nice

[nemo]

Like your post, I had been wondering how well this worked but had not tried it. I really like the before and after pics since they give a really good idea of type of results to expect.

[87hardtop]

I really works great and you have to do 90% less work.

[Surly]

straight muriatic acid strips rust really good and its cheap + easy.

WARNING: Muriatic acid will DESTROY aluminum!

[godzukiman]

shocking

[Polie]

so does anyone have a pool so I can just drive a whole zuk in there?

[nemo]

Like you would really need one in AZ - last time I was out there could not find any rust.
 

[landfill]

WARNING: Muriatic acid will DESTROY aluminum!

Isnt that the stuff that takes the shine of aluminum diamonete?? But doesnt break down the aluminum?

[mojoinco]

Why the reference to muriatic acid?

This uses water and baking soda (I believe that's the active ingredient).  Anyhow, I have read somewhere else about using an arc welder as well (DC, not ac).  Same idea, as it's just a power source.

[Surly]

Why the reference to muriatic acid?

Just trying to keep someone else from making the same mistake I did. I once soaked a set of aluminum pistons in muriatic acid overnight to remove the carbon, and they were fizzing like alka seltzer tablets the next day.

This uses water and baking soda (I believe that's the active ingredient).  .

Nope, it's washing soda, not baking soda.

[suzuki1750]

If the part has a lot of rust, I will let it soke for a couple of days, then drain tank and replace with fresh water and washing soda. Soke for a couple more.  Works great. To bad it doesnt remove grease.

[ZukiJon]

I could sit outside for hours and watch this thing.  My neighbors probably all think I've lost my mind. 

Just grab a small fishing pole and pretend your fishing, that'll have them stumped
My neighbors already think I'm crazy so they would expect that from me

[letsgomuddin85]

would this work on an airfilter i got one with rust all on it

[87hardtop]

Just try it. hell if it dont work your just out a rusty ol filter

[Jeremiah]

Where do I get washing soda? The people at my local stores looked at me like I was crazy 

[HUMZUKI]

I just went to shoprite

[87hardtop]

WASHING SODA = Baking soda minus the good smell.

[Surly]

WASHING SODA = Baking soda minus the good smell.

Nope.

http://www.diaperpin.com/clothdiapers/article_bakingsoda.asp

[Jeremiah]

Okay, so... if I can't find washing soda, I can use 2x as much baking soda to get same result?

[Surly]

Okay, so... if I can't find washing soda, I can use 2x as much baking soda to get same result?

No... I would use ph+ for swimming pools.

[letsgomuddin85]

will ph plus work beter than the washing soda?

[letsgomuddin85]

im using a 27 gal trash can and a long tube 302 header and 3lbs of baking soda looks like its working the waters all nasty

[87hardtop]

Yes it is working if the water is nasty. 24 hours it should be clean. You might have to move the part around a lil. sometimes it seems to clean some areas better than others.

[letsgomuddin85]

i dont know its been in there for 4 days and still dont seems done i think i need to cahnge out the steal bar or something the header still feels like its covered in rust but dont look like it

[87hardtop]

sounds like you need more salt or soda, or amps.

[letsgomuddin85]

someone unpluged it

[ZUKINAGAIN]

Just to add another comment on this.  I'm using the PH plus.  One thing I figured out is to keep the anode as fresh as possible.  Mine slowed to almost nothing.  I put a clean section of metal in and it finished the job.