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Rust Removal Adventures: Electrolysis, Acid etc


Onoff

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So I'm after de-rusting a few bits and pieces and decided to knock up an electrolysis tank from, as ever, scrap!

 

A 20L oil drum, one of those which had the lid semi bonded on, BFO screwdriver soon sorted that. A sheet of some obscure plastic, quite soft to the point you can centre mark with a ball point:

 

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A quick compass:

 

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Some scribing:

 

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And some jigsawing and drilling:

 

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Some scrap M10 black bolts that I'll never used for anything else:

 

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And we have the start of a big anode that should allow 360working around the piece to be de-rusted:

 

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Some random scrap T&E:

 

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The stripped cable clamped to the bolts. Do it tight enough and the wire pushes into the plastic. A couple of hex extenders and studs. I'll add a timber cross piece to suspend the rusty item from, probably on a chain so I can adjust the height:

 

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A broken bucket for safety. should keep some of the rain off and not contain the gas coming off:

 

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I'll try and finish it off, add the washing soda and fire it up later. Yes, I know most just use a big bit of plate as the anode or old brake discs (just skipped 4 :( ) but their's aren't pretty! :)

 

(Was thinking to make it look like a little garden well complete with roof and winch...)

Edited by Onoff
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The "test piece", one of many things found clearing the stable block out:

 

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The intelligent car battery charger I first tried didn't want to play, I think it knew it wasn't attached to a battery. Now using an old homemade CB power pack which funnily enough started life as a car battery charger about 35 years ago. Hugely unsafe, the back's missing , plugs old etc :ph34r:

 

Had to flap disc some rust off to make good contact on the test piece, using a bit of cable armour to suspend it:

 

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But we have "bubbles!

 

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7 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

At least you make me look normal ;) 

:)

 

I've been collecting the gas coming off too in an upturned bottle filled with water. The gas is displacing the water nicely. Not sure if I've got the guts to put a match to it though.....

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10 hours ago, Onoff said:

I thought as the bathroom was nearly done I could afford to slacken off a bit:

 

2017-06-02_11-16-36

 

 

I swear to god you must be married to an angel! My gonads would be in that acid bath (after having had them surgically removed by those stillsons) if I took that long over a DIY job.

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12 minutes ago, Barney12 said:

 

I swear to god you must be married to an angel! My gonads would be in that acid bath (after having had them surgically removed by those stillsons) if I took that long over a DIY job.

 

More a cauldron in the case of my one! :)

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1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

Enough jibber-jabber. Have the stillsons improved at all? :D

 

 

Yep. Fished it out just now. I had it going for a few hours last night then turned it off around 11pm. Just put it back in. The handle is better than the business end as I had it head down in the bucket and the head was below the level of the electrodes. So some of it was out of line of sight. Back in now head up. Comes out covered in black "slime" that washes off easy enough with help from a brillo pad.

 

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Not bad for something you can set up and forget. It's self regulating I believe as in once the thing is de-rusted the process stops.

 

SWMBO's taking the kids swimming so wondering if the dishwasher would remove the slime better? :)

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Just now, Construction Channel said:

You could always tumble mill them in the washing machine while she is out. ?

 

Like it! Maybe sling a shovel of pea shingle in for good measure.....

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9 minutes ago, Construction Channel said:

I was thinking something finer like sharp sand would work well. Or even rice....... if you could let it run long enough. ?

 

Best I think if I let the tank do it's work. It'll just be grief if I mess with her tools!

 

Not that I've ever;  melted down pots of Trefolex on the hob so the swarf sinks to the bottom or dried out motors in the oven... :ph34r:

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