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Unmitigated Failure!
kendo - 16/3/09 at 08:59 AM

Tried the old electrolysis this weekend on some rear drum back plates and it has been a total flop.

Followed all the instructions off the links from the forum but nothing. Water, soda crystals and charger. Voltage where you'd expect but no bubbles and after 24hrs no improvement other than I could have achieved with a damp cloth.


Benzine - 16/3/09 at 09:01 AM

Where the part was connected was there bare metal or was there still some paint on it?


Mr Whippy - 16/3/09 at 09:10 AM

photo needed of the set up or tell us exactly what you did

it should start fizzing in about 10 seconds!

there's not much to it, just clean the metal on both the iron rod and the part to be cleaned where the electrical connection is made. Pour in some soda and switch it on. Make sure the rod and the part don't touch.

Here's me doing a subframe, you can see the rust traveling through the water to the positively charged iron rod and clumping round the bottom. For better cleaning you can place bits of iron all round the bath/container and connect them up with bits of wire.

You can also see the bubbles streaming off the round part lower down, and this was only 10 minutes after switching it on. Later I got two cheap battery chargers and connected them both up in parallel which really speeded things up



[Edited on 16/3/09 by Mr Whippy] Rescued attachment bath.JPG
Rescued attachment bath.JPG


tegwin - 16/3/09 at 09:17 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
photo needed of the set up or tell us exactly what you did

it should start fizzing in about 10 seconds!

there's not much to it, just clean the metal on both the iron rod and the part to be cleaned where the electrical connection is made. Pour in some soda and switch it on. Make sure the rod and the part don't touch.

Here's me doing a subframe, you can see the rust traveling through the water to the positively charged iron rod and clumping round the bottom. For better cleaning you can place bits of iron all round the bath/container and connect them up with bits of wire.

[Edited on 16/3/09 by Mr Whippy]



is that your bath...... how are you still alive after doing that....


Mr Whippy - 16/3/09 at 09:18 AM

a dumped bath found in the woods (I carried it home on my back ), so it was free


Thinking about it - 16/3/09 at 09:20 AM

I found if I had the charger set too high it would trip out. What did you use as the electrode? Are you sure you had the charger connected the right way round. I found the results amazing. Look in my archive at the brake plates.


yellow melos - 16/3/09 at 09:25 AM

was any of the elextrodes touching the drum ???

was there enough amps going through the system ??

oh dear.. appers people have beat me to the questions

[Edited on 16/3/09 by yellow melos]


Mr Whippy - 16/3/09 at 09:31 AM

the cheapest most basic chargers are best, don't use any that do any battery monitoring like automatic ones etc as they'll just switch off.

Best to do this outside due to the gas given off, did someone say it was hydrogen? The scum that is left in the water is pretty horrible and stains the gound brown for a while.


Benzine - 16/3/09 at 09:32 AM

Nice free bath, Whippy I need to do some 16" steel wheels soon, need to find something big enough to fit them it!


kendo - 16/3/09 at 09:43 AM

The +ve electrodes were in contact with the container but it was a plastic container. I had 2x 1" square RHS (left over from chassis) diagonally opposed. I connected the +ve charger terminal to those and joined them together with a jump lead.

Two back plates were suspended from a piece of wood using a wire coat hanger. I connected the back plates together with a jump lead and connected the negative to the unsubmerged part of the jump lead clip.

Thinking about it there was a pile of stuff underneath the two +ve electrodes it was just decidedly un energetic. I expected a lot of fizzing and frothing. So maybe it wasn't a total failure.


Mr Whippy - 16/3/09 at 09:56 AM

use iron not a bit of steel chassis rail. B&Q etc stock iron rods and flat bar sections (flat bar works best)

You need to make sure also that no oil or plastic coating etc is coating the rod as they do this to stop the metal corroding in the shops. I run a blowtorch over it to burn such things off.

If you have an electric meter place one meter terminal in the water and the other one on of the battery charger connection and you see the voltage change as you move it around the container, but it should be about 12v near the electrode



[Edited on 16/3/09 by Mr Whippy]


Paul TigerB6 - 16/3/09 at 10:56 AM

Worked really well for me. As said, cheap battery chargers seem to be needed

Image deleted by owner


Mr Whippy - 16/3/09 at 11:30 AM

^^ looks like homemade beer


Slater - 16/3/09 at 12:39 PM

This was my set up. It worked very well.

The item was dangled in the liquid using a copper wire, making sure it did not touch the electrode. The electrode was a sheet of metal cut out from the bonnet of the donor car, I removed the paint with angry grinder and folded it to cover bottom/two sides of the container.

Old type battery charger. Connected as shown below.

After 6 hrs of fizzing, turn the item round and do the other side, 6 hrs later, remove item, it comes out black looking, give it a quick quick wire brush, rinse with water and it's nice and shiney.

Paint, job done.






[img][/img]


Mr Whippy - 16/3/09 at 01:29 PM

It’s definitely the best method of cleaning steal parts I've ever came across, wish I'd know about it 15 years ago...wouldn't have quite so many scars on my hand if I had.

That bath is now built into the outside wall of the garage, with a water supply and the chargers inside on the wall. It’s used very regularly by me and friends


kendo - 16/3/09 at 01:51 PM

Well. I popped out at lunchtime and got some iron strip as suggested from B&Q. So I'll give it another go tonight. It'll be another couple of days before the replacement brake parts come any way.


Mr Whippy - 16/3/09 at 01:55 PM

pics would be nice though


britishtrident - 16/3/09 at 02:44 PM

tiny bit of common salt in the solution helps to get things going.


kendo - 16/3/09 at 07:44 PM

Well done chaps!

It's gentley fizzing away now.

Final set up two chargers, iron flat bar and a pinch of salt.


Mr Whippy - 17/3/09 at 08:55 AM

quote:
Originally posted by kendo
Well done chaps!

It's gentley fizzing away now.

Final set up two chargers, iron flat bar and a pinch of salt.


nice one