[Jamescoop]

Hello.

Im wondering if anyone knows of any good stuff to use to make a homemade dipping take. I know that they use lye to clean parts and stuff, but im talking about putting a bunch of parts in a bucket or 40gal parts cleaner and leaving for a few days..when you take them out to be spotless, no paint, no rust, etc.

Does anyone know?

James

[Rob (chuck) Berry]

I have seen Molasses used to great effect to remove rust from aincent components (an ancient restorer showed me!) also sheep fat or raw lanolin works a treat but can be a liitle expensive if you buy retail.

Cheers from Oz

[302 Z28]

Antifreeze makes an excellent parts submersion cleaner, but it must be heated to about 250 degrees. Works great on aluminum.

Vince

[Ohio-Dan]

http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp

[poncho62]

There are a number of issues about this..

fumes...A lot of dip tanks are caustic. You will need good ventalation.

Storage of caustic substances are also an issue.

Getting rid of these substances after you don't want them anymore is also an issue. You don't just pour them down a drain.

Smell is another issue.

Better off just to take them somewhere....or buy a small sandblaster.

[guba_unus]

Electrolysis rules! if you can set this up, it will clean perfectly. no need to worry about over cooking it cause once all the rust is off, the process will prevent more from forming till you turn it off. then you have to dry it really fast. I used this on the radiator baffles for my truck. used a large plastic storage bin (we were storing x-mas tree in it), i suggest you find one that is really strong, cause mine split in half during the process. I lined the bucket with plastic cause it had a crack at the bottom. filled the bucket with water and then added baking soda cause I couldnt' find any washing soda. (don't ask me the difference, find a woman to tell you... j/k) I just doubled the amount took compensate for baking soda being a weaker base. Clamped some rebar to the sides of the bucket, hung my parts in the mix. all I had was a battery charger, that couldn't run for 100 duty cycle unless it was set on 2 amps. but it was actually putting out about 10 when on this setting. this way took about 2 days to derust my parts. but I didn't have to do anything more than the initial setup time and going out to check on them every few hours. if you have a stronger power source, things would happen quicker, but 120 watts isn't gonna do it very fast. oh yeah, and this was setup on a covered patio, with lots of ventilation.

[Maverick]

Red Devil drain opener works good. Just dont use it on aluminum. Works better when its heated. Also the Purple Power cleaners from the auto parts stores works good too.