Rust and corrosion solutions?

G'day all.

Have been back in the rebuilt house for about a month and have nearly 'explored' all the boxes, crates, bags etc. of workshop items recovered from the 'surge' destruction.They were stored by our so-called builder and have succumbed to the ravages of rust and corrosion, as a result. The skip will be needed for a certain amount but I would like to recover some of the better equipment, tools and castings. Can anyone recommend any simple, effective measures for restoration, please? Corrosion is mainly on aluminium castings.The rusty items vary from '3-in-1' recoverable to 'what on earth was that originally'? Unfortunately, at 80 plus, extended elbow grease sessions are a no-no!!

For anyone who has a use for a ShopMate radial-arm saw/sander/router (10" blade required), there is one here , for free, collection only - NR12 postcode.

TIA

rgds

Bill

Bill,

I have had a great deal of success using Tesco`s Coca cola or Sarsons Vinegar in a tank. Just make sure the items are completely covered by the liquid and leave them to soak for a few days. Give them an occassional stir round. It`s not quick but it has been very effective . Steel usually ends up grey coloured & I then give it a dry wipe 7 then wipe with an oily rag.

Must admit I haven`t tried this with ally but don`t think a soak in either fluid would cause any harm.

Regards Alan

PS I`ve topped up my tank with either of the ingredients & it doesn`t  seem to make any difference to the mix.

Edited By Flying Fifer on 23/07/2016 20:14:12

Cola is just an expensive way of getting phosphoric acid which is available on ebay. Normally I just paint it on rather than dunk it This is for steel not Aluminium. I suspect the corrosion on ali is due to salt contaminationso the first thing might be a good wash followed by thorough drying.

Might be worth you looking through this thread on another forum.

**LINK**

Molasses can be good but has a tendency to send everything a pretty disgusting black. Sometimes it finishes up shiny sometimes it doesn't. The above seems to be the most reliable and the best.

Cider - cola etc - maybe. It depends on the degree of rust.

John

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Thank you FF, Bazyle and John, some useful tips there and the electrolysis suggestion sounds interesting. It will take quite a while to give them a whirl but will report back once there is a result to show.

rgds

Bill

As Flying Fifer says vinegar removes rust, I have used the cheapest I could find to clean mild steel/nuts and bolts , 12p a litre, worked a treat but took a few days. Amazing to see how quickly the surface starts to rust again though.

Bill

Another so-called builder used an acetic acid (the active ingredient of vinegar) releasing version of silicon sealant around the new anodised aluminium window frames of my parents home. After 30 years they are still quietly crumbling away, so I would be careful of using vinegar unless you can find a method of neutralising its effects after the surface corrosion is removed.

Pero

P.S. any suggestions on a suitable neutralising agent would be appreciated!

I have been trying out a an ultrasonic cleaning tank from Allendale/Machine DRO.

If you get one large enough to take your castings, the results of a combination of ultrasonic with an aluminium compatible corrosion remover are astonishing, as will be seen in MEW 246.

If a large enough tank is beyond your pocket, you may be able to find a local company that has a large one and is willing to put your castings in it for ten minutes.

Neil

Bill - I agree with the other Bill and vinegar for rusty steel. I buy Morrisons economy at about 23p a bottle - 4 at a time ro fill my small tank - cheap as chips. I have tried electrolysis and found it to fiddly. The various and sometimes expensive rust cures seem no better than cheapo vinegar. Cannot help with ally corrosion, never needed to do it. - Rik

Neutralizer for vinegar ( or any mild acid ) try bicarb of soda For a stronger acid try washing soda nb. NOT recommended for aluminium

Roy

I don't really know if it would work for this, but a long time ago when i was painting models i used to strip paint off metal ones using oven cleaner, a bit later when i had a job, it came in handy again when an old transit van was rusty in the back, there wasn't much to hand so i went in the kitchen found some oven cleaner and it did the trick again.

I suppose when you think about it, it must be pretty tough stuff to tackle built up deposits of carbon.

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 24/07/2016 10:27:02

Oven cleaner has caustic soda in it, it wills trip paint but will damage aluminium quickly if left on too long.

I don't want to 'spoil' the ultrasonic results, but this is a crop of a before and after shot of the Kittiwake castings.

Neil

Michael W Oven cleaner is usually caustic soda Can be very nasty

For steel you can either use citric acid, you can get it at a home brew shop, or an agricultural supply outlet. Or use the electrolytic method using a solution of WASHING soda in water. A battery charger or similar power supply is required + to the electrode, - to work.

Sorry to hear how this happened in "storage", I think that is one thing that was got right in Christchurch (NZ) after the earth quakes, hundreds(maybe thousands) of shipping containers were/are being used to store house hold contents, all safe and dry.

Ian S C

Many thanks again for all this advice. Trying them out should keep me out of mischief for a while!

Neil - Sod's Law naturally operated with the 'surge' destruction and my large-ish, stainless ex-hospital ultra sonic tank went into one of the many skips of the clean-up I have another, domestic size, so may try that with the smaller alli bits.

rgds

Bill

Whoops, well maybe that was a bad idea. I knew it was powerful/ corrosive, but didn't think it would weather aluminium or any substantial chunk of metal for that matter.

Brick cleaner as promoted a number of times on this site is very effective on steel but death to aluminium, I left an aluminium label on one item and a few hours later it was gone. Citric acid seems good for aluminium it was used to clean the wreck of the German plane they pulled out of the briney, a friend of mine used it to clean some unobtainable Honda radiators successfully(they were clogged and causing overheating) after a week long soak they kept the engine cool again.

Mike

Process tanks for mild steel that used to be in the place I worked had phosphoric acid sold as deoxidine by ICI followed by a plain water rinse then a hot dunk in a solution of sodium nitrite. The heat of the tank heated the steel so that the water flashed off when the items were removed from the tank. If the treated parts were not going to be painted they were given an oil spray for longer term protection.

Martin

Brick cleaner is usually hydrochloric acid and although good at removing rust it can cause worse rust problems in the future. The chloride ions which are very small can often get quite far inside metal and promote rusting.

That said i did clean a 75 year old bandsaw table with hydrochloric recently and it came up like new,but idid let it soak in caustic soda for a while afterwards to try and neutralise the acid as much as possibly ,then clean water and dried with a heatgun. Followed by a coating of wax..

Ive did it on a milling table in the past and it also came up great with all the staining removed .

Edited By mark smith 20 on 24/07/2016 19:03:15

Edited By mark smith 20 on 24/07/2016 19:05:00

I suggest you google "Caustic Soda vs Aluminium Heatsink"

Neil