I have a large plastic tub I use for soaking rusty parts in white vinegar to remove rust. Usually it works great. I put this IND 1948 plate in the vinegar and let it soak,but I wasnt ready to prime it yet, so I let it set for a few weeks. Well I guess It does a little mor than remove rust. I never would have expected it to do this. The plate was rusty but still very solid with 75% of the paint still on it. How long does anyone else leave there parts in for? Anybody else have this happen?
I never thought of that! I could put it on eB@y list it as rat rod liscense plate and get $2,500 out of it!
Vinegar is quite rough acid to use, most other acids are also. I quess that that same might have happened eventhough you had dipped that plate in citric acid. Vinegar also smells bad, therefore I'll prefer citric acid. Check this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckdMdiJlV7c
Dig the video. Someone should do a license plate in time laps to show that thing disappear! A few weeks is obviously too long for that one!
It was just doing it's job. My molasses tank is still going strong and smells as bad as it always has. Have to watch how long I leave stuff in it as well.
That sucks. I've tried white vinegar and apple-cider vinegar (didn't flash rust as fast after) but it doesn't care what metal it eats away (as you have unfortunately found out). Because the metal around here is SO rusty and thin, blasting is usually out. I prefer electrolysis and for the nooks and crannys that it can't get to (it's a line-of-sight process) I use Evapo-rust. I've never tried some of the more common liquids I've read about because they aren't common around here. No eating of good metal. No neutralizing of the acid (vinegar or any acid left in a crack isn't good). No worry if I leave it in process too long. Molasses works well too. It's takes longer (that's ok 'cause I'm slow too) and REALLY stinks to high heaven once it starts fermenting.
Wouldn't suprise me if they alloyed the steel with lead or tin to make it easier to stamp the numbers, and that's why you lost so much of the plate. I soaked some cowl door mechanisms that included the oem 1929 return springs. Apparently the springs weren't pure steel cause they never came out of the bath. I consider an overnight soak to be a "brightener". 3-5 days is usually about when I pull em out for the first rinse. But have soaked for weeks on really badly rusted castings. Lot of it depends on the newness of your vinegar.
We have a phosphoric acid bath at the shop. we have it in a huge plastic drum. It's pretty sweet. I've got an old John Deere 'M' head in there, it's been soaking for a couple weeks, maybe it's gotten lighter. On the other hand, if you would like to move to Nebraska I have a set of 1948 Plates.
I soaked a timing cover for a flathead for about a month in vinegar. I had checked it after a week and put it back in to clean it up a little more. It became soft so you could scrape the top 1/8 inch of metal away. Neal
Kids dont do acid.. this is your licence plate.... this is your licence plate on acid. sizle sizzle sizzle....any questions i media blasted mine..turned out great!
here's your sign... i really can't believe that you're surprised that happened. maybe you shouldn't be allowed to play with any chemicals, just water. though water itself is an oxidizer and care should be taken with it around certain things.
My Grandmother used to pour a teaspoon in a glass of water,stand you near the sink and drop a teaspoon of baking soda in the glass and have you chug it. Sour stomach cured! Wonders what it really did? Yeah,some vinegars are stronger than others.Different acidic levels. Sorry 'bout the license plate!
Well I'm not a chemist and I had no idea vinegar would eat away solid metal, atleast not that fast. I just wish I was half as smart as you aparantly are.
Yup.. both acids. But why is molasses so much gentler and slower than vinegar? Just the amount of acid or the type? The way chelation occurs with each? What's the best method of neutralizing each?
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