Electrolytic Rust Removal

[Random]

Awesome job on the vise. I did this last year on a old wilton vise and was more than happy.

[Oldfast]

Thanks It was fun... but also turned into a lot of work.

[Random]

what did you use for the scraficial electrode?

[Oldfast]

what did you use for the scraficial electrode?

Rebar. I used six 13" pieces. Vertically set & spaced evenly around the inside of the
5 gal. bucket gave pretty good 360 coverage on whatever piece was being cleaned.

[dontlook]

Those pieces look amazing and thanks for the informational articles! This was suggested to my by some at Lockfest for a lock that I had. I had found an old Yale brass padlock on the side of the road. It would not close. I gave it a round or two of electrolysis for an hour or two each. I didn't have the full 360 degree coverage though. I also used 99% IPA in a ultra sonic cleaner on the pieces afterwards in addition to the brush. After the first 2 rounds, I got a friend to impression it. With some extra force we got the lock to close and open! We then disassembled the lock, and the parts went through another couple rounds of electrolysis and ultrasonic cleaning. It now functions properly, but the shackle spring needs replacing.

Here is the lock before any electrolysis(it looks like I may have attempted some other sort of cleaning):

Here is my setup with the lock in there. I used a 12v external hard drive power supply:

Here is the reassmebled final product:


I haven't yet made it through the entire thread, the shiny hardened shackle didn't seem to respond much to the electrolysis, maybe it needs a lot more time. I am otherwise very happy with the results.

[Oldfast]

Neat project. The lock looks great. An oldie-but-goodie brought back to life!

And yeah, the shackle - being as it's (nickle?) plated, will not respond much to this process.
For a time, there was a member here on the forum that was making shackles.
I found it interesting and useful. I cannot remember who that was?