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The Ospho Solution..(rust removal)

353K views 664 replies 61 participants last post by  Lizer 
#1 ·
This is the start of a thread dedicated to successful rust removal using ospho,a water based phosphric acid product I've been using professionally for many years.
Ospho has some advantages over other methods, mainly a DIY can do it at home inexpensively with little mess,fairly easily.
I'll try to answer any questions and offer some advice on the successful use of this product.
.....First,I'll start with the most common use : To remove surface rust That has accumulated on unprotected steel....Then heavly rusted and pitted metal,and using it to prevent surface rust of freshly stripped steel...
...
The pics below show the trunk floor and wheel wells I made for my old car.After making the pieces and screwing them together ,it got cold out and I put the car up for a couple months and the steel got pretty rusty.
In the interest of time I'll just do a spot to show how its done and what Materials you'll need.Bare with me I'm a newbie with the computer.
 

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#309 · (Edited)
Oki-doki I got another wire wheel..



And it didn't seem to do anything that the cupped one did (or didn't do).

This is the untouched rusted area with a number of good passes and bearing down pretty good.



This is bearing down pretty good in a small area.




This is my new best friend.



And this is the same area after a few passes with it.



And a little more....



This is a new area after the wire wheel........working it pretty hard.



This is with just a few passes with the abrasive wheel.



And after a little more..



Now, the magic wears off kinda quick, and they are $5 each. But I think they are worth it. Once is starts looking like this they start slowing down the cutting pretty quick. But I am wondering if I run it over a fresh grinding disc, say 36 grit, if it will clean it up so it's sharp again? hmmm



My project was looking pretty good. I don't think I will do anymore being this is where I plan on cutting the top and lengthening it with the other roof.



Last night I fixed this retractable extension cord. Damn is this thing nice to have. It's right up on the middle of the garage, wham, pull it down and you are ready to go. Real happy it's fixed, I haven't used it in years.



Of course, after that was cleaned up I applied the Ospho to keep it nice and shiny. :D

Brian
 
#312 ·
I wanted to pull out one of the rusted fenders I'm going to use and start wheeling it so I could find out why your having so much trouble,Brian, but I just couldnt I have a bunch of paint work to do for the rest of the week...I'll get a new vid up soon though,then you can compare it to what you did.maybe that'll help....
 
#313 ·
Your priorities are obviously all screwed up! What's more important, my truck or that customer work in your shop you need to pay your bills? :evil:


Brian
 
#316 ·
No, it wasn't upside down, Chevy didn't put anything much there, maybe just a coat of primer. I sure don't see any paint, it is pits, pitting rust.

Brian
 
#323 ·
My first little test with the Masterseries rust remover. I put a shop rag on this rusted angle iron and poured a little on the rag and left it over night. You can also see where it dripped on the floor! Now Mike, it's also high in Zinc, that means you should be able to weld right through it.

Brian

 
#331 ·
This one view is pretty impressive, but I have to do a lot more before I have a good idea of what it can do. But check out that floor where it dripped! I hadn't even noticed this until when I posted the photo, but DAMN that is silver metal down there!

Brian
 
#326 ·
light rust

For light rust ,spray in on with a plastic bottle sprayer.let it sit for a couple of minutes you can help out with a maroon Scotch Brite pad. Just remember paint remover and rust remover as long as it's wet it's working. When it's clean wipe it with a damp rag in one hand dry rag in the other or just let it dry. You do not want a heavy deposit of zinc just a light residue is fine. For larger panels are heavily rusted soak a rag lay it on the panel and check it every 15 min. for welded seams saturate them and say the Hail Mary, usually these areas have to be cut out.all these techniques in this thread all work hand-in-hand with both Ospho, Rust Mort, and Mastercoat. Be sure to wear protective gear with these products especially gloves and eye protection. Hope this helped.
 
#336 ·
There are several types of acids used for different purposes but phosphoric acid is rather mild for an acid, and I don't believe it will keep working after it dries. Hydrocloric acid used for tinning auto body solder could be another story. Just the fumes of that stuff will rust your most valued treasure.
 
#349 ·
Metal prep is designed to promote adhesion, to dissolve rust and to retard its return. When you sandblast there still rust in the pores of the steel that the prep neutralizes . Oakite had a very informative seminar with magnified photos of blasted steel with the microscopic rust.Galvanized metal is another story.
 
#351 ·
Ok, one quick little test. I simply poured the Ospho on the left and the Masterseries on the right. Anyway you look at it the Masterseries is doing a damn good job.

Brian

 
#354 ·
Here's a little test I did tonight. I took some rusty clip nuts. I just kind of spritzed them with W&G remover real quick and wiped them off, then soaked them in a plastic container with about an inch of the Masterseries metal prep. I was going to let them go all night, but decided to check progress after exactly one hour. Took them out, wiped off with paper towel They were completely free of all rust, see pics below. Now I wait and see how long it takes for them to start rusting again.

So I took another set of rusty clips and tossed them in there, no cleaning or prep this time, didn't change out new acid either, just reused it. I checked in 15 minutes...they were 95% rust free and would have been good to go. However, I'm keeping them in there all night.

I used to sandblast this stuff. Way easier if I can just keep a tub of the metal prep around and toss rusty screws and nuts in and they'll be good to go in 15-30 minutes.

Maybe Ospho does the same thing, never tried it, didn't have it so I couldn't compare, however this at least demonstrates what this is capable of. It will make my life much easier. I was pretty impressed.
 

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#355 ·
However, I'm keeping them in there all night.



Maybe Ospho does the same thing, never tried it, didn't have it so I couldn't compare, however this at least demonstrates what this is capable of. It will make my life much easier. I was pretty impressed.
It depends on how bad the rust is when using Ospho, because its strength gets used up.

There is a learning curve with acid just like everything else, so get the facts before using it on something of value. Something you may have to watch out for with the masterseries is hydrogen embrittlement. So we need to know if that is going to happen with the masterseries, and if so, then it will not be kind to very thin parts, and springs, and clip nuts.

Another thing is that phosphoric acid will eat metal at a very low rate, so that limits the amount of time you can leave a part in it. Body sheet metal over night is not a problem, but with heavily pittied metal, it would be best to get some of the rust off before soaking in acid.

Phosphoric acid is also very good for cleaning welds before paint.
 
#356 ·
I have sold Rust removers and metal prep both Capt. Lees and Misastercoat for the previous 20 years. I have never had this problem of hydrogen embrittlement.Mastercoat Rust remover is designed to remove moderate surface rust within 5 min., so leaving parts in overnight is not a good idea. Not using metal prep can sometimes result in you repainting your parts a lot quicker than you anticipated. Rust here in the Northeast is brutal so we use everything we can to preserve our cars and metal prep is a must.
 
#359 ·
I soaked a socket for 20 minutes tonight. I found the socket rolling around in the mustang gas tank after I must have dropped it in there 4 years ago. It was covered in rust. I was surprised to see the rust came off--as expected--but the chrome on the socket was left completely intact. I was thinking it might eat away the chrome. Socket looks brand new now except for the pits.
 
#363 ·
I soaked a socket for 20 minutes tonight. I found the socket rolling around in the mustang gas tank after I must have dropped it in there 4 years ago. It was covered in rust. I was surprised to see the rust came off--as expected--but the chrome on the socket was left completely intact. I was thinking it might eat away the chrome. Socket looks brand new now except for the pits.[/QUOTEThat's great if you don't want a new tank use the rust remover to clean it out and use the Mastercoat sealer in the orange can to seal the tank. There's a step-by-step on the website. Keep in mind nothing beats a new tank but if you're on a budget or the tank is a one-of-a-kind this is the way to cure the problem.Thank you all for the favorable remarks it's appreciated.Uncle Pat
 
#360 · (Edited)
Well , I got my package from Uncle Pat yesterday and about 4:00 I started playing ..I only had an hour so I rushed through and only did a few spots on the inside of my old plymouth fender...There was still a good bit of primer or paint on the surface so I figured this will show whats rust and whats paint and although neither ospho or master series will work over paint I'll see how they both preform...
The first thing I noticed was the MS had a wicked odor ,it smells like it'll work great...
Now I only played with it for an hour them came back two hours later to check it out so this is only a first impression of what I found.
First I used the wire wheel on the griner to remove the loose rust then with my pump sprayer I wet down the rusted area with ospho an another area with the MS the rusted areas both started turning red with disolved rust imediately,I kept spraying keeping them both wet for a few minutes then used the wire wheel again to clean out the pits.sprayed both again and wiped dry....so far no differences they both seemed to work well,The MS preformed at least as well as the ospho...
I came back after about two hours and they both looked te same I wired them both and got some more rust out of both..I had soaked a shop towel with both and set it on a rusted area but it didnt do anything with either brand, no silver metal showing anywhere yet...(wheres the magic?) LOL Now I know what Brian felt...so far I cant tell any differences but its possible that the MS is slightly better but not by much...Keep in mind this is just a first impression I still have a lot to do before I know no way or another....but the ospho has some tough competition here....MS seems to be a exellent product so far....I have high expectations for today the second round is usually where you see somereally noticeable results
 
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