electrolysis rust removal question, please help!

[dschmitta]

hey everyone. gathering items to try rust removal from xs exhaust pipes. Don't want to screw this up, which I have a tendency to do. two quick questions.

1. When taking out of electlolysis solution, what do i scrub rust with ti loosen but not mark chrome? they say to use wire brush, but wouldn't that sctatch chrome? Also, dip,scrub,dip,scrub. correct process?

2. have heard from most who have done this, when taken out of solution, usually has some black residue and will rust over quickly if not dried fast. was told to use alchohal right away and then polish? also, what di I do about inside of pipes? should I use compressor air to dry quickly? Don't want inside to rust.

thanks for any info available. Dave

P.S. Will be doing test run on leftover honda exhaust pipe before starting good one. seems probably to be a good idea to get feel for process,hooking e/thing up correctly,etc.

[DGXSER]

Look at the thread on Naked Boy by Camel. He did exactly what your taking about and had some good pics as well. He can share what he used to scrub them. The end result looks amazing.

[natemoen]

I have always used a brass wire brush and a stainless steel wire brush depending on what I am cleaning. The black residue you are talking about is what you want to clean off, that is the old rust, so clean it off. As for drying, after cleaning I dry it off by hand as much as I can then depending on the part I will either toss it in my oven (as long as the wife is not home) or I use a heathen to make sure all the nooks and cranies are dry.

[thecamelman79]

hey everyone. gathering items to try rust removal from xs exhaust pipes. Don't want to screw this up, which I have a tendency to do. two quick questions.

1. When taking out of electlolysis solution, what do i scrub rust with ti loosen but not mark chrome? they say to use wire brush, but wouldn't that sctatch chrome? Also, dip,scrub,dip,scrub. correct process?
You are scrubing it to get it to speed up the process, What you use to scrub it with depends largly on how bad it is. First time I take it out of the tank I use a soft nylon long bristle fox tail with dawn dish soap over the whole thing, next time I use a stiff nylon smaller tooth brush style brush or pot scruber only on the areas that are still black and pitted, depend on how larger the area is, Next time I take it out of the tank I'll try a brass brush on the areas that are still discolored, maybee even a SS brush or a dremel on it gradually working smaller and smaller areas (get the picture?), and at this point any area that you are still working on are probably pitted real bad anyways so are you really worried about the sctratching a badly pitted weld on your Cross over pipe? No you are trying to get it to bare metal so you can paint, clear, or wax it depending on your preferance.

2. have heard from most who have done this, when taken out of solution, usually has some black residue and will rust over quickly if not dried fast. was told to use alchohal right away and then polish? also, what di I do about inside of pipes? should I use compressor air to dry quickly? Don't want inside to rust.

The Black stuf is a very porus soft iron residue, or possible magnetite depending on how far the process broke down the rust. It's very soft reative to the other metal becuase you have through electrolisys released the oxygen molicule from the rust (Ie feric oxide or iron oxide or other wise called rust) this needs to be removed as much as possible or other wise treated or is will flash rust over night fairly quickly. either cover it up with paints or waxes to prevent it from contacting (ya got a couple of hours to play with, you dont have to instantly cover them with a coating) with air or you could covert it to iron phosphate (which is inert and can't accept any more oxygen molecules to rust) with something like ospho. If you are really worried about the inside of the pipes then I would run some ospho through them and be done. I personally dont think its enough of a concern to get worried about becuase between the heat,vibration, and oil residues from the motor I think you will be fine and the pipes should out last you. most pipes rust from the outside in. not the other way around as long as they are ran regularly, and water is not allowed to sit in them over time.
also when people talk about flash rust it looks like a very fine film of orange dust on your peice and alot of times can be wiped off with your hand or a good stiff brush. in other words "dont swet the petty things, pet the swetty things"

thanks for any info available. Dave

P.S. Will be doing test run on leftover honda exhaust pipe before starting good one. seems probably to be a good idea to get feel for process,hooking e/thing up correctly,etc.

Good Idea! Play around with it and get your mad scienyist vibe on.

[dschmitta]

Thanks for all the help. Very much appreciated. I'll try and post pics to let ya know how they turned out.

[dschmitta]

Good Idea! Play around with it and get your mad scienyist vibe on.

Thanks for info. It will help alot. Just a little nervous about never having done before. Dave

[Doo-Daa]

It is easy to do, but you have to remember it is line of sight for the rust removal. Line of sight is between the anode and cathode.

For some really good instructions on this go to:
http://www.instructables.com

and look up 'rust removal'. really good how to, for tank rust removal to. If you can't find the Washing Powder, I've been very sucessfull with TSP, (TRISODIUM PHOSPHATE) available at Lowes in the paint section as a cleaner. Mix it at the same ratio of 1 TBL spoon per quart of water. I de-rust this way all the time.

If you do like http://www.instructables.com, please sign up, and donate a dollar or two. They are a good bunch of geeks. A whole lotta good stuff in there.

Just a thought - Doo-Daa

[Kit]

New Setup

Got my new Mad Scientist Lair set up.

This is the barrel I will be using in future endeavors. Unfortunately, the inside is covered in paint.


I'm trying Camelman's suggestion and using electrolysis to remove the paint from the inside of the barrel.


Just started cooking it about half an hour ago. I'm curious to see how long it will take.

[Ken Talbot]

Is the idea to use the whole bare inside of the barrel for line-of-sight path to whatever you have hanging for rust removal?

[natemoen]

Just make sure whatever you are cleaning does not touch the bottom of the barrel.

[DGXSER]

If you use the barrel as the cathode, it will get eaten up pretty quick and not be a long term solution. If you do not plan to use it as the cathode, you may want the barrel protected by some coating.

[natemoen]

The barrel is the cathode. I am not sure how long ot will last but I have had a sheet of 20 gauge steel that had probably 50 or 60 hours of electolysis use before it stated to get holes.

[Kit]

Is the idea to use the whole bare inside of the barrel for line-of-sight path to whatever you have hanging for rust removal?

Yup, exactly.

If you use the barrel as the cathode, it will get eaten up pretty quick and not be a long term solution. If you do not plan to use it as the cathode, you may want the barrel protected by some coating.

The barrel is only going to be the cathode long enough to pull the paint off the inside. I'm using the piece of sheet steel hanging inside it as the annode to do this. Once the paint is all stripped off, I will be using the barrel as the annode and hanging the rusty parts inside it.

[natemoen]

Cathode...anode...in the end the barrel with be the sacrificed piece.

[Kit]

Yup. When I was researching using a barrel, I came across a forum in which someone said he'd used his barrel for 2 years. He was a farmer, used it for tools, tractor parts, etc. For the amount I'll be using it, it should last me quite a while.