electrolysis removes rust! (dunno about hair)

Yeah,I don't know if you can tell by the first picture, but this is in the drive between the two garage doors.

What kinda battery charger?? L'il table-top thing or big-on-wheels-starts-cars kind? Do you have to suspend the to be cleaned parts, or just lay them down in container?? Sorry folks....chemistry AINT my strongest suit!:blink: :blush:

indykaw77 wrote:

What kinda battery charger?? L'il table-top thing or big-on-wheels-starts-cars kind? Do you have to suspend the to be cleaned parts, or just lay them down in container?? Sorry folks....chemistry AINT my strongest suit!:blink: :blush:

Whoa! Be patient. Tell you what. Give me a week playing with it, then I'll write a tech paper and post it with all the details, pictures, drawings, everything. I just want to find out how far I can push this before I start telling you how I did it. However, if anybody really wants to get started on this on their own, a couple of notes:
1. I'm using a cheap $30 WalMart charger.
2. DON'T USE STAINLESS STEEL for your electrode. A couple of the websites tell you to use this, but you WILL make your waste water toxic with chromium with ss.

This is neat stuff. I learned about it a while back, and treated an old horseshoe just to try it out. Works great.
From what I remember, you want to make sure you don't hook up the leads the wrong way, because the part you are trying to clean will be damaged or destroyed. It will become the "sacrificial anode". Also, you want to hang your part on some wire because if you let the battery clip get into the solution, it will be destroyed.
I've also heard of people cleaning the rust from their gas tanks this way. They'll insulate the ends of a piece of rebar or something, so it doesn't contact the tank while it's inside it.
I also read that it helps for the surface you're trying to clean to be facing the anode, so you'll want to be able to turn the part around in the tank.
This is the technique museums use to clean up iron artifacts.

pstrbrc wrote:

indykaw77 wrote:

What kinda battery charger?? L'il table-top thing or big-on-wheels-starts-cars kind? Do you have to suspend the to be cleaned parts, or just lay them down in container?? Sorry folks....chemistry AINT my strongest suit!:blink: :blush:

Whoa! Be patient. Tell you what. Give me a week playing with it, then I'll write a tech paper

Or just click on the link previously provided.
It's red. and says "rust sucks".


it looks kind of like this

I am thinking about doing this on a cheap tank I picked up on EBay. I have a good tank on my bike already (stock KZ1000 LTD tank with 3.5 gal capacity), but I wanted to get a spare bigger (4.5 gal) tank for when I go on longer rides.

So I found one for $20 on EBay, knowing that it has a lot of rust on the inside.

What I thought I would do is to fill the tank with the soda solution, then get two long iron rods that I would bend into an "L" shape and insert down the long axis of the tank, one rod on each side. I would then get a 2" rubber plug and drill three holes in it. One for each of the rods, and a third vent hole. They would be held in place by the rubber plug.

Before hooking up the battery charger, I would use my multimeter to make sure that I do not have full continuity (connection) between the tank and the rods. Then I will attach the neg lead to the outside of the tank and the pos lead to the rods. I will use a vinyl tube in the vent hole to vent to the outside, so I can safely do this in the garage and leave it overnight.

For anyone that has done this before, does this seem like a good plan? Any other tips?

Skyman,
I'd think that using the rubber plug in the fill neck entirely for positioning the rods might be iffy. Maybe put a rubber plug/bushing on the end of each rod? Just a thought.

Skyman wrote:

I am thinking about doing this on a cheap tank I picked up on EBay... knowing that it has a lot of rust on the inside.... Any other tips?

Try this

twinoak.altelco.net/~jacil/clay/motorcycle/KElecSetup.html

Patton wrote:

Skyman wrote:

I am thinking about doing this on a cheap tank I picked up on EBay... knowing that it has a lot of rust on the inside.... Any other tips?

Try this

twinoak.altelco.net/~jacil/clay/motorcycle/KElecSetup.html

one of the best ways for removing rust inside a tank is by using phosphoric acid. It removes the rust and coats the inside of the tank with iron phosphate. Iron phosphate is rust resistant so it has a double benefit. Far better than electrolysis - but there is some cost involved and the tank will need to 'soak' for a week or more to do a perfect job - so dont be in a hurry.

vipex wrote:
one of the best ways for removing rust inside a tank is by using phosphoric acid. It removes the rust and coats the inside of the tank with iron phosphate. Iron phosphate is rust resistant so it has a double benefit. Far better than electrolysis - but there is some cost involved and the tank will need to 'soak' for a week or more to do a perfect job - so dont be in a hurry.[/quote]


Where would one get phosphoric acid? What "name brand" should I be looking for?

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