body and interior Evapo-Rust...holy Crap Batman

[2002Targa]

Sooooo,

couple of weeks ago a buddy of mine was telling me about this "miracle" rust remover stuff he got at harbor-freight.  Yeah yeah yeah blah blah blah.  Fast forward, I'm in harbor freight on Sat and see it on the shelf.  Think meh, $10 what if it really works?

 

Look and see for yourself.

Old clamp that I lost in my back yard a year or so ago.

 

 

Bottle says leave in solution for 1-12 hours, I forgot and left it in 18-20.

Right out of the juice

 

After a little love with a wire brush

 

I also threw in an old rocker to see if it eats aluminum, no apparent effects there

 

Well, after this I do have to say that I'm a fan and will be keeping a jug of it in my garage from now on.  After a bit of looking around on the net, I've also seen it at Auto zone and Northern tools in a 5Gal bucket for $80.

 

Good luck,

TK

 

 

[Chamonix72]

My car's tool kit was under the spare and had gotten very rusty. An overnight soak in the enviro-rust took almost all the corrosion off and the tools are now useable.

[kutzoh]

Started using Evaporust a number of years ago when I restored my Mustang, always have a gallon of it in the garage. I'm restoring a vintage "Therm-a-chest" cooler for my '02 that's soaking in Evaporust as we speak.

 

Greg

[zinz]

Awesome stuff... no garage should be without it.

['76mintgrün'02]

RUST!!!  One of my favorite topics!  Thank you for bringing it up.

 

There are several fixes in a bottle out there worth considering.  

 

I am curious, what type of acid is in the jug you bought? 

 

I purchased a spray bottle of (what appears to be) a similar product from a paint store.  It is called "Rust-Off" and was $15 for a quart.  It does a very nice job on things with light rust, especially when a delicate touch is desired; as it will not hurt what paint is left intact.  It is really fun to wipe the rust out of old painted tins and tool boxes and such.  The rusty areas are basically clean gray steel.  I read the label and it is  5% Oxalic Acid with detergents.  They claim it is biodegradable.  I have not tried it yet, but want to mix up a solution using acid crystals/detergent, as they are cheap and readily available.  

 

Ospho is a product I have used to prep for paint, but is a "rust converter" as opposed to a "rust dissolver."  The acid used is Phosphoric.  Any blisters or scabs of rust that are not picked off, trap air and will rust again under the paint.  I feel like it does protect the surface, to some extent, after treatment; as opposed to the washes, which leave bare "new" metal.  I have poured it into seams, hoping it will wick in and convert what rust is in there.  TobyB referred to an Eastwood product specifically designed to do this, which would probably work better....

 

Wire wheels can work in some situations, but one of my pet-peeves is when a wire wheel is used in an attempt to remove rust and what is under the loose stuff gets smeared into a shiny bumpy surface.  I do like wire wheels, but a variety of them are required.  Starting with a light touch on a coarser wheel followed by a heavier touch on a fine wheel works best for me.  The coarse one knocks off the chunky bits and the fine one gets into all the pits and leaves a nice luster.

 

Media blasting is awesome in some situations, but can be harmful if the right media is not used.  

 

I am most excited about using electrolysis.  I recently set up an eight gallon trash bucket to be able to dip larger items... like a newly acquired--used Tii exhaust manifold.  It does a WONDERFUL job on clogged rusty files!  It floats much of the crud right out of the teeth.  A light washing with a brush and they look like new.  There are many how-to videos online.  It is sort of the opposite of plating.  The rusty bits are hung in a solution of baking soda and water and a battery charger is used to do the work.  The rusty piece is connected to the negative and there is another piece of "iron" hung connected to the positive lead.  (I used a pitted old Griswold griddle).  They must not touch.  I have read that Arm and Hammer detergent is recommended, but plain old sodium bicarbonate has been working very well for me.  I like being able to handle the items without the "messy" detergents.  It will not harm the "good" metal under the rust. 

 

This four jaw chuck was in the tank for about an hour and most of the rust was gone.  I then took it apart and re-dipped the pieces for a few more hours.  Truly satisfying!

 

 

A "before" shot of files going in, then one of them being cleaned.  I am running out of rusty stuff to dip...

 

 

 

[jimk]

Why is the top photo with the tack inverted?

['76mintgrün'02]

It must be an option when using one of these?

Batman Digital Camera (1.3 Megapixel)

 

Snap pictures on the go with this stealthy little digital camera! Definitely something you might see The Dark Knight actually have on his utility belt, to capture evidence of wrongdoing by those who wish to overthrow justice!

[2002Targa]

Why is the top photo with the tack inverted?

 

Ha, that's actually how it's supposed to be, i was standing in front of my bench, but i think I was holding my phone wrong so I had to flip it...

[2002Targa]

Mintgrun,

you're right.  Electric is the way to go.  I have an LSD that I'm getting ready to do that to, I just need to build a cage out of expanded steel to fit in a plastic tote bucket.  Here's some of electro stuff I did, it's really amazing how well it works.

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/75894-electrolytic-frozen-brake-caliper-rust-removal-project/

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/106124190560547047009/albums/5042909590890311889?banner=pwa

[thinksound_mike]

i'm going to pour a jug or 4 in my trunk after work. i'll let you guys know if i have a trunk left in the morning.

[roadhog0]

I need to do this to a motorcycle tank....

[glemon]

I am glad others have had good luck with it, I got a container of it a year or so ago, it never seemed to take much rust off any of the nuts, bolts and assorted bits I put in it, took a little bit off, but was not clean at all over after overnight or after 24 hours, was not too impressed with the stuff.

[DaHose]

What is the sodium bicarbonate to water ratio you used, mintgrun?

 

Jose

[halboyles]

On 5/5/2014 at 12:04 PM, '76mintgrun'02 said:

 

I am most excited about using electrolysis.

 

Yes, yes,yes.  Better living through chemistry (Colorado's state motto).  Not only does this work but it is great fun to watch and produces almost no noxious by-products.  One word of caution though, using stainless steel as an electrode will produce chromium salts in your solvent. Definitely bad for you and your neighbors.  Use carbon rods instead.

['76mintgrün'02]

I do not recall the exact ratio of baking soda that I used.  It is added as an electrolyte, to make the water more conductive.  You can google up the process and watch videos galore on youtoob.  I'd say a quarter cup is plenty for a large bucket of water.

 

I read once that you can make baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) into soda ash (sodium carbonate) by baking it in an oven for an hour at two hundred degrees.  I did that, but really could not tell a difference.

 

No stainless steel.  Got it.  

 

Although the solution starts out as baking soda and water --- whatever comes off of the parts to be cleaned winds up in the bucket as well.  Rust, paint, loose plating, dirt, whatever.

 

I use an old cast iron griddle as the anode and typically hang the parts with copper wire.

Eventually, the process slows down, as the anode gets 'plugged up' and does not conduct so well.

I found that reversing the polarity and making the anode (+) into the cathode (-) will cause it to dump a lot of the metal it has attracted back into the solution (where it eventually settles to the bottom).

 

The first time I switched the polarity, I discovered something weird.  The rusty iron was attracted to the steel parts, but the copper in the solution was deposited on the copper wire.

So, I hung a piece of sheet copper in the bucket and let it run for a bit.

When the copper came out, I scraped the deposited 'metal' off and let it dry out.  I am saving that powder in a little pill bottle, to try sprinkling it onto pottery, during the glazing process.  That's the plan anyway.