Share with me your knowledge of electrolysis for rust removal

Close is not a problem.

And so it begins...water in, about 13 gallons to cover this beast.

Grill is in place and clamped:

Anode is clamped:

Plug in the charger, and we have little bubbles, but pretty much only on the clamp. And now we enter the troubleshooting phase. After about 20 seconds, the bubbles stop and the meter is pegged. So, I am thinking maybe I have too much anode or the grill is too close. I put the original taller wood pieces in and shift some of the anode pieces out of the water a bit, but it didn't make too much difference. I don't want to ruin my charger. Should I remove an anode altogether?

Lol, so the husband's solution was to crank it up to 11, but since this charger only goes to 10A, that's where I set it. I shifted the anodes back into fully submerged position and made sure the clamp had a good bite on the grill. At about 30 minutes in I now have a big tub of brown nasty water and copious bubbles everywhere! Meter is still pegged, but everything else looks right. Fingers crossed!

mikeatrpi wrote:

Am I seeing 5.84 amps at 19.5 volts?

Watching with interest....

Now we're really cooking! I wish the bubbles showed up in the photos.

Swirling rust pools:

Alas, there's a thunderstorm headed this way, so I disconnected the charger and put it up for the night. Lid on to keep the tub from overflowing from the pending rain. Peeking in the tub with a flashlight I can see a debris layer on the bottom and some HUGE rust flakes lying on the bottom. The anodes are covered around the edges with rust. I'm so excited!! Stay tuned, more to come tomorrow...

I already have the charger now I just need to buy something rusty. I like how you people always make me want to do stuff like this.

In reply to nicksta43:

Do it. It's awesome.

Derick Freese wrote: Am I seeing 5.84 amps at 19.5 volts?

Yep. I can beat that though...

In reply to mikeatrpi:

That's a pretty awesome charger.

I need a power supply that big. BTW, those heat shields came out nice, too.

Update time! This is after 7 hours (approximately):

I am really surprised how much rust came off the bottom, considering there was not an anode facing that side. You couldn't even tell there was a logo on there before!
 Right side up, sitting on a handy piece of scrap metal I scored to use as a catchpan and windbreak/chimney rock:

I may do one more soak in the vat before calling this piece "finished".
 Hey, I didn't know that was there:

After it came out of the vat, I just hit is lightly with one of these to knock the loose-but still-clinging-on rust off.

My next item to go in, the bottom grate:

Bubbles!

YAY SCIENCE!!!

Very awesome. Interesting about the logo.

I cleaned a gas tank out with electrolysis. It WILL break up grime if given enough time, and apparently current.

Does current seem to scale with voltage? I'me only had various 12 sources for my forays into electrolytic derusting.

Today I finished up the small pieces and have started the reseasoning process. Bottom grate before:

After about 3 hours in the tank:

Draft door and charcoal access panel before:

After about 2 hours:

Now I am drying out the small pieces and starting the seasoning process in the oven. It won't be long now before I am ready to throw a steak on it! Funny thing is, this is so much fun I am looking for more rusty stuff to buy!

The rusty stuff is the fun stuff.

I am impressed, and I am not easily impressed!

EastCoastMojo wrote: Funny thing is, this is so much fun I am looking for more rusty stuff to buy!

Hmm...that might be a good sideline income source. Pick up rusty stuff on CL and at yard sales, and resell after doing rust removal/restoration. Would probably have to be just smaller stuff, to make it worthwhile.

The scene cast into the charcoal access panel is quite gorgeous, and quite indiscernible before cleaning. That is a treasure of a grill.

Do you plan on clear coating it or painting it? That is really amazing, makes me want to do the same thing.

Okay, so let's a assume you had an entire unibody you could put into a pool. How big a power source would you need for that?

In reply to 1988RedT2:

Thanks! I am quite pleased with how it's turning out.

I don't plan on painting it, I am currently applying thin layers of crisco and heating it to apply a seasoning that will help keep it from rusting. I will be storing it out of the weather, but just the humidity here is enough to make it rust.

In reply to stroker: I don't thInk the power level makes as much difference as the placement and quantity of anode pieces.

I encourage you all to give it a go. It's easy and fun!

Theses only one rule about this, no chrome or stainless in the tub under any circumstances. Ever heard of hexavalent chromium? That's how its made.

On large flat surfaces you dont need the bath, just a couple layers of paper towel to provide separation and hold water, see my drill press thread. https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/mid-ww2-sears-craftsman-10124810-15-inch-drill-press/74321/page1/

Nice job ECM! That's a groovy hibachi worth saving. I've only got a couple more bits for the TR4 to toss in the tank. It makes me happy to see the bubbles start fizzing.

WOW! That turned out great!