Electrolysis Question - So I don't burn the house down

Fred Grover · Post by **Fred Grover** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:15 pm

Thanks for the information again gentlemen. And JPG I have to wrry in a case where something might go boom. Wouldn't you? After being in the Military and hearing those loud noises and seeing it I am used to the sound and sometimes destruction. I just don't want it to happen and take something out in my garage. The wife might not be happy with me.

idcook · Post by **idcook** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:32 pm

I just happened to study up on electrolysis last year to help me clean up various old machines and tools I’ve been picking up to build my approaching geezertude dream shop. Gotta have lotsa old stuff so it feels like my childhood or I’ll never be quite happy I guess. Better than much of the new stuff anyway, and cheaper.

ANYWAAAAY…
Due to my fear of noxious gas and aversion to copious amounts of rust laden muck, rather than use steel or any such metal I chose to go with graphite. It doesn’t have to sit outside though you do need to take care discarding the waste water when you’re done. (Though I understand it’s unneeded, I set up near the slightly opened basement door just to feel safe).

To pass the current to the set-up I use car battery cables with a car battery charger.

The process will leave a thin black coating on the surface of your part but that’s easily removed with water and maybe a lil soap and elbow grease.

Dry, slap on some carnuba wax (or whatever suits you) and yer home free.

Fred Grover · Post by **Fred Grover** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:37 pm

Another interesting method. Graphite I might have to do a search as I enjoy learning. Thanks for sharing.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:42 pm

Fred Grover wrote:Another interesting method. Graphite I might have to do a search as I enjoy learning. Thanks for sharing.

I be curious how graphite enters into the chemical process? With steel anodes, the solution is safe(not comfortable, just not lethal!:D) to drink and good for the lawn(although it will contain much iron ions).

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 6:00 pm

FWIW: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm#intro

idcook · Post by **idcook** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 6:03 pm

JPG40504 wrote:I be curious how graphite enters into the chemical process? With steel anodes, the solution is safe(not comfortable, just not lethal!:D) to drink and good for the lawn(although it will contain much iron ions).

Not sure where I picked it up, but I’d somehow been made to understand that wasn’t good idea to pour much of any of these things into a lawn and, at least in some if not all cases, illegal to the point of government agency ninjas swooping down on you if word gets out that you’re doing that.

However, I was also made to understand that, across the board, graphite was safer than any of them in every way. It’s just that imprudent to soak residential grounds with barrel after barrel for any great length of time.

I just happen to have two handy dry wells at my immediate disposal… for immediate disposal.

reible · Post by **reible** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 6:29 pm

My brother use to have the the habit of bring home a bucket of metal chips (he was a machinist at the time) once a year to "feed" the pine trees. His "fed" trees did really well compared to the "non-fed". I guess there must have been something in his doing this. BTW the chips would rust away in about a year.

I have been using rebar and then after finishing the project I stick some old fence material that has been crushed into a mass into the tank and reverse the polls. Let it run overnight and remove the fence that looks disgusting, then let it dry. (The fence material can be reused.) I stick it in a bag and step on it. The "rust" ends up in the bag and the fence is go to go for a few more times. Keeps things cleaner that way. I think I have a post here on this but have not located it yet.

Ed

reible · Post by **reible** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 6:34 pm

OK I found the thread, it was about me working on my 10ER but a few posts in you will find what I was describing above.

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=8805

Ed

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 7:42 pm

Since my anodes are always 'disappearing', I wonder if I have been leaving stuff in too long? De anodes stay in de solution(fer months). Slightly caustic you say? Hmmmm.

idcook · Post by **idcook** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 3:27 pm

JPG40504 wrote:Since my anodes are always 'disappearing', I wonder if I have been leaving stuff in too long? De anodes stay in de solution(fer months). Slightly caustic you say? Hmmmm.

Well, as I understand it, the anodes, usually not having any rust, are eaten away at the same rate as the rust being removed from item being de-rusted.

To minimize this concern I try to submerge as little of the anode as possible and use slight things, such as loops made from hanger wire and lengths of chain for that purpose.

Though firmer contact is best I feel it’s more important that the path between the item and graphite plates is more important to the process. Making sure the plates face one another with the target item hanging between the two.

As the season warms I intend to line a large, square plastic tank on all sides and the bottom with a plastic grid over the bottom slab.

It’ll have a couple of 2 x 4s drilled with 1 inch holes to allow me to hang several items at once, and a spigot on one end to allow me to empty the tank into a dry well whenever I’m through with a job.

One of the good things about using graphite is that it doesn’t produce the dangerous explosive gas or rusty sludge you get using the metals. The water blackens but maintains its character.

It’s also very easy to clean the graphite slabs.

You might like using graphite. I’ve been happy with the results myself.