my rust removal tank

[knighty]

slightly off topic but....

I've been planning to build a tank for a while, and I keep thinking I should put a pump in it - maybe a small submersible (all plastic) pond pump to agitate the water and stir it up a bit... the idea being it should keep everything a bit cleaner as it works ?

anyone tried that ? was it any good ?

 

[123hotchef]

doubt it would work but you never know the crap floats to the top just use a sieve or large strainner to get it out

 

[Screwdriver]

slightly off topic but....

I've been planning to build a tank for a while, and I keep thinking I should put a pump in it - maybe a small submersible (all plastic) pond pump to agitate the water and stir it up a bit... the idea being it should keep everything a bit cleaner as it works ?

anyone tried that ? was it any good ?

I wouldn't have thought it would make the slightest difference. So long as there is a current and anything over 1A works, the process will happily sit there. Iron ions migrate from the Anode to the Cathode due to the merest presence of an electric charge (technically a potential gradient). When they get there these spanky new Iron ions bond to the workpiece and displace nasty old rust which also releases Hydrogen and Oxygen.

I looked at the Wiki and Google of course some time ago (I probably posted on here) and the chemical composition of good old fashioned rust is a deep and terrifying subject. You could write an entire forum website and still not bottom it out. Frankly I don't think you need to know it to get the thing to work. The only tip I know that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is that it certainly works best with "line of sight" between the Anode/Cathode. Anything in "shadow" does not seem to clean up anything like as good.

 

[123hotchef]

the line of sight thing is true that is why i covered all the sides of my tank in brake discs

 

[DAPPH]

Sorry Dapph but I disagree with virtually everything you have suggested in this thread. Much of which is also technically incorrect. The part being cleaned is not the Anode in an electrolysis bath. It does not oxidise it it reduced. I can't figure out what you are trying to say in some of your posts. Looks to me like a bunch of random technical words thrown into a series of nonsensical statements.

No offence mate but clearly you have no idea what you're on about.

Whoops , yes I typo'd & mistooked neg is cathode . On the stand that my lap top stands on I wrote it down several years ago as neg = cathode .. it's been there for the last four or five years too .

The nonsense you claim may well be nonsense too , for I'm on the slippery slope of dementia ..... apparently , it's showing up after a recent stroke ..
What seems correct at the time of pressing send may well not be correct but my brain cannot see it at the time & often not at later dates when I'm reviewing the post a few days later .
Funnily enough I'm having a dementia specialist nurse come & visit me in my own home some time today Friday ( There is a big note saying so in front of me on the laptops stand )

Next time I make a post & you ( or any one else for that matter ) disagree with it, can you please advise me in a more acid free way for I need to try & handle such things but I'm struggling big time ?

 

[Screwdriver]

Sorry Dapph, I can't change. I am aware of how my comments come across but only after someone points it out.

We all have our crosses to bear.

Still, that's the fun part of a social media platform isn't it?

 

[Onoff]

Would a "bubbler" help or hinder with the line of sight issue?

Like in a pcb etching tank.

 

[123hotchef]

Would a "bubbler" help or hinder with the line of sight issue?

Like in a pcb etching tank.

it bubbles anyway when it is working

 

[DAPPH]

Would a "bubbler" help or hinder with the line of sight issue?

Like in a pcb etching tank.

Thats an Interesting proposition that could take a few pages to fully explore & observe . for the bubbles are in effect insulators . I wonder if the electron / ion distribution close to the bubble is similar to a honey comb pattern or a more random distribution , due to eddy currents in the electrolyte . These bubbles showed up on the old black & white photographs that you developed & fixed at home at the wrong temperature & not using a throughly mixed solution & bubble free fixer . ( you get a reticulated picture print ) ?

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

it bubbles anyway when it is working

They go pop when a naked flame is applied.
Much fun.


The start, hot water, 1tble spoon od washing soda per littre of water and switch on.


Just getting started. a quick tweak of the anodes and away we go.
PSU is a robed unit form a Slot machine, giving a constant 12v o/p at a max of 2.5amp.



20mins later and a nice crud has formed. If you are into Rocket motors, it can be used as a fuel.
Not that I have at all. No sir no way not me.



Finished items, as dried of from the tank.

 

[DAPPH]

it bubbles anyway when it is working

They go pop when a naked flame is applied.
Much fun.

View attachment 110260
The start, hot water, 1tble spoon od washing soda per littre of water and switch on.

View attachment 110259
Just getting started. a quick tweak of the anodes and away we go.
PSU is a robed unit form a Slot machine, giving a constant 12v o/p at a max of 2.5amp.

View attachment 110261

20mins later and a nice crud has formed. If you are into Rocket motors, it can be used as a fuel.
Not that I have at all. No sir no way not me.

View attachment 110262

Finished items, as dried of from the tank.

Nice set of pictures , do you have a picture of the parts being dry , before you started the de rust exercise ?

I have four 1 " x 15 " long round free cutting steel bar hanging off the sides of an 18 inch deep tank ( old food grade 301 litre barrel cut down with an all plastic tap fitted 1& 1/2" up from the floor for drainage ).

The bars are tapped & threaded to take a a bolt which holds the banjo terminal terminated wires in place . They are set round the edge of the tank every 90 degrees & are up wired as a loop which should in theory give a better effect by keeping line of sight dead areas to a minimum .


My last lump of rust turned out to be a 4x4x 4 " waste end cut off square bar when I got it it was nearly 5 x 5 x 5 with rust form a place where they had been doing precision engineering since the mid 1960's . Apparently it had lain in a rain puddle area partly covered by grasses at the rear of a scrap skip area for about fifteen years . It took me several weeks to get it nearly clean , then I had to put the task to one side because I needed the tank as a pond water barrel to breed a carp in for a few weeks .

I've also had some three i& four inch kong bar ends in 1 & 1/2 " round that cleaned up to reveal a very pock marked surface , Once the most rust was removed I discovered that they had had a fine thread on them They turned up to give a fantastic smooth finish , whatever steel they were , I wish I had a selection of it in several profiles it's that good .

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Nice set of pictures , do you have a picture of the parts being dry , before you started the de rust exercise ?

Sadly not, but the drill bit was furry with rust. The big cold chisel was covered in cruds and rust.
The Hot chisel was used by a Muppet as an anode until I found out what type of chisel it was, you can guess it's state.

 

[Screwdriver]

it bubbles anyway when it is working

They go pop when a naked flame is applied.
Much fun.

Great fun isn't it. Bigger tanks are more of a problem, they don't go pop, they go BANG! No more shed...

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Great fun isn't it. Bigger tanks are more of a problem, they don't go pop, they go BANG! No more shed...

Paddling pool size go Bang or they turn into a dog.
As the oxide, the rust combust.

They go:
WOOFF!!!.



That's why for safety, yes safety. I remove the crud.
Do not dry it out and no longer make rocket motors.

 

[Aerohead]

Easy to over think electrolysis, just bung a charge into a bucket of water...

Dash of soda ash.

Clean battery charger output by running output through old car battery, add water often or it melts (ask me how I know this)

Bubbles are good, boiled gravy is best, beer bubbles = too much current

Scum updates you on progress:

oil with a bit of paint

pure rust

I've never bothered with skimming the tank, stuff will stain everything in the universe, just let it settle to the bottom of tank.

Deal with sediment all at once, best if you pay water by the year, not metered, run the hose a LONG TIME after pouring down the drive. I did this at sunset to avoid alarming the Greenpeace Granny living across from me...

 

[Onoff]

If everything is line of sight then I guess having anodes around the periphery of the tank that are SHORTER than the piece being derusted isnt an issue?

I've got 1' long 'ish M10 bolts coming out of my ears here...previously used to hold the wooden flanges together on drums when you buy steel wire rope. Was going to use a load of these for the anode.

 

[123hotchef]

they will work fine

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Last tank I set up I used 4m of chain.
Draped it close as I could. Up and down the sides.
It worked very well. Now to acquire a lot more.

 

[Aerohead]

Anodes need to be iron, heavy enough to last, free, and not useful for anything else.

Used brake discs and scrapper sway bars have worked well for me.

 

[Onoff]

Bugger! Just scrapped some discs.