giggity
Veteran Member
Do you have to do anything special afterwards to paint? Id imagine there is some sort of residue left over?
Electrolysis Tank
- Thread starter 8pack
- Start date
Bandit723
Veteran Member
Yes there will some some residue left over. I use hot soapy water and a brush to clean it off and a wire brush when needed.
Use a carbon electrode, not steel, for the anode.
Using steel converts the rust differently and the rust will reappear very quickly after washing the part off. This does not happen with a carbon anode.
I use carbon gouging electrodes from McMaster, item #7979A19.
Using steel converts the rust differently and the rust will reappear very quickly after washing the part off. This does not happen with a carbon anode.
I use carbon gouging electrodes from McMaster, item #7979A19.
Update: I had the wrong type of a charger. It is an automatic charger and won’t work. Since my charger was not correct I tried using the battery with the charger in parallel. The charger couldn’t keep up and the battery depleted pretty quickly. I went to Napa and got one of the cart chargers. My old one got destroyed in hurricane sandy so I have been without one for a long time and I like to have one around anyway.
I hooked up the charger and set it to 12v 20 amps and everything is fizzing nicely.
What is interesting is I am not seeing the Big collection of rust on the anode or the rust foaming and fizzing all to the top of the tank. The water remains cloudy but not rusty. The rust appears to still be on the axle but some parts are turning black. I found that when I rubbed on the axle where the rust is it rubs off. I took a metal brush to a small spot to see what would happen and everything just came right off. So it must be working. I am atgoing to let it run a few more hours tomorrow and then take it out and power wash it and scrub it down and see how it looks. I expected the rust to disappear and the metal
to look like fresh cast steel, so not quite what I expected.
I am confident it is working but I think because the axle only has a very thin layer of surface rust that was not scaly it is just releasing from the metal and it will take a little more work to wipe it off.
I put the rectangle solid steel spacers for the helper springs in to see what would come of those. They are heavily rusted pieces so maybe the process and result will be different.
Picture 1 is a small section of what it looks after about 6hrs in the tank and picture 2 is after i rubbed it down with a small handheld wire brush. Picture 3 is the heavily rusted blocks that are the spacers for the 3/4 ton helper leaf springs and they were just put in the tank.
Bandit723
Veteran Member
Pretty sure if going with carbon is to use a non metallic graphite carbon anode. McMaster-Carr has them.
Are these what you are referring to?
The thick ones are pretty pricy and no idea how long or what diameter they need to be. What I have read is you want it pretty close to the length of the piece and on either side.
The thick ones are pretty pricy and no idea how long or what diameter they need to be. What I have read is you want it pretty close to the length of the piece and on either side.
Bandit723
Veteran Member
two 5/8 of an inch x 8" rods will work. Yeah price is a consideration that is why most folks use a junk piece of steel.
Bandit723
Veteran Member
@8pack here is a good article demonstrating the carbon rods.
http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/electrolyticderusting.htm
http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/electrolyticderusting.htm
This is the side of the axle I used the Rust 911 on.
This is fresh out of the tank with the surface rust that is easily brushed off.
The other side of the axle I did not use the Rust 911 on.
Crusty old leave springs before pic.
Here yiu can see the phosphorus coating after the metal ready.
Finished the axle today and the rusty steel blocks. It has been interesting.
When I took it out there was rust on it but it wasn’t attached so I used a stiff brush and almost all of it came off. The metal is black which apparently is to be expected. There was one part that was not exposed to the anode where there was a little remaining rust. I laid it on its side and filled the channel with rust 911 (same as Evapo Rust).
Interestingly that section came out natural metal Color when everything was cleaned up. What I learned is that smaller parts will go in the Rust 911 solution as it is cost effective for multiple small parts but larger parts will go in the tank.
Once it was all cleaned up I sprayed it down with POR metal ready which is basically the same as ospho. It removes the flash rust and leaves a phosphorus coating so no rush to get it painted.
I put the rear Leaf spring pack in today and the exhaust down pipe and it ran for about 9hrs. The rust is starting to come off so I brushed it with the steel brush under water and the rust came off revealing the black metal. I will run it all day tomorrow and then pull it out in the late afternoon and clean it up and load up the next leaf spring.
This is fresh out of the tank with the surface rust that is easily brushed off.
The other side of the axle I did not use the Rust 911 on.
Crusty old leave springs before pic.
Here yiu can see the phosphorus coating after the metal ready.
When I took it out there was rust on it but it wasn’t attached so I used a stiff brush and almost all of it came off. The metal is black which apparently is to be expected. There was one part that was not exposed to the anode where there was a little remaining rust. I laid it on its side and filled the channel with rust 911 (same as Evapo Rust).
Interestingly that section came out natural metal Color when everything was cleaned up. What I learned is that smaller parts will go in the Rust 911 solution as it is cost effective for multiple small parts but larger parts will go in the tank.
Once it was all cleaned up I sprayed it down with POR metal ready which is basically the same as ospho. It removes the flash rust and leaves a phosphorus coating so no rush to get it painted.
I put the rear Leaf spring pack in today and the exhaust down pipe and it ran for about 9hrs. The rust is starting to come off so I brushed it with the steel brush under water and the rust came off revealing the black metal. I will run it all day tomorrow and then pull it out in the late afternoon and clean it up and load up the next leaf spring.
Great link. The Carbon Rods are $32 each without shipping. Given the size of my tank I probably need 2. I don’t want to spend the $65 right now although it would solve the blackened metal issue. I also don’t want to stop the process waiting fir the rods. I am trying like crazy to get it back on the road before fall and the biggest chunk of work is getting all the parts prepped and painted. After that is is just reassembly.
Thanks for the tips!
