Ha ring a go at rust removal with electrolosys

[dannyp]

So a bath was made 205ltr drum that was for adblue in its previous life volunteered itself for the job, then ventured into the badlands behind the hill items at work and liberated some scrap sheet and cut it into 100x800 mm ish strips with an 11mm hole punched roughly on the centreline and 25-30mm down from the top, plates secured to barrel by m8 bolt that also provides electrical connection.

So filled it up and added 2kg of washing soda, hooked it up to some power and turned it on

 

[AdrianH]

I bet that draws some current!

Adrian

 

[dannyp]

Seems it only works line of sight so made myself a flexible stuffing places electrode

Basically an old towel to insulate the bundle of old wire inside from a direct short but hopefully not affect the flow of current

 

[dannyp]

I bet that draws some current!

Adrian

you'd be right there, the orginal plan was to make a constant current power source to run it as from the experiance of others, once these things get going and warm up they will draw more and more current till the power supply gives up. then came an idea why would i make a constant current source when i allready had a few that should be capabel of supplying a few amps

the still picture looks rubbish but gestimation is it's pulling 80-100 amps at 40 volts

 

[123hotchef]

how many amps!
lol

 

[dannyp]

Poor little power supply. Running the tub can set it to about 120A without blowing the fuse but anything over 100A setting for long and the 13A plug starts melting after a bit

 

[123hotchef]

is that a mma inverted machine

 

[dannyp]

yes MMA inverter, it's my poor littel thermal arc 175SE ( i've found yet another thing to beat it round the head with ) the sticker on it says 100% duity @ 85 amps so i thought it'd be ideal for powering a bit of electrolosys, DC , constant current and resonable output voltage. it's actualy doing a lot better job than i thought it would, turning the amperage controll dial has a very marked efect of the rate the bubbels are produced at

 

[AdrianH]

If that is copper wire that is in the towel then I am not sure if it will do anything apart from add to the current, I thought it had to be steel to attract the ions or what ever, pure copper if that is what it is will not aid in the rust removing process, or at least I believe it won't.

Adrian

 

[dannyp]

yes it is copper wire in the towel, it seems to have worked. before i made that extra electrode i chould clean the outside of a part with ease but any surface shaddowed from the electrodes round the outside was untouched but with that in place it was cleaning the inside of the outrigger as well, my thought were the ions were move by the electrical charge and the plates didnt have to be steel just steel was prefered probaly due to cheapnesd or it being the same metal as the part being cleaned to prevent weird stuff happening, but i have quite a few knackerd welding cabels and apparently copper is valuable scrap but i never seem to get naff all for it so thought would see what happens

 

[wristpin]

You really don't need a mega power supply. My similar 205 litre tank works well at 3-5 amps.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

 

[MattF]

If that is copper wire that is in the towel then I am not sure if it will do anything apart from add to the current, I thought it had to be steel to attract the ions or what ever, pure copper if that is what it is will not aid in the rust removing process, or at least I believe it won't.

Adrian

It'll work fine with copper. The problem materials other than iron cause are with regard to what contaminants you end up with in the solution as they break down. Nothing in iron is detrimental. Other conductive materials vary in that regard, however.

 

[dannyp]

You really don't need a mega power supply. My similar 205 litre tank works well at 3-5 amps.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

intresting. i'l try it on a lower setting i can in theory turn it down to 5 amps but its very unlike me, i was using the basic logic of more power = faster ( i like faster ) so dose even more power = even faster ? ( basic operating logic here any and all dials should be turned to 11 , fuel screws , wastegates ect will allways be tweeked in the direction of more untill the increse in fun at playtime is offset by the increse in fixing or it won't go any faster )

 

[MattF]

Subtlety is best.