My electrolysis experiment

[Farwell]

One question on electrolysis that i don't think has been asked, What if you have 2 different metals that you want to submurge in the solution, for example i collect fire hydrants and would love to try this to strip them down, but the outlets and stem are brass and you can't remove them, Will the brass be eaten away?

thanks
mark
from snowwy indiana

Mark,
Don't know about brass and electrolysis but I know that caustic paint strippers love to eat it up. My Dad and brother had a paint stripping business where they would take a stripped automobile body and soak it in a tank of heated caustic soda. The stripping solution would strip all of the paint down to the bare metal. With in a minute or so of immersing the body in the solution you could see fine bubbles flowing up to the solution top. Someone missed removal of aluminum, copper or brass from the body. A chemical strip preserves the original metal much better than sand blasting.
I would be nervous about using electrolysis on brass but I would experiment to make sure. The washing soda has a higher PH putting it on the caustic side. Combining the two metals may even make it worse.
Please let us know if you test the reaction on brass. I have some plans on building a unit to strip some of the rusted artifacts that show up when I run a drag over areas of my property.
David B

 

[Danno1]

.

According to this, don't mix steel/iron and brass using this process:

The Chemistry of Cleaning Rusted Iron by Electrolysis



This is called a galvanic series. It shows the relative potential of corrosion between different metals:

Galvanic series

.

 

[Mark_in_IN]

Thanks guys
I think i might try it with one of my extras, but i'll have to wait to the spring

Mark

 

[midlf]

.

According to this, don't mix steel/iron and brass using this process:

The Chemistry of Cleaning Rusted Iron by Electrolysis



This is called a galvanic series. It shows the relative potential of corrosion between different metals:

Galvanic series

.

The chemistry the first article discusses is if the copper is on the anode. For your fire hydrants the brass would be part of the cathode so you have a different problem. Your test run will tell you what you need to know.

I'm also waiting until spring to try this rust removal technique. I'm also waiting until spring to try a product I bought, Evapo-Rust Evapo-Rust Rust Remover Home and see how that works out. I'll post my results.

 

[MikeS_in_GA]

Been a while, but the project is complete. Here's the finished product.

Free tip of the day... Spend the extra 20 cents on nylon locking nuts for the shear bolt. The regular nut supplied with the shear bolt worked loose and fell off after 4 holes.

 

[Mighty Dodge]

DON'T USE STAINLESS
It will be consumed by the electrolysis process and leach chromium into the solution. Can you say hazardous waste? I use old brake rotors welded to 1/2 inch bar stock. The key is don't clean the crud that forms on the bar stock it insulates it from the process and doesn't get eaten away. I've been running a 100 gallon tank for over a year. The rotors are pitted but have a lot of years left in them.

 

[texasjohn]

You'll love the Danuser when you get it all cleaned up... check their web sitie... they still sell parts for their old models if you need some.... extremely tough PHD. Heavy sucker

 

[fishpick]

nice job - even got the decals back on!

 

[MikeD74T]

Free tip of the day... Spend the extra 20 cents on nylon locking nuts for the shear bolt. The regular nut supplied with the shear bolt worked loose and fell off after 4 holes.

And if you wrap with a couple of turns of duct tape the nut won't go flying when the bolt breaks allowing the nut to be reused. MikeD74T

 

[Farwell]

Mighty Dodge,
I used 3/4 inch thick by 3 inch wide graphite anodes and a 316 photo grade stainless steel revolving drum for a cathode for removing silver from my photo fixing solution when I ran a motion picture photo lab. The graphite anode was very stable and lasted for years. Wonder if this will work for de-rusting, using the graphite plate for the anode and the item being de-rusted as the cathode?