How To: Rust removal

[Mike K]

Was watching 'Wheeler Dealers' on 96 recently , Ed hired a soda blaster to blast a AMPHICAR body/hull they were restoring, he said its very slow but effective , they had the tub outside and the white soda was all over the place. Ed found a thick layer of bog on the rear quarter panel and many rust holes in other places. One episode they do a MB Jeep but its pretty corny , with the usual wrong facts quoted. The Jeep is supposed to be a 45 model but its fitted with a WILLYS script tub !

[charlie fitton]

"....dust but does generate Hydrogen and oxygen off gas that's needs to be vented it's not a good idea to do this under..."

Did this on the kitchen counter, on a very small scale.

Touched the foam with a match.....because.......and spent quite a while cleaning the evidence off the ceiling, cupboards, floor....

[Pete Ashby]

Originally Posted by charlie fitton

"....dust but does generate Hydrogen and oxygen off gas that's needs to be vented it's not a good idea to do this under..."

Did this on the kitchen counter, on a very small scale.

Touched the foam with a match.....because.......and spent quite a while cleaning the evidence off the ceiling, cupboards, floor....

There you are then H to O produced in a 2 :1 ration by volume, having once had a 200 amp tractor battery explode as soon as I turned the key after boost charging it a bit too long I'm very cautious of things that produce Hydrogen I never did find the top plate of the battery but the hole in the barn roof did suggest it's exit point.

Pete (older and wiser)

[Niels V]

just a small comment, Pete, heating the molasses to 100C would not be a good idea, that would decompose the different organic compounds in it.
I would not go above 60C.

and for electrolysis, do not use it for anything considered high strength steel.

[Pete Ashby]

Good points well made Niels

regarding the heating of molasses all that cross linking of sugars could end up with toffee .

Again your point on electrolysis of high tensile steels is very worth while bringing to peoples attention I should have mentioned that, the reason is it will lead to Hydrogen ion embritlilment so don't go using this on road springs or load bearing components.

Pete

[Jacques Reed]

Good Day,

I bought some Metal Rescue a while back and was wondering if others has the same results with it. It is the same type of rust remover as Evapo Rust and works via selective chelation as opposed to acidic methods.

I tried it and was disappointed with it. Despite removing all old paint and wire brushing a part it was very slow to remove a small amount of remaining rust and in fact after sitting overnight it still had rust on it. Had I used phosphoric acid the same part would have been completely rust free in that time and, in fact, I finished the job with acid.

I put it back on the shelf and just chalked it up to experience.

A few days ago I thought I would give it another chance. I had an old Ford flathead V8 fuel pump stand lying around so I thought I would see how it worked on the steel tube pressed into the white metal base. Metal Rescue claims it is harmless to non-ferrous metal so here would be a good test.
Again cleaned, and wire brushed before hand, leaving a minimum amount of rust. And again an overnight soaking. And again just a small amount of rust left in the small pits 18 hours later.

So one good thing- it didn't attack the white metal and in fact cleaned it up nicely. Probably removed the rust stain on it. For something like that with ferrous and non ferrous parts joined together it might be of some value. Things like the spark plug wire conduits with aluminium grommets or the distributor body with the white metal cap locator pin.

Perhaps I just got a bad batch but based on what I saw it do I won't be buying it again.

Look forward to hearing of others experience with this type of rust remover.

Cheers,