Take it all off

[PineRidge]

Last fall I purchased a used Myers snowplow that was mated to the TC-40D for snow removal duty. I didn't spend a lot of time making it look nice since the main priority was to find out 1st how well it worked.

Since it performed well last winter I decided that it was now time to disassemble, take all the years of rust off the plow, prime, paint, and re-assemble the plow to make it ready for the years to come. Thought you might like to follow along with the progress.

Here is a picture of the front and backside of the plow just as it was purchased last fall.

 

[PineRidge]

The method that we chose to use to remove the rust was electrolysis. I started by making a swimming pool out of three 2" X 8" X 8' pieces of lumber. The pool ended up as a finished size of 4' x 8' and I merely positioned it on our concrete apron. It was then covered with visqueen plastic sheeting and filled with tap water. Then we mixed in 3 boxes of Arm & Hammer washing soda, not baking soda.

As the plow parts are submerged in the pool we connect the negative lead from a 12 volt battery charger to the part needing to be stripped of the rust and the positive lead to pieces of rebar that will attract & collect the rust. Anode/cathode principle. The bubbles that you see in the tank are explosive, flammable hydrogen gas so use caution, don't smoke, and please do this outdoors!

You can read more about the process here.

 

[PineRidge]

Parts go in nasty, rusty, and come out looking like new.

The best part about this is no sanding or scraping is needed and once the process has finished it is self terminating. No base metal is destroyed or damaged.

 

[PineRidge]

Here's the plow face going in the soup, and now still cooking.

BTW: If you're wondering why the wood is floating in the soup, I recommend setting metal parts down on a piece of plywood so something sharp doesn't accidentally puncture the plastic allowing the mixture to leak out.

 

[MrJimi]

I'll bet its a serious good driveway cleaner too.
I need to get your recipe from you sometime, Great job, make sure you use a kick butt real good primer and rinse these parts real good.
Jim

 

[3RRL]

Another VERY interesting post Mike. That is a great idea. Do you suppose it would work for some of those really rusty antique plows and things I see on people's back yards or farm lots?

 

[PineRidge]

I'll bet its a serious good driveway cleaner too.
I need to get your recipe from you sometime, Great job, make sure you use a kick butt real good primer and rinse these parts real good.
Jim

Jimi I heard once done you can pour the rusty water right on the grass. It's iron rich and the grass is supposed to love it. Don't know what effect the washing soda will have but I'll let you know once it hits our grass.

 

[PineRidge]

Another VERY interesting post Mike. That is a great idea. Do you suppose it would work for some of those really rusty antique plows and things I see on people's back yards or farm lots?

Rob while this process won't replace the metal that's already eaten away by rust it will remove the rust itself so well that taking a rusted implement apart should be a whole lot easier.

This electrolysis isn't my idea but nevertheless I thought you all might get a kick out of seeing it actually put to good use.

 

[Bluecheck546]

Great job PineRidge! I'm learning something new everyday.... Thanks and good luck with your project.

 

[kennyd]

Man that is cool, now I will have to do my plow

About how long do the pieces take in the bath?

 

[Trahere]

Great post, PineRidge! Think that process would work on a rusty noggin?

 

[Tom_Veatch]

Another VERY interesting post Mike. That is a great idea. Do you suppose it would work for some of those really rusty antique plows and things I see on people's back yards or farm lots?

It will work very well for any iron/steel item - probably other metals as well, but I can't speak to that. Just be VERY, VERY sure that you don't reverse the electrical connections. I can't stress that point enough. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT reverse the connection!!

I've often used this technique to clean and restore old woodworking tools and it works beautifully. However, I inadvertently reversed the connections on an excellent example of an old #113 Stanley Circular Plane, left it in the electrolysis bath overnight and totally destroyed it. It looked like it had been dissolved in an acid bath.

I remember it this way: RED means STOP! DANGER! The red lead of the battery charger is the positive lead. Do NOT connect the RED (STOP, DANGER) lead to the part you are cleaning. It won't happen instaneously, but given enough time, a reverse connection WILL ruin the part.

 

[PineRidge]

Kenny the more amps you pump into the soup the quicker the job gets done. I'm only using a little battery charger so I put the parts in the soup and go on with my other work, occasionally checking them with a long handled wire brush until I think the're done. I then quickly hit them with the pressure washer which knocks off all the loose stuff making them look "new" again.

Hours for small parts, days for large parts. If you read the story on my link you'll see that someone used a DC welder for a supply source. I'll bet the soup boiled with that little addition.

Be careful out there!

 

[PineRidge]

Great post, PineRidge! Think that process would work on a rusty noggin?

Might be, but I aint trying it nosireebob!

 

[Doc_Bob]

The bubbles that you see in the tank are explosive, flammable hydrogen gas so use caution, don't smoke, and please do this outdoors!

Mike, given your pure genius, next step is to save the hydrogen and burn it in some device you will find to amuse us all !
Bob

 

[SPIKER]

Mike, given your pure genius, next step is to save the hydrogen and burn it in some device you will find to amuse us all !
Bob

Maybe he can use that hydrogen to clean out the rusty noggen?

I've known about this for a long while still haven't had time energy or the right parts to try it out on except for this 2 btm Fergy plow I recently bought.

Mark M

 

[midlf]

check this TBN post for another description of this process.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...y-charger.html?highlight=rust+battery+charger

I would have never thought of using this process for something that big. But will now consider it. Pineridge's before snow plow pictures are pristine compared to mine.

 

[Glowplug]

This is really neat. I vaguely remember this process from college chemistry but had never thought about how it could be applied practically. I wonder if distilled or deionized water would be better than tap water. Probably not. It probably actually helps with conductivity to have some minerals in the water. But I guess that's what the washing soda is for. Makes me want to go get an old rusted plow and a big battery!

 

[PineRidge]

The blade portion of my Myers has been in the soup for over a week straight and is still slowly cooking. I keep pulling and cleaning the rebar electrodes as they get gunked up pretty quickly. Hitting them with the power washer works wonders before they are put back to work...

 

[Mustangous]

This sound great... I cant wait to see the plow after its done. I am going to look into this process...
Thanks