De-rusting some stuff

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gdrill

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I rigged up some electrolysis today. Hopefully these camel humps shine up nicely. Ive used this process before. I like it a lot.

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Well, they say the stronger you make the mixture and the higher the amperage, the faster. I will let you know how this turns out. I basically posted this thread when I started so I have a timer! The last stuff I did, quite a while ago, took many hours. But I don't think i ran anything to strong back then. I beefed it up pretty good this time. :)
It is not supposed to do any damage whatsoever no matter what. Once the rust is gone, the reaction ends.
 
What I read this time was 1 cup of baking soda or laundry soda to 5 gallons of water. So here I have 15 gallons of water and about 3 cups of baking soda. I used 4 "sacrificial anodes" that the positive lead hooks to. They are all connected via the red wire you can see. They run to the bottom of the tub. I think the idea is to draw through all angles. The last time I did this I only used one. It worked too. Then the negative lead hooks directly to the part you are trying to clean. Power up!
 
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That's my favorite way to de-rust smaller items. Never tried it with baking soda. I always use Arm & Hammer washing soda.
Works great, parts look like new and anode looks like hell.
Aaron
 
Not bad for 3 hours of set it and forget it. I’ll throw it back in tomorrow and see if it will clean the rest up. It’s movie time in my home!

From this
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To this
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My anodes were just pieces of steel that I had. Then I ran a constant wire across them all. Stripped it and wrapped it to ensure contact. They are 1/2' x 1/2' square rod. Most people use rebar because it is cheap and easy to get. Anything steel will work, just no stainless. Apparently it put out some bad stuff......worse than the hydrogen this does!
Hydrogen: Do not do this indoors! That is a byproduct.
 
This time I ran 40 amps! They say 10 will work and I believe the last time I did it I used less. But it sure seemed to work great this time.
 
What about old paint or undercoating is that affected?
 
This is awesome, thank you for posting it and answering all the questions.

Doesn't matter if you signed up for it or not, eliminating rust is part of the Mopar religion now. I had forgotten all about this technique and I'll definitely give it a shot one of these days.
 
So can a guy just use baking soda and water. I don’t have power at my storage. I go have a generator and battery charger. Thanks. Kim
 
What a great idea for a thread, George.
Looks like it works awesome.
I'll have to get a swimming pool and 300 lbs of baking soda so I can de-rust my '69 Valiant!
 
Sorry folks, had to make a road trip today.........yes I know it’s the other brand. :)

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What about old paint or undercoating is that affected?

Removing this stuff is important as it will not clean under it. If there was rust below, which would be kind of unlikely anyway. So it probably would not hamper the operation.
 
So can a guy just use baking soda and water. I don’t have power at my storage. I go have a generator and battery charger. Thanks. Kim


You need the juice, that is what causes the reaction. Your gen and charger would be fine.

Also, I have been reading more and you can get away with less Soda than I used. But they say stronger is better. I can’t argue either way.
 
Wow this is interesting! In what are you using for a power supply? Is that a battery charger?
 
Yes sir. 12 volt. I ran 40 amps but they say 10 is fine too. Just the little 2 ampers would take forever.
I can't remember what mine is I think its 2 -6 amp or 2-12 it had a selector on it you can chose like 4 different amps. That is very cool iv never seen this done. So the hot side goes to the 4 pieces of reber and the ground goes to the part?
Does it remove old paint and grease too or just rust?
 
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