Anyone have good luck using electrolysis to remove rust from wheels?

[goeduck]

And it's a good possibility it was MossRoad where I read he'd used his DC welder, and you know I just had to try it too. WOWSER..!! Definitely makes the water churn..!! I went back to the battery charger, after a couple minutes of watching it. Just wanted to see what it would do.
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You are a wise man switching to the charger. :thumbsup:

Hydrogen explosions are quite something, I would rather not experience another.

 

[MossRoad]

Mine didn't foam up that fast. Just a nice stream of bubbles emitting off of about every point in the railings. It did have a brownish scummy foam coating about an inch thick after several hours. I did it in my driveway so any gas would dissipate quickly. I also turned it off when I wasn't around, and overnight as well. Who knows what/who could fall in there and maybe ZZZAPPP!!

I had some long pieces of metal legs for an old washing basin stand that were welded together and I had to find something to put them in. I found our 90 gallon wheelie bin that the county gives us for recycling was just the right depth and wide enough to accommodate them.

There's all kinds of stuff you can use for a tank around your home if you look around. :thumbsup:

Kitty litter buckets are great, too, for small parts, and the lid snaps shut for storage.

 

[DaveMueller]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. We can learn so much by listening to the experience of others. I have an old 100 gallon plastic stock tank which should be big enough for 1 wheel at a time. A few questions on the electrolysis process:
1) is anything added to the water to aid in the process?
2) what is a good anode?
3) how do I determine the number of anodes?
4) I assume the anodes can't touch the piece being "de-rusted"?

Bob

1) Washing soda as mentioned.
2) Anything plain steel
3) The more the merrier, surround your object.
4) Correct.

The process works on current, not voltage. Ideally, you'd have a power supply with adjustable current limit and the voltage is whatever it takes to make that current. The formula is approx. 1 mA per square centimeter, or about 6 mA per square inch. Here's the website I used and have had good results:
ELECTROLYTIC RUST REMOVAL (ELECTROLYSIS)

 

[trctr155]

Spray the rust with phosphoric acid(over the counter anywhere) then coat with POR-15. This stuff is amazing

 

[HCJtractor]

I used it to clean old hoppers from an Rusty row planter. It works great. I used a plastic trash can and rebar for my sacrificial anodes. And sodium carbonate which I found online. Here’s before/after pix.

 

[MA1920]

1) Washing soda as mentioned.
2) Anything plain steel
3) The more the merrier, surround your object.
4) Correct.

The process works on current, not voltage. Ideally, you'd have a power supply with adjustable current limit and the voltage is whatever it takes to make that current. The formula is approx. 1 mA per square centimeter, or about 6 mA per square inch. Here's the website I used and have had good results:
ELECTROLYTIC RUST REMOVAL (ELECTROLYSIS)

Thanks for link Dave, a lot of good information. Spring is getting closer, even though we had a few inches of snow the other day.:thumbdown:

 

[Richard]

Refrain from putting your hand/finger into the water while the current is turned on.... it will bite you.

Also, as I understand, the process is "line of site" to your sacrificial metal. Example: (I did some iron skillets and they came out looking absolutely brand new but for the scuffs on them)

Anyway, if you had your skillet facing the sacrifical steel..... the FAR (back) side of the skillet would NOT be getting done so you'd have to rotate it so the back side can now face the anode.

I had my battery charger on something like 2-amps and that was when it bit me. After all, "all I was doing was rotating the pan"

Yeah. Turn the sucker off!!

 

[Richard]

Forgot this: I simply hooked the leads of the charger to the skillet. The lead that was in the water (I THINK it was the negative but honestly forget)

Anyway, whichever was in the water during the process, got eaten up a bit too. I thought after I was done that if I ever did it again, I might try to take a copper wire or something to attach to item, and then attach power lead to the wire so the ends themselves aren't under water.

 

[dragoneggs]

You are a wise man switching to the charger. :thumbsup:

Hydrogen explosions are quite something, I would rather not experience another.

another??? I knew you were off a bit :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

Most people suggest making a non conductive grid to suspend above the tank to hang the item from. Then they fasten a wire to the object and connect that wire to the clamp on their power source. Also, put at least 4 sacrificial anode spaced evenly around the outer edge of the tank. That will cover all 4 sides of the item being processed. You can then run a wire from anode to anode to anode to anode and connect that to your other lead on your power source.