Electrolysis Tank

[cuervo]

Anyone build an electrolysis tank for rust removal?

I made a small one out of a 5 gallon bucket and it worked so well that I'm making out out of a 55 gallon drum.

 

[diesel4me]

I have been tempted to,but have not as of yet..
Lots of guys on the tractor forum I belong to use them often,to de-rust things when they are doing a restoration..the results are very impressive..
Too bad you cant get a plastic swimming pool large enough to drive a truck in,and make that into an electrolysis tank...if I did that with my truck,all I'd probably have left is 4 tires and maybe an engine block though....

 

[yellowK20]

I have , I use a large Rubbermaid tote works awesome .

 

[6872xtc]

So are you thinking something like the 300 gallon totes ?
How big are you thinking?
I have to do some research on this.

And FYI, we have used evapo-rust, and it does a good job. It would get pricey to fill a big tank though.

 

[cuervo]

Some things that I found in my research.

Do NOT use any stainless steel in your tank. It puts off a toxin that's very bad.
Use Sodium Carbonate - 1 table spoon per gallon of water, more is not better. You can find it in a couple of products. Arm and Hammer Super washing soda, Pool and spa chemical "PH Increase"
- edit the sodium carbonate does not go bad and there is no need to change it.
Power source must be DC, some battery chargers work if they are not the smart type.
The negative lead goes to the part being de-rusted and the positive lead goes to the anodes.
Carbon makes for really good anodes.
Do this outside and do not cover the tank when in use. It puts off some very explosive gases.

Here is my build so far. A couple of rebar rings and some up rights along with some carbon bars I bought off of ebay.

 

[diesel4me]

I'd lay a screen or wire mesh over the top of the tub ,so no pets or animals can be tempted to take a drink,or fall in and drown (sadly that has happened,on some other forums )..

 

[cuervo]

I'd lay a screen or wire mesh over the top of the tub ,so no pets or animals can be tempted to take a drink,or fall in and drown (sadly that has happened,on some other forums )..

I hear ya. I don't have any horses so drinking wont happen.

 

[Truckman4life]

We had one made out of a plastic cow tank at the shop I used to work at.

 

[cuervo]

We had one made out of a plastic cow tank at the shop I used to work at.

I had thought about making one out of a plastic horse trough but then ran across the plastic 55 gallon drums for $5.

 

[Truckman4life]

Can't beat that price. We had an ultrasonic cleaner that worked ok, a cold dip tank for aluminum parts and such and a hot tank that would clean the bejesus out of anything steel. Really nice stuff for rebuilding CAT engines and equipment stuff.

 

[76zimmer]

Anyone build an electrolysis tank for rust removal?

I made a small one out of a 5 gallon bucket and it worked so well that I'm making out out of a 55 gallon drum.

What a great idea, I could use something like that.
Is it as simple as it looks? Is there a link for building a tank?

 

[cuervo]

I was amazed that I had not heard about this 15 years ago. It really is that simple. I made the test tank out of a 5 gallon bucket and tested on a cast iron skillet.

It stripped everything off the pan!

 

[Truckman4life]

Wow that's clean. How long do you run it til the solution needs changed? Does it just build up sediment in the bottom and eventually not have enough chemicals to react any more?

 

[cuervo]

Wow that's clean. How long do you run it til the solution needs changed? Does it just build up sediment in the bottom and eventually not have enough chemicals to react any more?

It was a constant 7.2v and 3.39a and I let it run overnight. Well close to 30 hours I guess. The sodium carbonate never goes bad and you never need to add more. The rust collects on the anodes and you can skim off the floating stuff when done.

When it was done it was pure clean cast iron. I'd never seen such pure cast iron before. Then I reseasoned it and it's amazing how it looks now.

 

[Truckman4life]

That would work great for engine parts and such that get rusty and have to be sent out to have them hot tanked. I'm sure you have to have them pretty clean and degreased first. Now you just need one of these and the two would work awesome together.

 

[yellowK20]

You want it pretty close to degreased , but a little residual won't hurt it just floats to the top.

 

[Truckman4life]

Would it work any better if you added a heater element to the tank or is that just overkill?

 

[cuervo]

I've not read anything about heat affecting the process either good or bad.

 

[yellowK20]

Would it work any better if you added a heater element to the tank or is that just overkill?

I'm not sure if that would work very well or not , it may attack the element on the heater .

For grease removal I do a 25/75 mix of purple power and water and then heat it with a bucket heater . The grease cake literally falls off over night.


https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/allied-precision-bucket-heater-1000-w

 

[Truckman4life]

I love purple power. Good shit! My Napa guy said it was the only thing that would get linseed oil overspray off the glass on his dad's cabin even beating brake clean.