first time electrolysis

[steve53]

i am rebuilding a 250 out of a '65 to put in my '53 and am trying electrolysis for the first time. i am sitting in the garage right now with an exhaust manifold going through the process right in front of me. looks like it is doing some good work! i learned most of what i'm doing from this thread over at the H.A.M.B.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...t=electrolisys

any of you guys try this and have good results? i used borax to get the PH level to a good base. i will try to get some pics up of this manifold in the next day or two with the finished results. just imagine right now that it is rusted and caked with carbon and dirt pretty bad.

[steve53]

well, forgot that my laptop can take crappy pictures. here is a pic of my setup. i got a 1.5 amp charger connected to a 12v battery with 650cca. the negative is connected to the manifold and the positive is connected to two pieces of rebar which are also connected to each other.

[robin58]

I used it with some success on some smaller parts. Just be prepared to be patient.

[Bigblue29]

I'd like to see a couple before and after pics of the parts when your done if you get a chance.

[Thadious]

I've used it on alot of my smaller parts so far (running board brackets, headlamp buckets, hoodlatch, etc.) I found it works well but you gotta take the items out every so often and scrub the grunge off with a wire brush (the toothbrush size works well). I also use it as a pretreatment before I sandblast the items... takes alot of the work out of it!

Cheers,
Ted.

[steve53]

update:

i let the exhaust manifold sit in there all night. i woke up this morning to a nasty bucket of rust and grease scum. there was definitely some massive progress made. i can actually read the stamping on the manifold now! i took it out of the water and went to town on the half that was being treated with a wire brush drill bit. i put fresh water in the bucket with the borax and cleaned off the rebar i am using for electrodes. they got pretty caked. i let it sit in there while at work all day so after i crack a beer and light a smoke im going out to check on it.

i should get some pretty good pics of before/after since only half of the manifold fits in my bucket. when it is all done on one side i will post up pics to show the dirty/clean side of the manifold.

[jason65]

Awsome! I'm glad you started a build thread. Is that the motor from over chickasha way?

[steve53]

Originally Posted by jason65

Awsome! I'm glad you started a build thread. Is that the motor from over chickasha way?

over from tuttle way, courtesy of bigmac68. got it completely tore apart and was looking for some way to clean some of the dirtiest parts and figured i would try some science in my garage muahaha!

[Bigblue29]

Any pics of how the parts are turning out yet?

[steve53]

here are a couple pics of results.

first, the water pump. it cleaned up super nice!




next, the manifold. the left side was the side in the bucket. the right side still looks pretty rusty/grimy.




money invested in using this process:

battery charger, already owned
5gal bucket, already owned
12v battery, already owned
2' rebar x2 = $2.29
box of borax = $2.99

clean parts, priceless!

[Bigblue29]

Wow thats looks pretty good! did it require much effort? or does the bucket do most of the work?

[jason65]

Very nice vato. Looks good. Could you use a kiddy pool and throw it all in there? Does it eat rubber?

[robin58]

Originally Posted by jason65

Very nice vato. Looks good. Could you use a kiddy pool and throw it all in there? Does it eat rubber?

You can use anything you want as long as it doesn't conduct electricity. A kiddie pool is actually pretty good for bigger and oddshaped items.

I never tried with anything rubber on the pieces I did, but logic tells me rubber doesn't conduct electrical current so it should have no ill effects. It also shouldn't affect plated materials.

[jason65]

I was just wandering about his waterpump seals.

[steve53]

Originally Posted by Bigblue29

Wow thats looks pretty good! did it require much effort? or does the bucket do most of the work?

the bucket really does 95% of the work. when i pull the parts out, i just rinse them off and use a wire brush to get some film off of them. wipe down with a shop towel and job done! i double checked the seals and they don't seem to have been affected at all by the process.

i'm going to walmart tomorrow to get a big rubbermaid box and some more rebar so i can do bigger parts in one fell swoop. this 5gal bucket is for the birds!

[slimneverdies]

Or you could use what I did!! Only problem for me was keeping the flash rust under control

[steve53]

Originally Posted by slimneverdies

Or you could use what I did!! Only problem for me was keeping the flash rust under control

hell yeah that's the size im looking for!

i have been wiping a little penetrating oil on the parts with my shop rag the second the part is done being cleaned. i haven't really had much trouble with it so far. bigger parts must be harder though. we will see after i get me a bigger "bucket" lol.

[slimneverdies]

yeah I did the WD-40 thing but it gets really interesting when its time to clean the part. Could be just the humid South Florida weather

[robin58]

Originally Posted by steve53

bigger parts must be harder though. we will see after i get me a bigger "bucket" lol.

One thing to remember is the treatment is "directional": it only works on a "line of sight" basis. For larger items you may be better off using a flat sheet bent to surround the rusty item.

[msgross]

I did this on a water pump and it worked pretty well... i'm gonna try muratic acid next time...

[msgross]

you can rinse the acid I believe... I would use it on small parts in dilution as well..

[Cyrus]

Non linear and directional, got it. I think.

You mean maybe multiple annodes and at different elevations within the solution?

Anybody but me miss the Mr. Wizard show about now? Hahaha

[robin58]

Right, if the anode isn't within line of sight of the rusted material it isn't going to do squat. I guess one could rig up a whole slew of rebar, but to me the time and effort to do that simply to remove rust isn't worth it. Some time with a wirewheel followed by POR15 (or similar) is going to be almost as quick and as much effort/cost. To me the ease of electrolysis really comes into play more with the thinner emblems as it doesn't damage the coating, something that would be hard to do using other methods. For other items like frames, panels etc. you would have to remove the paint anyways (won't work otherwise - and you won't see rust) plus you're not going to repair the rust, you'll have to patch anyways. And you still have to repaint/treat. It's more for pitting than for rusted through.

There are a bunch of how-to's on all kinds of websites on this topic along with pictorials showing setups. But don't think you can dump something in a huge vat and magically all the rust is cured with no further work required.

[Cyrus]

I'm not going to waste time on my frame with this method, as I'm sandblasting it, I was merely exploring a line of thought and asking questions in case someone else was wondering too.

I doo like the self-halting nature of it, though, and I might use it on some pieces like brackets and such. Maybe even my front bumper and grille before they go to the chrome shop to cut down on the cost a bit. This is definitely cost-effective.

[jason65]

Hows the clean up going Steve?