[Hwyhogg]

I agree with the sheet metal. I used a piece of untreated (not zinc coated) sheet metal for a larger rusty piece and it did seem to work faster...seems the surface area of the electrode does seem to matter...

[deadbodyman]

yes ,it does,I ran three electrodes in my tank......Now if you really get serious ,carbon works really great, hard to find though....

[gow589]

Originally Posted by Hwyhogg

DEAD, LOL...swimming pool! I moved up to a 30 gal container and am doing my deflector panels as we speak...

Just a word of caution. I know some one who did this with about a 5gal container in a large barn. When the hydrogen exploded he was near the door and it made him deaf for a while.

[Hwyhogg]

Thanks for the warning. I would always wear at least safety glasses as well, provide good ventilation and ALWAYS unplug the power source before adjusting, removing the electrode, battery charger, or the rusty item. BECAUSE the charger clamps will spark when being moved, and if there is enough gas accumulated when it sparks......

[hp246]

If you have a Tractor Supply around, the heavy plastic water troughs they sell work great. You can get them in a variety of sizes, long and narrow or round. Not too expensive either.

[Old Fool]

Originally Posted by deadbodyman

yes ,it does,I ran three electrodes in my tank......Now if you really get serious ,carbon works really great, hard to find though....

I wonder if these would work:

http://www.thermadyne.com/arcair/pro...rodID=22082003

[timothale]

In other posts it has been stated NOT to Do critical suspension parts, ( spindles , A arms, Etc) parts will get hydrogen embrittlement which weakens the part. That can be corrected by baking on some metals but time and temperature is not a backyard process that can be done correctly.

[deadbodyman]

I'm going to look into this hydrogen thing ...When I started out I only did planer blades in a plastic coffee can ...they are hardend steel and they held an edge just as long as they did when they were new so I know for a fact they wern't weakend but it may have been the low voltage I was using or something else like the time they were in the tank. so I'll get the nitty gritty on that from my guru expert...he knows all about this stuff he's even done consulting on salt water artifacts ,like cannons and such.

[olegplanets]

Very nice stuff but doesn't seem to work for me. I tried to de-rust a small screwdriver tip but when I connected everything and turned it on, there were no bubbles or boiling, absolutely no visible reaction. My ampere meter also stays at zero, not sure if it's normal but nothing seems to happen...

[olegplanets]

hmm I tried connecting negative and positive cables and I see no sparks, isn't that weird?

[TubeTek]

Is your battery charger one of those that only puts out power if it can sense its connected to a battery? A lot of the small ones are made that way, and they won't work for derusting. In fact, if you connect one of them to a totally dead battery they won't do anything either. I've got one, and if a battery is totally dead then a 2nd charged battery has to be hooked in parallel with the dead one to get the charger to start. After its charged a while the 2nd battery can be disconnected and the charger will continue to charge since it can now sense a voltage in the one you're trying to charge.

[olegplanets]

thank you, it explains why I'm having an issue. I went to the store and gave it back to them and asked the guy at electronics department if I can have something that will give constant charge no matter what, but unfortunately ALL the chargers are overcharge-or-whatever-proof. Ah well, so hard to get anything in Canada. I guess I'll buy a PC power supply and try it from there...

[deadbodyman]

All you need to do is connect a battery in parellel with the system,I had the same problem. with my little planer blade one using a 9v cordless drill charger.

[joe_padavano]

I've been following this thread with interest, and it brings up a question.

How would this work with a rusty shortblock that's been sitting outside? Specifically, would the solution dissolve the aluminum pistons, at least enough to get the block apart? All I really care about is saving the block, and the prospect of grinding out the pistons is not attractive. Maybe the solution will dissolve the rust on the cylinder walls enough to hammer the pistons out? Thoughts?

[deadbodyman]

I'll bet it'll work Joe, its the rings not the pistons that are stuck to the walls.something I noticed was that rusty screws and bolts that wouldnt come outbefore the process, came right out afterwards mostly by hand too.