DIY Rust Removers

markz

markz

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Bought a 5L=1G Vinegar jug and a large box of Baking Soda and I already have a box of Borax. Is Borax better?
Internet search stated "Distilled White Vinegar" but I just got regular white and it says 5% acid on the label, is that strong enough? Or should I boil off the water and get it to a stronger acidic state?
I also got a large roll of Tin Foil. But I really dont want to scrub much, just let the acid do its work.


If I put my metal 16" MC rim in a tote box and just fill it with the vinegar and leave it for a few days then do I put the baking soda in right away, or wait a day?
 
Cola probably will work better. Get the cheapest, nastiest kind you can, but make sure it contains phosphoric acid. Degrease the part and wash with dish detergent, immerse it in cola and soak until the rust is gone.
 
markz said:
But I really dont want to scrub much, just let the acid do its work.
Click to expand...

You mean "don't". ;)

Lazy bum just squirt a bit of WD and spend a couple minutes scrubbing with a bit with steel wool. Squirt more WD and clean with a rag. Save you a lot of time running to stores and waiting.
Or is more than a bit of surface rust thru(spelled wrong intentionally) old chrome?
 
In dairy regions concentrated phosphoric acid is available inexpensively as milk scale remover. Phosphoric acid not only dissolves rust, but converts the surface to iron phosphate, which is more corrosion resistant than raw steel and still provides a good key for paint.
 
Its an old chrome rim, the inside of the rim where the tire bead sits is rusted bad, all other parts are pitted with rust.
I think you are right Chalo, Cola can be bought for as little as $1 for a 2L/0.5G bottle. Would phosphoric acid be in the ingredients list.

I bought some steel wool today. I taped up the rim in a thick garbage bag making sure it got into the walls circumference of the rim, the vinegar was filled up to about 1/2 to 3/4, dumped waaaaay too much baking soda in it. Will leave it for a day or two.

Its weird how tin foil would work too, saw a youtube video of someone doing their steel chrome rims with water and tin foil. Too much elbow grease for my liking.



The 1.25G/5L of vinegar was $4 from a smaller Costco type store, Loblaws WholeSale Club (The Real Canadian Wholesale Club), Baking Soda was $2. Steel wool I bought fine for $5 from HomeDepot, dual purpose cuz I needed it for staining my desk. Duct Tape you can buy at CrappyMart for $1.25.
 
Baking soda neutralizes the acid in the vinegar. Why would you want to make the acid weaker or neutralized?
 
Thats what google said, use Vinegar and Baking Soda. I thought maybe it just fuzzes up but is still acidic. Yeah the lists state use straight vinegar. The baking soda method is using tin foil, which other people just use water. Googling it now it does neutralize it, hmmmm that pisses me off now. What a waste. Now I go straight cola like Chalo said. I hope Club Soda has acid in it, otherwise Im doing cans.

%#$@

Damn google mis-info. I am pissed off now. Damn.
 
I might give this a go, with my MeanWell 20V-90V 15A PSU's. Only if my 10 Coca Cola cans dont do the job overnight. I bought a 30 pack of cans for $9 from Sobey's laying in the garage storage. 2L Jugs of no-name cola woulda been cheaper.
 
That works good since you have borax soap already. Just pay attention to polarity, if you make the rim the anode you can say goodbye to it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
markz said:
I might give this a go, with my MeanWell 20V-90V 15A PSU's. Only if my 10 Coca Cola cans dont do the job overnight. I bought a 30 pack of cans for $9 from Sobey's laying in the garage storage. 2L Jugs of no-name cola woulda been cheaper.
Click to expand...
I hear the "Diet" variety is even more agressive !
 
I put in 100% Coca Cola overnight, and it did not do a thing. Was I suppose to leave it submerged for days?
Coca Cola and 5% White vinegar has the same PH level.

Well I wonder then if 20V and 14A is too much for that process. Found some scrap rebar nearby.
 
The magic ingredient is oxalic acid . Sometimes sold as wood bleach http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_11/186-4538134-0625364?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=wood+bleach+oxalic+acid&sprefix=wood+bleach%2Caps%2C126
 
markz said:
I put in 100% Coca Cola overnight, and it did not do a thing. Was I suppose to leave it submerged for days?
Click to expand...

As long as necessary. Raising the temperature speeds the reaction, as does agitation. It's a low strength phosphoric acid solution, so it takes time. On the bright side, it won't surprise you by destroying your rim overnight.

Did you get it really clean first? The acid won't cut through a grease or wax film.

It's a Mormon parlor trick to dissolve a nail in a bottle of Coca-Cola, as a demonstration of how unwholesome cola is. That can take as long as weeks to complete. (Funny thing about it is, the only ingredient they actually object to is caffeine, which is the only thing in Coca-Cola that's verifiably good for you.)
 
**** I never ended up doing this because doing this with chrome will give off very dangerous gasses. ****

I bought some steel awhile ago, its flat, 2" x 4', if I cut it up can I use that instead of rebar for the electrosis action, I will still snag the rebar piece I found on a construction site but its only 3' long.

I got that 20 Mule Borax stuff, so a table spoon per gallon I think that website stated. Then place the metal around the rim but not touching, connect it up, connect the rim and let sit.

Here is my rim tub, rim will be placed laying down, and a tub will be placed in the middle of the rim to reduce the total amount of fluid needed.

rim tub.jpg
Will get on this today, I figure 20V and 14A unless I can reduce the amperes on my MeanWells.
 
5L of Vinegar and 24 hrs yielded alright results. Still have to scrub but its workable.
My garbage bag seems to have a hole in it somewhere, but I didnt loose too much.
I would suggest using 2 heavy duty bags. I will use copper scrubbing pads.

I now added in 3/4 of a cup of salt because thats all I had on hand, now I am out of salt.
1/2 cup of sea salt in large container and 1/4 cup of regular table salt right out of the shaker.
Not sure if the kind of salt matters. But the salt I think is suppose to make the 5% vinegar more acidic, or atleast it works better at getting at the rust. Just hope it doesnt lessen the acidic value.

View attachment 1
vinegar rim.jpg
 
speedmd said:
Punx0r said:
In dairy regions concentrated phosphoric acid is available inexpensively as milk scale remover. Phosphoric acid not only dissolves rust, but converts the surface to iron phosphate, which is more corrosion resistant than raw steel and still provides a good key for paint.
Click to expand...

+1
Click to expand...

No, that's not right. The pipe cleaner for dairy is a mix of phosphoric and nitric in quite even proportions. The nitric is not desirable. 80% phosphoric (20% water) is available as PH adjusting solution from a hydroponics store. Phosphoric is the active ingredient in most rust convertors but be sure to get it off. Some bicarb could be ideal as a final wash.
 
Looks like the deep pits on the steel chrome rim need to be taken care of.
So I picked two of these up on sale today for $15 288 pc set, regularly $80 from Canadian Tire.
Maximum 288 pc Rotary bit set $15 on sale.jpg

I was going to buy from Princess Auto
Princess Auto items.jpg
The only thing I couldnt decide on was the diamond coated cut off wheel
1.jpg
or
2.jpg
Not to sure what the difference is between the two in terms of the holes in the disc.
The 288 pc set does not include any diamond cut off wheels.
 
Just 40% phosphoric. That's odd. I have seen it in a few bottles but always a mix. I have not seen it at a dairy specifically, but a cheese factory and other food and product bottling plants. I checked before posting though, which is why I say it's odd.

Straight 80% is easy to get, so I just use that. It helps having a friend who owns an outlet, but it will be cheaper than rust convertor on ebay.

I gave it another 5 minutes. A company here do a range from P to N and everything inbetween http://www.klenzan.co.uk/page/104/Acid-Detergents.htm
It seems N is stronger for want of a better word. Not good for rubber and plastics. Which are more popular over there. You even put spirits in plastic bottles. While we draw the line at ptfe or maybe very short exposure to other hard plastics for low content stuff like wine. Boxed wine. Guaranteed to make you a girl.
 
The Phosphoric acid will kill / convert the rust in the pits. No need to deal with them mechanically. "Primer filler" then sand a bit with 220 if your in need of a nicer finish. You will want to seal prime it and paint it nice and thick. Done. Rust will to come through for years and years unless you paint too thin.
 
I tried some of this stuff yesterday and it works. I sprayed a cadmium-zinc plated motorcycle steering headset lock ring that had a very light patch of rust, and then forgot about it overnight. It had dried out, but the rust was gone and there was a zinc phosphate coating remaining. I could see very fine bubbles coming off the surface of the metal and into the PHIX liquid. Very interesting stuff.
http://ppcbest.com/phix-corrosion-treatment/
[youtube]m_G1k0vGBmo[/youtube]
 
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