Cleaning frame by electrolysis

[Foiled Again]

I was looking for a Dutch oven... ran into a nice site, with a link that showed how to clean a rusty one with electrolysis... which also showed a guy who had cleaned his TRAILER FRAME with the same technique.

For those who might be so inclined:

Rust removal by electrolysis

Oh, and the Dutch Oven page

Byron's - Dutch Oven Care

Enjoy.

Paula

[NorCal Bambi]

This is useful information. Thanks
Don

[dwightdi]

This will only work, if there is no paint on any of the surfaces. The paint will electrically prevent the chemical reaction from occurring. This technique would be good for small rusty parts to recondition them before you repaint them. It does not add metal back to the parts, so baddly erroded parts which have been weakened by the errosion, will still be weak.

[markdoane]

If you were to build a tank big enough to hold a trailer chassis, you could go the next step and electroplate with nickle and zinc.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by dwightdi

This will only work, if there is no paint on any of the surfaces. The paint will electrically prevent the chemical reaction from occurring. This technique would be good for small rusty parts to recondition them before you repaint them. It does not add metal back to the parts, so baddly erroded parts which have been weakened by the errosion, will still be weak.

Just FYI.

The issue with paint is true to a point but if you use a caustic like Red Devil Lye mixed in the tank the paint becomes a non issue. There are lots of suggestions on the web on this subject.

I plan on setting up a small electrolysis system once we get moved to Kentucky so I can refurbish parts for our Triumph sports cars.

Brad