My first electrolysis attempt ---- LOOK !

By and large I agree, the pot is a needless complication. However there are times it can be a handy way to get your anode all the way around the work piece. Rather than a pot I have occasionally used a tin can as the anode for a small part. Tin cans will spring a leak very quickly so the plastic catch basin is essential. It does make for a quick and dirty short run deruster.

 

Well I've been thinking (for many years!) about using an old 5 gallon bucket from a home-brewing kit as the container. I thought I'd get some old bed-iron (bed frame) from the scrapyard and cut that into lengths just shorter than the bucket is deep. The bed-iron would be drilled and bolted through holes near the top of the bucket. A cylinder of plastic mesh just inside the anodes would prevent the work-piece touching them

As far as wiring goes, I intended to wire the bed-iron anodes together in a ring. However, someone suggested that wasn't a good idea and they should be wired in series (i.e. with a gap at the end of the ring). I don't recall they gave the scientific reason for doing it that way and I can't think of one, so I'll happily take advice on that.

I hadn't thought of a power source but probably an old battery charger...

 

David,

You have described to a "T" my first deruster set up. I used 6 bars around the bucket. Use stainless steel bolts and try to keep them above the waterline. You will occassionally need to unbolt the anodes for cleaning or replacement. I used 1" X .25" flatbar cut to length. Six or seven years on it is still in use.

Don't worry about the plastic mesh, it's easy enough to keep the workpiece clear of the anodes.

 

My favorite current source is a power supply from an old PC. It has both 5V and 12V, with more than 1000mA on each.

Discarded PCs are everywhere, so these power supplies are easy to find.

Yonadav

 

Thanks for the reminder. In the jewelry trade (my former profession) and in the plating trade, this is known as electrostriping, and is used to clean metal parts before electroplating with other metals such as copper, nickel, silver, gold and chrome.

Electrostriping and electroplating are run exactly opposite in polarity. The goal in striping is to remove metal and surface contaminates, and plating puts metal back onto the surface.

Plating with precious metals involves toxic chemicals, as they have to hold the metal ions in suspension; various acids and cyanide solutions are common, and thus is to be handled by trained people only.

Striping, on the other hand, uses relatively mild chemicals as detailed earlier in this thread and is fairly safe, as long as voltage and current levels are regulated.

My electroplating machines have been sitting, gathering dust for several years, other than a few minutes of generating colloidal silver, but that is another story. Now I have a good excuse to dig one of them out, dust it off and put it back into service.

 

I don't wish to be a kill joy but please remember water and electricity don't mix.
Unknown wall wart power supplies from dubious sources and PC power supplies for electrolysis?!
Not in my house.
They are mostly direct rectifiers from the mains followed by switching converters feeding tiny transformers. Add to that leaky noise filter capacitors to bleed off all the hash generated by the switcher and you have a recipe for self electrocution.
The car battery charger (but then only one with a proper transformer having an earthed screen between primary and secondary) is the only safe way for this IMHO.

 

Yep, get a beat up old style transformer battery charger, with at least 2 Amps, although a 10 amp box will be stressed less.

Plastic box, keep the Anode and the Cathode seperated (piece of plastic ), and a solution of washing soda and water as an electrolyte.

Job done! (albeit rather slowly)

 

i use a battery charger and getting advice beats learn by doing---i took all the paint off a lamp doing that..just propane so no big loss i guess...

 

Forum;

Tall Paul touched upon it...regulating the current...when using the low power wall adapters for plating or stripping, they are essentially operating into a load that's highly variable (and the more paint/rust which gets stripped off, the more exposed surface area, the higher the current)...so they are running into a very low impedance (shorted) load, and that's not a mode they are intended for, or are likely to survive. Better would be to get a "current limited supply" (possibly expensive), or simply to limit the current to something under the power supply"s rated output, by using a length of coathanger wire (measure current with a multimeter and use crock clips along length of wire with separation limiting current). With less current, process will obviously take longer, but since power supply is less than fully stressed, it can be expected to survive for use another day...

Jon; Wall warts are pretty well tested for safety, so its pretty unlikely that any failure mode will connect secondary (output, which plater/stripper is using) to input (high voltage potentially lethal mains), and then in order to have a lethal contact, other special conditions have to exist on top of that to get zapped (person has to be in the path, and most dangerous path is across chest-cavity)...so electrocution is rare and pretty unlikely, and I don't wish to unnecessarily alarm...but I agree, we need to help operators not familiar with the particulars of electrical safety.

Point 1 in our favor: We are using very low (non-lethal) voltages.

Recommendation to prevent power supply failure (which could have secondary effects with safety): Limit power supply output current to something less than rated current of supply (this will prevent overheating and resulting failures). Basic Guideline: If it's too hot to touch, it is likely not to survive.

Safety Recommendation: Plug power supply into what's know in the US as a "Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter" electrical outlet (these are common in bathrooms in the US). These will kill power if they measure a "Fault-Current" flowing through a path other than the wires (like an operator)!

I realize this is an old thread, but I couldn't help trying to add some (hopefully) helpful info.

Cheers from Connecticut!

 

Hi Ronzo,

Not at all, informative threads deserve to be refreshed!

I have been using electrolysis (and molasses) for very many years to de-rust and free off equipment.

One thing to note, however, is the mention of chromium. Now then, no conclusive chemical tests have been undertaken to determine the chromium levels/toxicity, if any, of electrolysis water when using stainless anodes.

I havent used it due to an abundance of reinforcing bar and scrap wheelie bins. Its up to personal choice, I am no advocate either way, many have been using stainless baskets for years now with no ill-effects.

Alec.