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Another 1,000 lbs added to shop floor...

Marty,

James and I were looking at those pictures. James kept saying "Wow! That's so tool!" (he can't quite make the "C" sound yet, but he's working on it.) Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out what in the heck the big deal was, since I'd never seen anything like that before. Then I saw the last picture, with the clamps extended, and it was my turn to say "whoa, that's so cool!" ;)

On the electrolysis, I think I had a case of too much info from surfing too many sites. One of them said the battery charger I'd gotten for the purpose simply would not work. Another said the entire piece to be cleaned had to be completely submerged. I guess that was wrong on both counts... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Kerry Burton said:
Marty? Marty?

Uh-oh, no signs of life. :eek:

Poor guy ... he musta thrown that switch. :doh:
Click to expand...

Not to worry Kerry...

I did indeed throw the switch to 10 amp...it made no noticable difference.

But...while I was in town getting more aliigator clips to be able to 'wire up' four clamps simultaneously, I also picked up a better ingredient for the broth:

DSCN7365.jpg

What I picked up this morning wasn't in fact 'Washing Soda'...although I thought it was. It was actually Arm & Hammer laundry detergent with Sodium Carbonate as one of the many ingredients. Once I did some more research, and figured out what the sodium carbonate was supposed to be doing...and the fact that baking soda has a pH of 8 (7 being neutral) whilst Washing Soda has a pH of almost 11, I realized my dilute detergent bath wasn't going to cut it.

But, thanks to playing with the chemistry for our pool, I knew that there was a pH increaser that was used in pools. I went outside, looked at the label...and sure 'nuf...100% Sodium Carbonate! I just didn't have enough to spice up the soup. But I was right across from the pool store when I was getting the alligator clips...problem solved! ;)

Before I added three more clamps in the bath, I dumped out the soap and refilled the poly-cart with water and pH increaser. I then added my rebar and the four JLT clamps.

As soon as I plugged in the charger, I knew the ph increaser was making a difference. The conductivity of the water increased four fold...(or there abouts :rolleyes:). Looking at the ampmeter on the charger, the bath was now drawing a full 10 amps. Whereas with the soap soup, it was drawing a mere 2-3 amps...even on the 10 amp setting. I think I have a better concoction now! :thumb:

Here are a few shots showing where I just left it when I shut down the shop.

Here are all four clamps...wired together and bathing comfortably:

DSCN7362.jpg

And here are a few shots showing that you can actually see glue floating to the top of the soup:

DSCN7363.jpg..........DSCN7364.jpg..........DSCN7366.jpg

I'm not getting the nasty brown scummy looking bubbles that I saw in Stu's pictures, as well as pictures on other sites. But I'm thinking that might be caused by the fact that there really isn't all that much rust on the clamps...just LOADS of glue.

All in all, I think it's working. I guess we'll find out in the morning when I remove the four clamps and rinse them off to post pictures...:dunno:


Bill Lantry said:
Marty,

James and I were looking at those pictures. James kept saying "Wow! That's so tool!" (he can't quite make the "C" sound yet, but he's working on it.) Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out what in the heck the big deal was, since I'd never seen anything like that before. Then I saw the last picture, with the clamps extended, and it was my turn to say "whoa, that's so cool!" ;)
Click to expand...

Bill, take a look at the link to the JLT site I posted. That shows the rack actually in use, with panels in the clamps. That gives you a much better idea of what the rack/clamps are capable of. WAY better than Besseys ;)

Bill Lantry said:
On the electrolysis, I think I had a case of too much info from surfing too many sites. One of them said the battery charger I'd gotten for the purpose simply would not work. Another said the entire piece to be cleaned had to be completely submerged. I guess that was wrong on both counts... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
Click to expand...

Well, I did an equal amount of surfing...but decided to cull out what I wanted to hear :rofl: I read that parts CAN be partially cleaned, and then flipped over to clean the tops...assuming the bathtub is too small to contain the entire piece. As for the charger...I think mine is working...but as I said, we'll see in the morning.

Thanks again to everyone for the idea...
- Marty -
 
Whoo-hoo! :headbang:

Looks great Marty, and now that you know how to do this, you will have yet another arrow added to your quiver for dealing with "Stuff" :D

I'm betting those clamps come out of there looking like new.

Can't wait! :thumb:
 
Marty Walsh said:
All in all, I think it's working. I guess we'll find out in the morning when I remove the four clamps and rinse them off to post pictures...:dunno:
Click to expand...

I wonder if it'll be like that Gilligan's Island episode, where the Professor has just mixed some VERY strong acid, and a couple of coconuts get switched around, and Gilligan mistakenly picks up the one with the acid. He goes to stir it with a metal spoon before taking a drink, and the spoon comes out without the "spoon" part. :eek:

Naw ... I don't suppose you'll be able to notice much difference (in thickness) in either the clamps or the rebar. It was just a funny picture that popped into my head. But it does raise a question (that I could probably answer by Googling "electrolysis rust removal" right?) about which way the ions are "moving" in the solution.

It seems like either the rebar or the clamps should be getting "electroplated" with iron/steel as part of the process ... while the other is being stripped of a minute layer of the same stuff. Or am I just goofed up? :huh:
 
Well, it's morning...late morning...but still morning...

Last night I decided to modify the test parameters by shutting off the power to the bath. I did this for two reasons. First, one of the by-products of electrolysis is oxygen. With the cats and other wild critters that wander around here, I thought it prudent to not provide them with a spark source in case they got bored and wanted to see an explosion.

I also wanted to test another theory. I wanted to see what just the high-pH water would do to the glue build-up. Since I had already electrocuted the bottom half of the four clamps that were in the tub, I decided to flip those four end for end and put them back in the soup...minus the electrical charge.

I was pleasantly surprised this morning, when I found that the glue wiped right off...after just the electrical-less bath! :thumb:

What that means to me is that I can get a dozen clamps in the bath at a time, let them soak for a few hours and remove the glue...while the next dozen are in the bath. This all equates to me being done with this process TODAY instead of some time next week if I had to do the clamps four at a time! Saving days of work is a good thing!!! :thumb:

So, here's where I am with things now:

Here are a few pictures showing the BEFORE clamps:

DSCN7367.jpg..........DSCN7368.jpg

Not only is there glue build-up on them...that's chunks of wood that are glued to the faces of the clamps. I wasn't even able to chisel that off!!!

Here's a shot showing a dozen clamps in the high-pH water soaking:

DSCN7370.jpg

Once those are soaked for a few hours, I'll put the next batch of 12 in the bath, and get to wiping the glue off the first dozen.

And finally...here's a shot of the AFTER clamps:

DSCN7371.jpg

Are they perfect? No...there's still a small amount of rust and a slight residual layer of glue on them. Are they serviceable? Oh heck yeah! They're clamps! They're gonna get messy...just hopefully not as messy as their previous owner allwed them to get!

All it took was a wipe down with a brown scotch-brite soaked in spirits, and they're done. I'm going out there now to make sure the spirits have flashed off. Assuming it has, I'll bring the first four into the shop...slather some wax on them and get them into the rack.

Four down...twenty three to go...:doh:

- Marty -
 
Water is an incredible solvent.

Since I do the dishes in our house ( she cooks and oh my can she cook )

anyway, since I do the dishes I have come to respect the ability of water to cut thru almost any burned on anything. Just let them soak for a while.

So I wonder if it was the chemicals or just the ability for the water to soften everything so it would come off ?

I am curious. How did the 1st ones look that got the eclectric cleaning ?

Always good to hear from you... Hope the project is going ok.....
 
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Bartee Lamar said:
Water is an incredible solvent.

Since I do the dishes in our house ( she cooks and oh my can she cook )

anyway, since I do the dishes I have come to respect the ability of water to cut thru almost any burned on anything. Just let them soak for a while.

So I wonder if it was the chemicals or just the ability for the water to soften everything so it would come off ?

I am curious. How did the 1st ones look that got the eclectric cleaning ?

Always good to hear from you... Hope the project is going ok.....
Click to expand...

Heya Bartee!

Well, after a few hours of work last evening, Denise and I came to the determination that the electrolysis made a BIG difference. The dozen clamps I had soaking in just the high-pH water came clean, but the glue had to be mostly scraped (or brown scotch-brited) off. Whereas the clamps that got the electro-shock therapy only needed to be hosed off to come as clean, or cleaner.

It comes down to time and logistics. If we had a way to hook up 24 clamps in some HUGE bath, I'd do it. But since I can only fit four clamps at a time in the tub with the rebar, I've opted for expediency. Two days versus six or more...:dunno:

Although...with about another dozen or so to deal with today, I think I'm going to try a new weapon. I'm planning to drag out my old pressure washer and see if the additional pressure will work without having to scrape. :huh:

BTW, 'the project' is coming along. Won't be too much longer...:rolleyes:

- Marty -
 
Marty

Is it not worth getting them clean with a soak in bulk and then just cycling them through the electrolysis bath to give them a "polish"? Also - weren't the first lot effecetively soaked in a detergent bath? Maybe the detergent was the difference rather than the electrolysis? Who knows - anyway it looks like a good score and will help to prevent the worksh.. studio floating away on the breeze.
 
I was going to suggest NMP as a solvent but that would have cost way more and worked much slower. I think you found a great solution to your situation and now we all have another cleaning solution to add to our arsenal. That system looks like it is going to be a great addition to your shop.
 
Brett Baldwin said:
I was going to suggest NMP as a solvent but that would have cost way more and worked much slower. I think you found a great solution to your situation and now we all have another cleaning solution to add to our arsenal. That system looks like it is going to be a great addition to your shop.
Click to expand...

NMP?? :huh:


The clamps are ALL DONE and in their new home! I found a much quicker alternative to the scraping and scotch-briting...my PRESSURE WASHER! The last dozen or so got a one-two day bath in the high-pH water. Here's what they looked like when they first emerged from the bath:

DSCN7395.jpg..........DSCN7396.jpg

Those pictures don't do justice in showing just how disgusting these clamps were! Not to mention, once the glue was softened, they FELT just as disgusting! :bonkers:

And here's what about 60 seconds of high-pressure water did to the mess:

DSCN7397.jpg..........DSCN7398.jpg

Are they as clean as they would have been with a full electrolysis treatment? Nope!

Are they as clean as they would have been if I took the time to scrape and scotch-brite them? Nope!

Are they glue-free, smooth working, and serviceable? YUP! :thumb::D

And as I said, all TWENTY SEVEN ARE DONE:

DSCN7401.jpg

I slotted a piece of OSB for under half the rack. Tomorrow I'll try to make time to slot another and have the entire area under the rack protected from glue-drops.


The story isn't done...:huh:

Denise liked the outcome of the electrolysis, and figured while I had the 'rig' setup, she'd offer me more things to shock:

DSCN7399.jpg..........DSCN7400.jpg

That's an old farm bell we found on the property when we were clearing the land to build the shop. It's pretty badly rusted, but kinda kewl looking. It's getting shocked tonight and will hopefully come clean enough to get painted and hung. We shall see...:dunno:


Well, thanks again to everyone for the ideas on getting the clamps cleaned! Now it's MY turn to get them dirty...:rolleyes::D

- Marty -
 
Looks good, Marty. :thumb: I second Ian's question/suggestion about going ahead and electroshocking them a few at a time (as you have time), just for further cleaning and de-rusting. The cleaner they are when you start using them, the easier they will be to keep clean. ;) (Or at least clean enough to maintain their serviceability.)
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
Looks good, Marty. :thumb: I second Ian's question/suggestion about going ahead and electroshocking them a few at a time (as you have time), just for further cleaning and de-rusting. The cleaner they are when you start using them, the easier they will be to keep clean. ;) (Or at least clean enough to maintain their serviceability.)
Click to expand...

Well Vaughn...(and Ian)...

Time IS/WAS an issue with me, since the shock-therapy tub was the house poly-trash cart. Denise was supportive...to a point. I had to return it to the house so we could get the trash out to the road...:doh:

So taking the time to shock them a few at a time wasn't really an option. Nor is it clear to me that the additional effort would have paid off. When I was done cleaning all the clamps, I slathered on wax as I hung them in the rack. That wax treatment seems to be doing the job.

I've already been using the clamps:

DSCN7419.jpg

What glue does spill out onto the clamps either falls right off, or can be popped off with my thumb nail. I'm hoping to stay on top of things and take the few extra minutes to clean the clamps off after each use. Notice I say 'hoping to'...as that might not happen...:dunno:


Oh, and Denise is impressed with the results of the Farm Bell:

DSCN7406.jpg..........DSCN7407.jpg

The main bell and the mount came out clean as NEW. Even though I had a lead clipped to the 'clanger', it didn't get de-rusted. I guess I didn't scrape the clip onto the metal well enough so it wasn't making contact. :doh: A few seconds with a wire wheel and the clanger was almost as clean as the other parts.

Here are the parts, hanging in the finishing room ready for a third and fourth coat of paint today:

DSCN7411.jpg


One interesting thing to note...and I'm not sure why...although the electro-shick therapy obviously worked, as evidenced by the bell, we never got that nasty looking foam in the bath. Instead, all we saw were thousands and thousands of tiny bubble coming off the parts. It looked like someone had dropped a whole bunch of Alka-Seltzer into the bath. But, the bubbles were pure white...and never showed any signs of rust/dirt/etc.

Maybe it was the pure Sodium Carbonate versus Baking Soda...maybe it was the 12 volt, 10 amp shock I was applying. Regardless, the lack of the nasty foam made clean up and dumping the water easier and less messy. Just wondering out loud...:huh::dunno:


- Marty -
 
The bell looks great Marty, that shock treatment does work!

The soda I was using is a "Washing Soda" so I'm sure it has some detergent in it of some kind, that is where I was getting the foam from.

That clamp rack sure looks like it will get a lot of use.

Cheers!
 
Marty,

The lastest FWW had an article on clamp preasure.

The most interesting thing in the article was how much silicon spray lubricant helped on the treads to increase clamping preasure. So after cleaning your clamps, did you apply any lub to the threads? Not sure what to use since any lubricant would pick up sawdust.

But then again with the size of the handles on those clamps you probably can get enough preasure.
 
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