My ways – Degreaser and Electrolysis

m_neagle · Nov 16, 2015

I am in process of rebuilding and painting my 13. I bought this from a school. It was the dirtiest, nastiest machine I have ever seen. I don’t think it has been cleaned since birth. Good teaching huh? I have been cleaning on it for two days. I don’t think my current method of Purple Power and engine degreaser is ever going to work.

I think it needs to soak in Purple Power or something a couple of days. I am terrified that will damage my ways or they will rust up when I remove it before I can get some oil on them. I thought about leaving the ways above the bath.

I would like to clean it up with electrolysis. That scares me even more.
Do you guys have a solution?

Also, thanks to all of you. I have learned a lot from your posts.

Michael,
Serial number 15086 T

mdshunk · Nov 16, 2015

I've just used EasyOff (yellow can) oven cleaner for the heaviest degreasing. Takes paint off well too. Oil it up asap. Large pieces I have simply boiled in hot water in a large metal washtub on the BBQ grill. No chemical at all. Electrolytic cleaning is a sexy method, but seems to be best suited for rust removal. Indeed, parts are supposed to be degreased well before this process to ensure even ion exchange.

Armorer1984 · Nov 16, 2015

I used electrolysis on my 9 and was extremely pleased. It took two days on the bed because of the large surface area but when it came out it was stripped of 70 year of oil, chips, dirt, grit, and paint. I dried it off and painted it and couldn't be happier. The nice thing with electrolysis is that you can't damage ferrous metals as long as the current kept flowing. I accidentally left the gearbox guts in the solution for 6 days and was scared what I would find. They were flawless when I pulled them out.

Add some washing soda to a big tub, fill it with water, add the electrodes and walk away for a couple days. When you come back pull it out, rinse it off, dry and paint immediately. Lightly oil the surfaces not painted and you are good to go.

As a side note, you don't need to remove oil or grease before dumping it in. If you want it to work faster, sure. But if you aren't in a hurry and want the electricity to do the hard work, just dump it in and hook it up. I did and the water was a greasy oily mess when I dumped it. The parts came out surgically clean.

Trey_Tull · Nov 16, 2015

I have done all of my restoration using electrolysis and its turned out great. I am using a 30gal trash can and 3 old lawn mower blades. The bed on my lathe took longer b/c I had to flip it half way though to get the entire length. For the lower cabinet, I had to make a plywood/tarp vat to fit it in.

Electrolysis is the way to go.

grannyknot · Nov 16, 2015

Purple power/Super Clean won't harm the machined surfaces but it won't remove rust.
Soak all your parts in cleaner first to disolve the grease and paint, when it's clean and there is still rust then do your electrolysis.
The metal won't flash rust coming out of the cleaner or the electrolyte.

m_neagle · Nov 16, 2015

I have used electrolysis before with good results. I'm just being cautions with the ways.

I have heard about the explosive gases coming off, hydrogen I think. I have always done it outside to be cautious. I really think it is a bunch of hooey and I'm not crazy about putting the bed outside. What do you guys think? Have you ever done it inside?

If it were that easy to produce hydrogen, why don't we all fill our cars with water?

grannyknot · Nov 16, 2015

Electrolysis does produce hydrogen gas but not enough to be a problem unless it was captured and contained then ignited. I de-rust parts in my garage all the time. There are some objections to electrolysis because of hydrogen embritllement, not a concern for me but it might be worth looking into.

cncFireman · Nov 17, 2015

I have done electrolysis in the past but use Metal Rescue now which is simpler and easier and from I have seen better than electrolysis. The down side is the stuff is expensive.

panabax · Nov 17, 2015

I completely stripped a 4' 9A with electrolysis. I did all the parts inside with the exception of the bed, which I made a trough for with 2x4s and plastic tarp material. The electrolysis was great at removing surface rust but also grease, grime and most of the 50 year old paint. If I ever paint my Heavy 10, it will get the full electrolysis treatment as well. The best part is that it is cheap and requires very little effort. The electricity does all the work. No need to worry about ruining good metal. Once the rust is gone, the reaction stops. For my small parts, I used a 5 gallon bucket like you get at Home Depot, cut 6 pieces of rebar to fit inside and wired them all together to act as the anode. I then attach the positive lead to one of the pieces of rebar and the negative lead to my part and just dunk it in the bucket and walk away. You want an electric field to surround the part. If you just use a single anode, especially on larger parts, you will end up with uneven results. The reaction will be strongest in the vicinity of the anode. I ended up using 4 pieces of angle iron to surround the bed when I did it. It worked great.

Good luck,

Baxter

Armorer1984 · Nov 17, 2015

m_neagle said:
I have used electrolysis before with good results. I'm just being cautions with the ways.

I have heard about the explosive gases coming off, hydrogen I think. I have always done it outside to be cautious. I really think it is a bunch of hooey and I'm not crazy about putting the bed outside. What do you guys think? Have you ever done it inside?

If it were that easy to produce hydrogen, why don't we all fill our cars with water?

I never had a problem with the hydrogen and I did it in the garage. While it was going I was using my welder, cutting torch, and propane torches. The amount of hydrogen produced is negligible if you are in a decent sized space, such as garage or a workshop.

Now if you were in a closet, that might be a different issue. To be honest, the bed is the place electrolysis would be the best. All the nooks and crannies and scrubbing between the ways around the webs would be a pain in the backside.

m_neagle · Nov 17, 2015

Thanks for all the replies. I will post before and after pics.

m_neagle · Nov 21, 2015

Alright here are the results. I am very pleased with the outcome.

Tank construction

m_neagle · Nov 21, 2015

Cooking after 12 hours. There are big strips of paint floating on top.

m_neagle · Nov 21, 2015

Here is the anode setup I used. One big hunk in the middle then strips of 1/16”continuing to the ends. I also put a long piece of 6” 1/8” underneath.

m_neagle · Nov 21, 2015

I pulled it out after 22 or so hours. The paint was completely off on the anode side. The other side had the paint barely hanging on. The web between the bed was mostly clean at this point. After blasting it with a hose, I put it back in for another 22 hours, turning the web toward the anode.

m_neagle · Nov 21, 2015

Fully cleaned. It has some flash rusting on the casting, not a big deal to me. The web is very clean as well. I’m very pleased with the results. Thanks guys.

wrljet · Nov 22, 2015

Looks nice.

How much current did you run?

m_neagle · Nov 22, 2015

I started out at 24 volts pulling almost 38 amps. I ran it like that about an hour then back to 12 volts. Current of course cut in half around 18 amps. The current gradually fell off to around 7 amps as the part cleaned up. Just bring the conductivity of the bath up by adding soda to the solution until the current is where you want it.

sicero · Nov 23, 2015

I just use a metal container and don't let the object part touch the sides or bottom.

I have done complete lathes and horizontal mills in my 500 gallon tank and the tank has not

sprung a leak yet.

Just so you know. A Metal barrel will start to leak after about three days.

Pull it out of the tank and pressure wash.

It's ready to paint.. No grease, no paint, no hand work. What more could you ask for? Kenny

Richard King · Nov 23, 2015

I have been rebuilding machine tools for over 40 years more then that if I included when I was a teen working alongside my Dad, Over 50 years. To be honest I have never used this method and did it the old fashion way. Hot water and industrial soap, wire and bristle brushes, scotch brite, rags and elbow grease to get off the dirt and crud and a carbide tipped scraper to remove the top layers of paint.

It seems like a lot of work and time. You said it took 40 + hours to soak it plus how many hours and $$ to build the tank? Where do you drain the tank? The sewer? You still need to wipe it off and sand it right?

I can strip the paint off a lathe your size in 8 hours or less and sweep up the mess and put it in the trash or I suppose if I wanted to protect mother earth I could take it to the local hazardous disposal site. I will have the bed planned, ground or scraped, so any rust on the ways will come off with those old fashion methods.

I'm not knocking this method, but just saying there is another method that others can use if they don't have days if not weeks to do it this way. I have purchased and use Evapo-rust and it worked slick in removing rust on small parts inside a 5 gal pail. Be sure to wear a dust mask or respirator and safety glasses with both methods. Rich

My ways – Degreaser and Electrolysis

Plastic

Hot Rolled

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Plastic

Aluminum

Hot Rolled

Aluminum

Aluminum

Plastic

Plastic

Plastic

Plastic

Plastic

Plastic

Plastic

Plastic

Stainless

Diamond

Similar threads