electrolysis

ken werner

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3,377
Location
Central NY State
Not removing unwanted hair in undesirable locations. Rust reversal.
My set-up is as simple, cheap and ugly as you can get. If you want the scientific explanation as to how it works, google it.

I just wanted to show how easy it is to set up and start using.

What I use:
some sacrificial iron [rebar will do, and I added some scrap metal
a 5 gallon bucket
a package of washing soda from the laundry section of the supermarket
an auto battery charger. I found this one at the dump

some wires and alligator clips.

Here's what it looks like:
electrolysisunit.jpg


All the scrap is in electrical contact. Positive goes to your scrap metal, get it wrong and you ruin your piece.
I add a couple of cups of washing soda to tap water, and nearly fill the bucket.

Here's a saw, the right half was in the bath, the left half will go in next.

sawwrust.jpg


Once the piece sits in the bath for a couple of hours, take it out, scrub with a scotchbrite pad, clean, dry and oil it.
And you're good to go.
It ain't rocket surgery.
 
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Can add some designs by masking off the metal (some paint works) then cut away the areas you want to etch down to bare metal (a laser works welll for this, a knife works also) then etch it again.
 
I guess I was thinking more of aluminum not sure how it would look on steel.

I do anodized aluminum like this. Paint it to mask it. Laser the text or design I want in it. Then etch it much like you are doing.

I only do aluminum like this when I need some depth to the engraving. The laser does anodized aluminum very nice without etching but there is no depth to it.

Some items I do require 0.003 inch depth to the engraving. Using just the laser on the anodizing the depth is more like 0.000001.

Sometimes when doing a small area I just wet a Q-tip in the liquid. Attach a lead to it and use it kinda like an etching brush.

Steel I am sure would not come out so good but it should show some contrast when you etch only part of it again. Maybe not. Depending on how clean it is.

"this doesn't etch the metal as far as I know" You are correct. I was thinking if you left it in for a long time you would have nothing left but it looks like you are adding material. I remove material. Leave my aluminum item in long enough and it will dissappear.

My mistake - Lets just say I do something similar but different with aluminum.
 
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Larry, it's the green wire going down into the soup.
I forgot to say my dump find charger only had one red sleeve, so I put a piece of black sleeve on, confusing. But it's positive.
Rob & Ike, thanks.
 
So I'm assuming that it would be bad to have the work piece come in contact with the positively charged re bar correct?

Edit: yup could be bad, said to have them at least 2" apart on that link that Rob posted. Sounds like to be safe the anode could be put inside of a piece of 2 1/2" pvc with a bunch of holes in it for safety, creating a buffer as well as keeping it minimum distance from the work piece.
 
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Larry, I use what I have, no settings.
Darren, I try not to have them touch, but I don't pay much attention to it. No special protection. Never had a problem.
Remember, this is cheap and dirty.
 
so does it matter how many amp the charger is? or what setting you use on the charger?

I have a 2amp/12v, 6amp/6v, 6a/12v charger wired in series w/ a 12v lawn tractor battery. I get noticeably more bubbling action on 6a/12v than 2a/12v, which is, in turn, more than 6a/6v.

I'm not an electrical engineer and don't understand the why's and what-for's, but it seems to me volts are first important, then amps. I'll bet a 12amp/24v charger could blow something up.

I also make no special protection to keep them from touching. It's not like they move or anything. You get more bubbles the closer they are together. My setup has a brake disc on the bottom of my tub, one each at North and South, and a piece of rebar each at East and West. I suspend my piece-to-derust over the brake disc on the bottom using a chain. I also use a big "ice and beer" style plastic tub. 17 gallons size.
 
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It's there to provide a load for the battery charger. I had an older charger that was basically "off" or "on" but it broke. I got a HF charger that's apparently some sort of trickle or auto-off charger. It doesn't send juice through the wires unless it detects a load or I hold my mouth just right. So the 12v tractor battery provides a load. Without it, getting the charger to provide juice was really hit-or-miss. It was $39 new from Advance Auto, but if you've got a car battery sitting around, it would work fine too.

There's also a "theory" that an actual battery acts to provide better DC current than a charger. I guess that's a good thing? I'm not an EE.

So, my anodes and cathodes are attached to the battery posts, then the charger clamps are attached to the battery posts but without touching the anode/cathode wires. So the electrolysis wires should be pulling power direct from the battery. But elephhino....

EDIT - Further research indicates my setup is actually "parallel" not "series". I ain't an EE. :D
 
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