Posted by Paul (in NY) on Friday, July 01, 2005 at 4:36PM :
After Bruce in Sunny Sechelt shared the info on Electrolysis Rust Removal, I want to give it a try. I had a heavily rusted M-47 Shackle Base that also had 2 layers of paint Black covering the red. I used a 36 gallon plastic garbage can, mixed 1/4 lb of Soda Ash per gallon. I got the Soda Ash at Agway. I used my HP 6264B power supply that is Constant Voltage/Constant Current with Crowbar protection on the output, 0-20 volts, 0-20 amps.
I used a piece of scrap 16 ga sheet metal bent to totally surround the shackle base.
The Voltae was set to remain constant at 12 volts. I left the current running free, but set the crowbar at 20 amps. When I turned on the Power Supply, Immediatelly I had bubbles forming all around the shackle base. The initial current was running at 14 amps. As the paint came off, and I suspect more surface area clean, the current began to climb. The current finally settled at 18 anps. The Shackle Base was in the process for 3 hours. I had to stop early due to serious thunder storms moving in for the reat of today and tonight.
The process works great. For pieces like this, if you have a blast cabinet the time would be a couple minutes. But if you dont have a blast cabinet or want to remove rust in places you can not direct a blast of media this is a great process.
I wonder how this would work on gas tanks rusted inside. Isolate the Clean and dry gas tank on insulation, fill the tank with Soda Ash and hang some scrap steel in the openings of the tank ? I wish I had a old shot tank to play with.
Thanks Again Bruce, I never knew of this process.
Paul
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