Part 2.
No doubt, some of you sharp-eyed guys will notice that I used a barrel that had acid in it and I mixed up a base solution. NEVER EVER MIX ACID AND SODA! IT BLOWS UP!!! I pressure washed the barrel out real good before I started.
Now, take whatever you want to de-rust and wrap some copper wire around it so you can hang it (from something non-conductive. I used a wooden shovel handle) in the solution. I chose this old clamp for the trial run, so as to not ruin one of my valuable truck parts in case this don't work:
It was too long to really hang, so I just propped it against the shovel handle:
Now for what makes it work. It's basically a reverse electro-plating device. With the proper amount of current, the rust will come off the part and plate itself to the anodes. Eventually, these will need to be replaced because they will be too rusty. I don't know how I didn't take a picture of this, but hook the positive side of a battery charger to the anode and the negative side to the part. Polarity is important! Don't reverse this! Pos to anode, neg to part, and don't let them touch each other.
Turn on the charger. Mine is 10 amps or 2 amps on trickle. I went with 10, because of how big the whole system is. The reaction starts instantly-the part begins to create bubbles. I was really surprised at how fast it started working:
I checked it after an hour and it was doing fine, so I left it alone and after about 4 hours, this is what I ended up with:
I'm amazed at how well it works! All I did to this clamp after I took it out was run water over it and hit it with a wire brush a little. I sprayed some Gibbs Brand oil on it to keep it from flash-rusting. So far, all I'm into this is the box of Washing Soda, since I pretty much had everything else.
