i found a site that has a tutorial for a pretty simple way of making your own electrolysis tank so to speak. i never tried it, but it looks like it may work pretty well for removing rust an possibly oxidation from aluminum.

if you have used this method, please post the results.

if you are interested in the tutorial, post a reply and i'll get the link.

I've not done it, but I belong to a motorcycle message board where several guys have raved about the results after using this method to de-rust the inside of gas tanks. These guys are all about effective but bucks-down methods for rebuilding and restoration, so it must do pretty good.

X warp post it for us I would like to read it and find out how to do it. THanks, SR

here you go,

as far as parts larger than a coin, you could use a larger power supply such as a controller for a train set. nothing real large current wise.

i know i read somewhere about using car battery charger set at about 2 amps and baking soda.

i've got a 15 inch pipe wrench that needs this done to it. i'm gonna use that stainless laundry sink that i bought a few weeks ago. i'll post results of it afterwards.


http://www.gometaldetecting.com/electrolysis_cleaning.htm

here is a better site for the electrolysis process. i tried this on a rusty pipe wrench and it cleaned up very nicely.

take a look at this and note that baking soda would be a better choice on cleaning the aluminum parts.

http://users.eastlink.ca/~pspencer/nsaeta/electrolysis.html

if this works for motorcycle gas tanks, i will bend over and kiss my own butt! lol , are you serious billn?

kuwakid,

yes, this process works extremely well.

i used a 5 gallon plastic bucket, about 10 oz of regular table salt mixed in plain water and a dc power supply from an old scanner.

i let the pipe wrench sit for about 20 minutes and the rust literally fell off.

works very well.

Yeah, it works on gas tanks. I belong to a Yamaha XS 650 list, and several guys have said that they have used this method to de-rust the inside of tanks. Thay also say that the anode(?) must be changed several times as the rust migrates to it and away from the inside of the tank. I'll try and get a link to the info that these guys have used.

Here are two links to electrolysis setups from my motorcycle buds. They are quite similar, but have small differences. Best to review both. They specifically reference how to do inside gas tanks, but also talk about doing small parts in a bucket.

Here's one

Here's the other one

[ June 09, 2005, 10:03 AM: Message edited by: billn ]