Heavy Metal. Rust Removal and plating

[Signal]

The Citric Acid is a garden supply item so try old style garden places or farm supply stores. I don't know if it comes in different strengths.
The parts were in the bath for about 30mins at 45 degrees C . The bath heats up from the ultrasonic energy as well as the heater element.
A wire brush is good for the stubborn rust spots or more time in the acid.

 

[bosco659]

The Citric Acid is a garden supply item so try old style garden places or farm supply stores. I don't know if it comes in different strengths.
The parts were in the bath for about 30mins at 45 degrees C . The bath heats up from the ultrasonic energy as well as the heater element.
A wire brush is good for the stubborn rust spots or more time in the acid.

Thx. I’ll order from Amazon for convenience.

 

[bosco659]

More options and info

 

[bosco659]

I have a lot of plating to do. In the past I have bead blasted the parts and this is tedious. Today I thought I would try using citric acid.
I mixed a solution of 40mg of citric acid to 1 L of water. I put this in a glass jar and put in some pretty rusty small parts. I then put the jar in a ultrasonic bath with water in the bath to transfer the energy, he bath also warms the solution.
I was stunned at the results only the very worst parts will be bead blasted from now on.
Taking a punt I also bought some Caswell brightner ( their new formula) to try, as polishing the parts post plating is time consuming. I have a home brew solution in my bath and the new solution did not work like the old stuff did.
I think it is helping the parts only need a light rub with 0000 steel wool to come up shiny.
I have a couple of sets of spokes and nipples plus a whole bike load of fastners to do so you can see why I want to streamline things.

I don’t have a scale to measure 40mg. Approx how many tablespoons would that be?

 

[jetmechmarty]

It wasn't very scientific, I admit, but I did experiment with several different methods of rust removal. That would include electrolysis, Metal Rescue, and a couple of different acids. I will admit that I didn't find one method universally best. My own conclusion is that I prefer to use phosphoric acid more often than not. It's cheap and easy to find at the hardware or big box home improvement stores. I did a thread on it a while back.

 

[DogBunny]

I too have tried just about every method there is for rust removal. I do 99% of my rust removal with a bench mounted wire wheel, like the pic, but with a long arbor for better accessibility.

 

[jetmechmarty]

View attachment 256534
I too have tried just about every method there is for rust removal. I do 99% of my rust removal with a bench mounted wire wheel, like the pic, but with a long arbor for better accessibility.

Yeah, that. I agree.

 

[bosco659]

Yeah, that. I agree.

I agree. Removal of the bulk of the rust on the wire wheel dramatically reduces the time to remove the rest by other means. I’d like to get a wire wheel for my polishing motor but it’s a 7/8” shaft.

 

[Grimly]

I don’t have a scale to measure 40mg. Approx how many tablespoons would that be?

A heaped teaspoon is normally about 5grams*, so about 8 of those.
Trouble is, teaspoons, tablespoons, etc have differing capacities all over the civilised world.

*grams, not milligrams - mg is milligrams, and you aren't going to get much rust removal action with 40mg of stuff.

 

[bosco659]

A heaped teaspoon is normally about 5grams*, so about 8 of those.
Trouble is, teaspoons, tablespoons, etc have differing capacities all over the civilised world.

*grams, not milligrams - mg is milligrams, and you aren't going to get much rust removal action with 40mg of stuff.

Ok thanks. I thought 40 mg didn’t sound like much. I think I can measure 40 gms on our kitchen scale.

 

[Signal]

Sorry for the confusion my mistake you are correct it is grams. I deal with mg and ml every day at work and didn't even notice the error. I will edit the origional post.

 

[bosco659]

Tried it, liked it and by mistake left a partially rusty part in the bath overnight (cold, not plugged in) and to my surprise came out squeaky clean!

 

[gggGary]

 

[bosco659]

Great vid. Thanks for sharing. I’m going to look for some EDTA.

 

[tmikeyb]

Just watched the first video you posted in it’s entirety Jim, seems to me that to remove all rust from the inside of a tank I want to be using either Evaporust or Electrolysis?

Would it be a good idea to drop some small nuts/ball bearings into the tank and give them a good shake around prior to any treatment?

For years, I have used a handful of drywall screws along with my cleaner, or with my stripper if trying to remove sealer too. I've tried lots of things but the drywall screws are pretty effective

 

[Signal]

Finally got round to trying out Nickel plating. I needed to tidy up some battery box mounts.


The parts shown were cleaned up with citric acid and ultrasonic . The heavily rusted part also got bead blasted then both parts got a light buffing. After degreasing they had no pre plating dunk in acid.
I also used a drop of dish wash as a surfactant in the electrolyte.



Considering the lack of care taken with the prep the result is really good. My thoughts are that the Nickel throws better than zinc and it is very easy to get a bright finish.
The part without the rust stains had roughly twice the time in the tank so the staining may be down to lack of plating time or careless after rinse.
I am not sure nickel looks right on XS's but on parts that don't show I will probably be using it in preference to zinc as it appears much easier to get a nice finish.