Technical Another electrolysis rust removal thread

Hi guys, long time lurker, mind the username I've been using it since I was 7 haha. I joined the forum looking for some opinions on electrolysis rust removal. I wanted to know if submersion was mandatory, I'm debating experimenting with electrolysis with my C10 Frame. I want to basically put the frame in a bag, either by literally putting it in a massive bag, or by putting pipe around the frame and flooding it with the washing soda mixture. I thought about the sacrificial metal and it seems using heavy gauge steel wire or maybe riveting sheet metal to the pipe around the frame may work as well. Let me know what you guys think?

 

I think you'll find that it might be more time/cost effective to either:

1. sandblast the frame if it's not pitted too badly
2. replace the frame if it is pitted badly

 

What Squirrel said. To labor intensive for the electrolysis.


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There have been folks who built large plywood boxes lined them with a water proof lining and stuck a entire car body in it. It can be done. However only you can make the decision if its a viable option.

 

I sent this to American Metal Cleaning. Great results but at the time it was way easier to pay than do it myself. They do body's, frames, engine blocks and whatever else you can haul in.

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Also, you have to remember that electrolysis works on "line of sight" only; that means that doing the inside of the frame will be almost impossible.

 

I generally agree with a lot of these guys but I’d be really interested in seeing it done to a whole frame.

You could build a framework but a plastic lined pit dig into the ground might work well too.

I don’t know how long it would take or how much solution you’d need but again, I’d be interested to see it.

Actually anything immersed in the solution will be subject to electrolysis and I hardly doubt the inside of a truck frame is water tight.

 

"EL SCOTTO" - Are you sure you understand what I am saying about "line of sight"? It has nothing to do at all with the frame being watertight. While anything immersed on something like "Evaporust" will be subject to it's effects, electrolysis doesn't work the same way. I spent a lot of time fooling around with electrolysis rust removal about 20 years ago found it messy, complicated, and not very effective. After that experience, I didn't mind so much paying $80 for 5 gallons of Evaporust.

 

If I were going to that much trouble I'd just use black strap molasses and water and forget about it for a week or so.

At least it will get every nook and cranny.

 

So what I'm thinking is closer to an encapsulated frame as in, in a pipe with a diameter large enough to have maybe an 1 to 3 inches of space at all points of the frame which will be flooded completely by the advised (washing soda, water) solution.

Let's say it like this, I'd like to place pipe over the frame rails (slide it on or cut an opening to put it over the frame and then seal, connecting several pieces of pipe until there is pipe over every part of the frame. I would like to have lined the pipe prior with whatever I can use as an sacrificial metal such as a thick steel wire, or rebar secured the the pipe away from the frame and a fill port to fill the piping with the solution and have the end of my sacrificial metal to complete the circuit

 

Yes what you are thinking could possibly be made to work? Why don't you get a small plastic container and set up a small electrolysis vat and experiment a little bit before you attempt the frame?

 

From my experience with using electrolysis, it does pretty good on small parts, but where I see a problem is your power supply. What are you planning on using for power? A battery charger works on small stuff but I doubt it would have enough power to use it on a large item like a frame. The new style chargers won't work unless they see voltage first, so you'd have to include a battery in your system if you have one of those. It would take a pretty good current to get any results I would think, more than a battery charger would put out.

 

Let me ask my Aunt about her electrolysis and I'll get back to you...

 

I've used electrolysis with small parts with good success, but I would be looking for another method for something the size of a frame. Like others have said, it works on line-of -sight, which means you either have to make everything out of mild steel, or line it with the same stuff. Then the inside of the frame is still unaffected. You could do it theoretically, but it would be A LOT of work!

 

I didn’t, but I do understand now. Learned something new! Thanks!

Here’s a good link:

https://www.metaldetectingworld.com/line_of_sight_p20.shtml

 

Where I used to work, they received LARGE crates all the time and threw them away. I got one that was about 5' square and 4' deep. Put a plastic tarp in it that hung over the sides and made it water tight. Bought several boxes of the Arm & Hammer "Cleaning" soda. Put it in the water and hooked up my small battery charger. Placed a fender from my 49 pickup in it and started cleaning. It did clean but I wasn't happy with the result....and that was after several days of letting it soak and charge. Maybe I was doing something wrong, maybe my charger wasn't powerful enough, Maybe etc. As for your frame, I'd just have it blasted.

 

There is no inside of the frame on mine (73-87 c10s) it's not boxed in.

The reason I'd rather do it this way is I have alot of this stuff lying around, sandblasting is very intriguing but I'd like to see the results of electrolysis on a bigger scale. I also have a DC power supply so I figured I'd be able to adjust everything in real time. I'm going to try it on a small scale, we'll see if it actually works before I go big butt ready assured if it does work I'm most likely going to try my frame

 

If you're going to submerge it anyway, use citric acid. It'll clean inside and everything. No electricity or sacrificial anodes. Dump it on your lawn when you're done.

You can buy larger amounts of citric acid in powder form online. It's not expensive.

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Neutralize it with baking soda and water. Then a good power washing.

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Ive done it. I buy powdered molassiss from the feed store. It will work even without the electricity but works better and faster hooked up to the battery charger. And you can dump the residue out without any harm.

 

Look at my body above, there was not 1 place out of "line of site" that was not completely clean!

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I've used it and it works well, but never on anything as big as a frame. But I seen videos of someone doing a trailer frame. Basically built a wooden frame lined with a blue tarp. Used one of the old stick welders for a power source. Looked like it worked good.

 

You have to ask yourself,
How rusty is this frame?
Is this something that can be tackled with an angle grinder and a wire wheel?
And far do you want to go to try to submerge or keep wet this frame or parts of it while using the electrolosis method vs blasting or grinding on it with a wire wheel?
Keep in mind there is a "line of sight" issue and a dirt, scale, paint issue that electrolosis wont help you with.

 

I'm very interested in the conversion or removal of rust without losing too much material or really any material to an extent. I want to give this a try to see if this can be used for other kind of projects, if all we have to do is encapsulate the object we could remove rust, atleast it seems, far more uniformly and we can think of ways easier than this to encapsulate maybe. Plus it's peaking my interest haha, if it doesn't work out I'll most definitely do the citric acid, my only thing against sandblasting (have the equipment) is the aftermath regardless of material because my landlord is not very... Interested in the look plus I live on one of em GMO free farms and they don't want anything that could potentially effect their birds.

 

This scares the hell out of me.

 

If you do some reading about the method the larger the volume of the tank and object, the more power you need. You need to size the power source to the tank. It might work with just a battery charger, but you'd be waiting for years for it to get done. Bigger power source =faster results.

 

I'll say it again, look up powdered citric acid. It removes rust almost effortlessly.

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Ok! So I built the jig, and realized something very important. This stuff degasses, it ended up rendering the project somewhat dangerous and I believe on a larger scale the jig would most likely crack. So what I'm attempting to do needs more money into it and even more time. Unfortunately you guys were right, it's not worth it.

 

Nothing wrong with trying ideas out. Here's the thing though. If you want to just get your project done and on the road throw the frame in a pickup truck, bring it to a sandblastet then go pick it up. Seriously some shit just needs to get done quick or the project dies. Or just wire wheel it , degrease it and prime and paint it. Dont get too hung up on it. First month driving and the frame will be dirty and chipped anyway. Good luck.