Rust Removal - How to (56K...Upgrade!)

[Sigmeister]

OK this is more of a lazy mans guide to removing rust. I say lazy as you basically just leave it and chemisty does its thing whilst you work on something else.

NOTE: These methods should not be used on alloy parts. - Thanks MR22ZZ

I am also comparing 2 types of rust removal in this tutorial. DEOX-C which is a chemical based rust remover and Electrolysis.

So what do you need. First you need something to clean. In this example I am using something small to start with and compare. My Buggy Hubs:




As you can see they are pretty rusted.

For DEOX-C, you need some DEOX-C...obviously:


A plastic container to put the part in and some warm water. You mix the DEOX-C with water in any concentrarion you want. It is recommended to use 19 parts warm\hot water to 1 part DEOX-C, but I went for a slightly stronger concentration of 15 parts to 1.

Chuck it in a container so the part is fully submerged and leave it.


Every now and then you need to scrub off the shedding rust with something, I used an old tooth brush as it comes off pretty easy.

[Sigmeister]

The alternative to this is Electrolysis. For that you will need the following.
A battery charger. Preferably something without smarts (as it just needs to send power through the electrodes no matter what) and a reasonable amount of amperage. 2 amps should be fine, more is better (a 12V power supply should also work OK)


You'll also need a piece of sacrificial metal. Essentially a piece of spare steel that you wont use again, the more surface area the better.


Something to make the water more conductive. I use this stuff called Lectic Soda:


Fill a tub with water and mix in some Lectric soda. It was advised that I use around 1 cup per 30 odd litres you can use more but the water can only get so conductive.
You put the positive clip of the battery charger on the sacrificial piece of metal. You want to try submerge as much of the metal as you can without dipping the clamp in. Try get the metal as clean as possible. Put the negative clamp of the battery charger on the part you want clean (In my case, the hub). Make sure they are not touching and turn on the charger. If it is working, your amp guage should rise a little and you should see some bubbles coming off the part you want cleaned.


As it works the sacrificial metal will turn to crud:


And your tub will fill with brown crappy sediment:


Your metal will end up looking like this:

[Sigmeister]

After 2 hours with the occasional scrub with a plastic bristle brush to clear away the flaking rust, I ended up with this

The DEOX-C Part:




The Electrolysis Part:




Side by Side Comparison:



As you can see the DEOX-C worked better in this instance. I have put them both back into their respective tubs overnight to see how it goes.

Cost Breakdown:
Battery Charger - $75 (But a $20 - $30) should be fine
Lectric Soda - Around $2.50 a bag (Enough to do 4 - 5 tubs)
Tub - Between $10 and $20 from Cheap as Chips
Sacrificial metal - Hopefully free

DEOX-C - $50 for a kilo. It depends on how strong you want your solution and tub size as to how much you will go through.
Bucket - $ from hardware store

Additional notes on electrolysis: The more amperage you can get the better it will work. It kind of works as line of site so the more CLEAN sacrifical metal you can get in, the better. Some people suggest surrounding the part you want cleaned. Lining the tub with flyscreen or re-bar with the cleaned peice in the middle seems to work well.

Over the week I'll add a few updates. Next weekend I'll add 2 more nethods for removing rust and also prep and paint the metal with POR15.

[Sleepy1]

Dude not saying its not a bad idea and it works alright but you could have paid like 10 bucks and got them sand blasted.

[Sigmeister]

No worries, I have my own sandblaster so could have done that for nothing. Just wanted to give the chemical ones a go and see how well they worked.

[RA35GT]

Molasses also works well, but takes ages.

[Sleepy1]

I also have a sandblaster and could have done it for nothing, but i was quoting for my time to do that nothing is free.

[MR22ZZ]

Orthophosphoric Acid works a treat too

PS, you should add a disclaimer that these techniques are not to be used on Alloy parts.

[Sigmeister]

Updated with a note, Thanks MR22ZZ.

[big_zop]

Would a car battery work in place of the charger?

One advantage i can see this way over sand blasting is the splines, especially with the DEOX-C. And the more complex the part, the more of an advantage you are going to get, not too mention cost/mess involved if you want to get your own sandblaster.

Good stuff.

[parrot]

I use the electrolysis method regularly on small brackets etc, but that deox stuff might be worth a try.

[Sigmeister]

Would a car battery work in place of the charger?

It will work, the only issue you might have is that the battery chargers have some control over the amps. Using a battery will allow as many amps as the tub can draw, so with a good setup it could go a bit nuts. I don't know if there are actually any adverse effects from using too much amperage other than it will work really fast

One advantage i can see this way over sand blasting is the splines, especially with the DEOX-C. And the more complex the part, the more of an advantage you are going to get, not too mention cost/mess involved if you want to get your own sandblaster.

It has its place. Some methods are suited better than others with different applications.

I use the electrolysis method regularly on small brackets etc, but that deox stuff might be worth a try.

I had heard good things about it but couldn't find anyone on here using it so I thought I'd be a guinea pig. It's distributed by the same guys that do POR15 so I figured it should be alright.

[ViPeR_NiPPleX]

Great stuff, appreciate the photos. Suggestions for rust prevention after treating said rusted parts?

[Sigmeister]

Great stuff, appreciate the photos. Suggestions for rust prevention after treating said rusted parts?

POR15 if you can afford it.


Next weekend I'll prep and paint these parts to show the products that are recommended to use by POR15\PPC
Killrust is a cheaper alternative. Just make sure the metal is clean and dry before painting.
Full tutorial to come...

[Sigmeister]

OK, Sorry about the delay.

The other method is the old fashioned way using something like the following on either a drill or a grinder:




Or a wire wheel on a bench grinder:


OR a sandblasting cabinet as mentioned before:



This cost me about $200 for the cabinet and $50 for the sand, you obviously need an air compressor to run the sandblaster, the bigger the better.

Here is a quick example. These are the Tie Rods off the buggy:


And after about 5-10 mintues each on the bench grinder slowly working away without a lot of pressure:



From Here you could either paint or polish them up.