Electrolysis for rust removal?

[John Kogel]

Has anyone here tried this? Bucket, battery charger, washing soda and some kind of anode.

I need to clean rust from a 60 year old steel grill that used to be brass plated. I'm wondering if the last of the brass will peel off with the rust.

http://1bad6t.com/rust_removal.html

http://www.wwgoa.com/articles/one-great ... ctrolysis/

The 1953 Crosley.

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[Jim Katen]

I've never done it, but it seems like it should work just fine. I'll bet that you lose whatever brass is still on there. But that shouldn't be a big deal because you can just plate it with new brass when you're done.

[hausdok]

Use a sandblaster at very low pressure, just enough to send a fine soft spray through the head. It'll clean right up.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Ben H]

I've done a few old hand planes, and it worked OK, not great. Grab some Evaporust, it works better IMHO.

IF you do sandblast, DO NOT let anyone use regular shot, it will eat the metal. Walnut shells will work, and not cause any damage to the meal.

Try the Evaporust first, I bet it'll work.

http://www.rustremover.net/

[John Kogel]

Thanks. I want to try electrolysis, but will experiment with something more robust than my precious Crosley grill. I can see that you will still need to scrub the flakes off. I'll look for Evaporust, thanks for the tip. Vinegar and a toothbrush will probably work too.

'U-Blast-It' is a 20 mile drive from here and $15 min charge. I don't know if they have a walnut shells booth. Probably costs more.

[hausdok]

IF you do sandblast, DO NOT let anyone use regular shot, it will eat the metal. Walnut shells will work, and not cause any damage to the metal.

Yeah, crushed walnut shells will work but will be slow. So won't bicarbonate of soda. However, sand works fine if you are careful. I have my own blasting cabinet and am able to go down to solid steel without damaging any sound metal. Use the finest grit you can find, a small tip, adjust the trigger stop so that when fully depressed you get nothing but a fine soft spread and turn the pressure waaay down. It will remove the rust and barely affect the surface. At that point, a light brushing with some naval jelly, wait ten minutes and rinse it off and dry it and you're ready for prime and paint.

Don't rely on the gauge 'cuz temperature and humidity will affect performance. take an empty tin can with a paper label and adjust the tip while abrading the label. Once you've got it to the point where it takes three or four passes to cut through the paper and then it can barely burnish the tin surface, you're ready to go.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[John Kogel]

Practice sandblasting on a tin can. Ok, got it.

From this website, the ultimate rust removal story. The '57 Plymouth was a time capsule, buried for 50 years. Maybe this is old news, but I hadn't seen it before.

http://safestrustremover.com/

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[Marc]

What's wrong with a steel brush? It'll polish it clean.

Marc

[Bill Kibbel]

What's wrong with a steel brush? It'll polish it clean.

Marc

I use brass brushes on delicate auntie Qs.

[John Kogel]

What's wrong with a steel brush? It'll polish it clean.

Marc

I use brass brushes on delicate auntie Qs.

Well, it turns out to be not as fragile or as rusted as I thought and it's just a small piece. It's a fairly heavy gauge steel. So I used a stiff brush, then brass and steel wire brushes on it, then 120 grit sandpaper and it's coming out better. I'm giving it a white vinegar bath.

It looks like they plated with copper first, then brass, so we are getting a copper look, which I like. The white radio had a chrome finish to the metal parts, blue, brown and green had the brass finish. All cabinets were painted Bakelite.

Canada was heavily involved in the Korean War in 1953. To save steel for the war, license plates were trimmed down to little caps to be attached to the old plate.

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[hausdok]

If you're interested in the copper look, Dupli-Color makes a paint that can make something look copper plated.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[John Kogel]

Thanks, Mike. I am thinking along the lines of Testor's model paints. I recall they make a copper and a gold or brass paint in those tiny jars. But I'll go spray bomb if need be.

I've got about 20 radios in my shop, but this one is a keeper, so I can do whatever I want with it. My dad was no hotrodder, but he liked the look of this radio. Looks a bit like a Chevy dashboard. He bought a blue one and it entertained us every day for about 10 years.

This guy painted his 2 tone. Too bad he used cheap masking tape for the edge.

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