TABOO! Rust removal

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getcarter

Well-known member
Joined
May 13, 2007
Messages
187
Location
texan in tikrit, iraq!
this is not my formula but my father has used it a time or two to remove rust from antique rifles and other small items. just out of curiousity i put a door hinge in the solution and in about a day it had free motion again.

1 gallon of water plus one tablespoon of arm and hammer baking soda. drop a lead into the water, positive connected to the item, and the negative connected to rod also in the water. get them close but do not let them touch and connect a 12 volt source to it, dc battery charger. you will see the solution foam up, pull out the item after an hour or so just to see the result.

DISCAIMER: in no way is getcarter responsible for electricution or spontaneous combustion..lol..

he told me that he has tried to mix up the formula but it did not make any difference. he switched from soaking the items in diesel to this exclusively.

not a tech entry, just thought i would share. i am going to have him take a picture to illustrate.
 
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Sounds cool Carter, but I'm "Fradie cat" of the blue flash and Bzzz Bzzz.

Glad to see you included the disclaimer....LOL...LOL...
 
Sounds cool Carter, but I'm "Fradie cat" of the blue flash and Bzzz Bzzz.

Glad to see you included the disclaimer....LOL...LOL...

i am trying to get him to mock up the troff and take some pictures for you guys. i would think that someone else on here would know something about it. just make sure it is DC!
 
I have also seen this done.It dosent even need to be a piece of lead.A lenth of steel will also work..It does work.The more the rust the longer it will need to be on the charger.It also comes pretty clean when in the solution for the right amount of time.I also seen a clip on this on one of the episodes of PowerBlock.I think it was Trucks.
 
here is some pics

here is an example of the process. he said during the process that the item needs to be turned over at the half way mark. and i think he did get it from the powerblock.
 

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also, add bakingsoda and watch the amp meter, add until the amp meter on the charger goes up midway or so...
 
Somewhere there is a link of a guy who did this method to a Model A frame. He used a hole dug in his yard just bigger than the frame, lined it with pond liner. I dont recall what he used for power for it, but the before/after pics of the frame were amazing.

Improvize, adapt, overcome.

Hodag
 
You guys have my curiosity peaked on this now. I could use a 5 gal. bucket for small parts, correct.

I'm still "Fraidy Cat" of the "BLU FLASH.......Bzzz...Bzzz" thing though.
 
Allright,
I'm taking the plunge. Headed out to the shop "RAT NOW" to try it. If I don't post before and after pics later tonight, watch CNN to see if there was a major outage or explosion here in Montgomery...

I'm still afraidy cat...:eek:
 
The process is called electrolytic rust removal. Rust is a byproduct of an electrochemical reaction between positively and negatively charged electrodes in the presence of an electrolytic solution. In this case, the electrodes are the metal components found in cars. The electrolytic solution is nothing more than a fluid that facilitates an electrical flow. In this case, the electrolytic solution is the carbon dioxide and water that our cars operate in.
For rust to exist, 2 things need to happen: oxidation and reduction. When oxygen combines with iron, it takes electrons from the iron. When that happens, the iron oxidizes (gains a positive charge) and the oxygen reduces (gains a negative charge). Once that reduced oxygen encounters a lesser or negatively charged part (through the electrolyte), it will surrender its spare electrons. When that happens, the oxygen is reducing the other metal.
If we reverse the polarity in that oxidation/reduction process, the oxygen atoms that combined with the iron and robbed it of of it's electrons will return that oxidized iron's missing electrons and break away from the iron.
What this means is the reduction process actually converts the oxidized material that clings to steel back to a simple iron compound. :)

See, so there's nothing to be afraid of....;)
 
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I understood that...YUP
100%.....
I was gonna say the exact same thing but the "Redneck" does not always translate..

If you say there is nothing to be afraid of, then I will take your word for it.
 
well if you wont stripe it meby you can rebuild it bigger stronger faster
:Dha:Dha
 

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Step by Step

Ok I thought this might be a good experiment. So I took pics as I went, not finished yet but here is a start.

I started out with a 1949 Oklahoma tag, very rusty but solid.
Second shot is when it first started up.
third is just begining to work. I had my charged on 2 amps and then changed to 12 amps. Don't know if it matters.
Fouth is the meter at the start, it went higher as time went by and I added more baking soda.
Fifth is after an hour and a half or more. Time to go to the house....to be continued.
 

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here are some pics of my setup. a Friend of mine works at aFord dealer so he dropped an empty 55 gal barrel off for me (free YAY!!) cut the top off with the sawzall. filled it with water and the arm and hammer washing stuff.
IMG_0936.jpg

I took a chunk of pipe that was laying around and clamped it to the side of the barrel. I then found a scrap piece of 2 x 4 and screwed in a large hook I also found around the shop. Hang the part from the hook, attach the neg to the hook and the positive to the pipe and drop it in. I ususally just drop it in and leave it till the next day.



IMG_0934.jpg
 

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