Rust Removal

[jbumgarner 12]

Well, I'm not sure of the proper place to put this post, but I thought some of you may find this interesting. I have a friend that restores old cars and uses molasses to remove rust, so I thought I would give it a shot. I am in the process of putting together a E-Tank, but I have a little time to kill and thought this would be worth trying. I have mixed molasses and water at around 10 to 1 and submerged the parts I wanted to clean. My buddy told me it will take a few days, but this is what I started with. I am cleaning an old Brinley cultivator and you can see by the amount of rust that I am starting with. If anyone has ever tried this let me know. I would be interested in finding out if I had wasted my $6.00 in molasses.

This is two of the main horizontal post and the amount of rust on everything.

My bucket of molasses and water.

Well I will post pics of the results on Wednesday. Hope I haven't wasted my time.

:thumbs2:

[DoctorHfuhruhurr 136]

It works really well. Here's an interesting before/after video.

[Aussie 98]

I have used molasses for old car bits and pieces for some time and it works really well. I think you may need more than a few days though. I usually leave my parts in the tank for four weeks and they come up clean.

The advantage of electrolysis is it is a lot quicker, 24 - 36 hours and you are done, and it is also a lot cleaner. The molasses bath can get quite pungent!

[kadetklapp 1]

Very interesting, never heard of this.

[jbumgarner 12]

Alright, I thought I would put an update in for my molasses experiment. I would say it went well. I followed others advise and left the parts in for around 3 weeks. They came out pretty nasty, but with a few strokes of a wire brush I ended up with the following parts. Not bad for very little work, that is if you don't mind waiting for 3 weeks on parts.

Now after a quick search of RS for E-tank ideas I came up with this for the larger pieces that wouldn't fit in my bucket. 45 gallon barrel, 5 pieces of 1-1/2 x 1/4 flat bar and some bits of wire to connect everything. I want to thank all you that have posted on E-tanks over the years, it has been really helpful. Once these parts come out I will post an update and a final pic of the project. Thanks again for all the help.

:thumbs2:

[Coadster32 793]

In the past, I have posted up my e-tank, and hope that it helped you. Thanks for posting this up as well.

It seems as going by the pits in the finished parts, that they were pretty heavily rusted indeed. Is that 10 parts molasses to 1 part water, or the other way around?

Looks interesting, and I might "give it a go" as well. Leaving it in for 3-4 weeks makes me wonder about water evaporation. Also, could you use the same mixture again?

[jbumgarner 12]

Coadster32: That is 10 parts water to 1 part molassis. It works great if you don't mind waiting. Now the smell after a few weeks is pretty bad, but I put a lid on the bucket and left it behind my shop. Yes your posts on E-tanks was benificial. I learned more from a RS search than I did by a google search.

[Rooster 191]

Has any one tried anything besides molasses. Someone told me baking soda works almost as well without the troubles?

[navkram 0]

I have the same type of e-tank setup and its the best thing I have put together for cleaning and stripping parts. I have taken a rusted pair of channel locks thats would not move they were so rusted together, a few hours cooking in the etank, removed them and washed them off with water and low and behold they were freed up and could use them.

I need to figure out a better power supply, I had a 24 volt transformer than ran a around the barn conveyor feeding system, hooked that up to the e-tank and it worked awesome, untill it burned up. anyone out there know more about dc voltage and what would be a good power supply. I have used a battery charger but just not seem to work very well.

MArk

[mavfreak 11]

wow, I use molassis to cook with and make breads and cookies, No wonder if you eat to may of them you'll be sick and in the bathroom, after seeing what it did to metal!

[COMMANDO6 20]

You know, I think the Mythbusters tried this. They also tried Coke but I don't remember the results.

[305 380]

i've used both molasses and the electrolysis with good results on small parts and sheet metal that sandblasting would destroy. on heavy metal parts i still feel you are better off sandblasting

[Coadster32 793]

I need to figure out a better power supply, I had a 24 volt transformer than ran a around the barn conveyor feeding system, hooked that up to the e-tank and it worked awesome, untill it burned up. anyone out there know more about dc voltage and what would be a good power supply. I have used a battery charger but just not seem to work very well.

I use an older style battery charger. You need one that won't go into "float" or "standby" mode. The older ones just keep putting out the amps.

I've also seen people use an arc welder. (Boil boil toil and trouble). :thumbs2:

[jbumgarner 12]

I was going to give a update and a pic of the finished parts as they came out of the e-tank. They were in for in for around 15 hours at around 15amps.

and a before pic of the same part

:thumbs2:

[jbumgarner 12]

The final results of my rust removal experiment.

[Coadster32 793]

Wow!! Looks great! Good job! :thumbs2:

[Iceman10 4]

Vinegar water works pretty well. I usually use 1 gal apple cider vinegar to 3 gal of water in a 5 gal bucket. The more the vinegar the faster it works. I usually leave the parts in there for a couple of days. :thumbs2: