Electrolisis and hardware cloth

[Kurt Forbes]

Does anyone use hardware cloth for their electrolisis soup?
I just put a old brace into a pan with hardware cloth instead of rebar. I was figgureing with the increased surface area it would improve the process. So far it looks to be working great. My 4 amp charger shows a full 4 amps of charge running through. I just added more soda until I had good current flow.

[Jim DeLaney]

Does anyone use hardware cloth for their electrolisis soup?
I just put a old brace into a pan with hardware cloth instead of rebar. I was figgureing with the increased surface area it would improve the process. So far it looks to be working great. My 4 amp charger shows a full 4 amps of charge running through. I just added more soda until I had good current flow.

All the hardware cloth I've seen has been galvanized. What happens to the zinc coating on the wire?

[Tom LaRussa]

Does anyone use hardware cloth for their electrolisis soup?
I just put a old brace into a pan with hardware cloth instead of rebar. I was figgureing with the increased surface area it would improve the process. So far it looks to be working great. My 4 amp charger shows a full 4 amps of charge running through. I just added more soda until I had good current flow.

Kurt,

Hardware cloth is like fine wire mesh right? :o

If so, it works really well but doesn't last long. It gets eaten in the process pretty darn quickly.

Steel flashing works better. Just bend it around the perimeter of your bucket/tub/whathaveyou. I posted a couple pics of my mass-electrolysis setup here http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=16468

Note that I put a plastic basket inside the flashing, which is inside the plastic tub. It cuts down on the likelihood of accidental groundings -- which apparently are rather un-good. ;)

BTW, I got that big, rectangular plastic storage tub at Lowes for less than $6.

[Kurt Forbes]

hardware cloth is not really fine pretty strong with a 1/2 inch square mesh perfect for the rabbits growing up we called it chicken wire.
I have alot of this so loss of the material is a minor inconvenience. 4 amps for 6 hours removed the paint and the rust wire brushed any loose particles off and coated everything in wd40. It looks pretty good, alot better than phosporic acid baths.

[Glenn Crocker]

Hi Kurt,

What did you do about the handle - is it immersed in the solution?
Glenn

[Kurt Forbes]

one of the handles is in the soup the other came off pretty easy. I figgured since it had been exposed to the weather for the last 30 years that a day in the water would not hurt. Worst case is I turn a new one.

I changed ends last night since my bucket was not deep enough for a complete dip. I was really impressed with the results. The soup did turn a pretty heavy blackish green which I did not expect probably from the galvanization on the wire.

My son now wants me to build a big enough tank to hold parts for the truck he is trying to restore.

[Kurt Forbes]

so cool this brace is a millers falls 12 2 speed.
the bubble level on the side even works
I could not even tell there was a bubble level on the side when I started.

Does most everyone rub out and oil the black iron electrolisis leaves or do you take it to bright metal? or repaint with the origional colors ?

[Chris Thompson]

Just remember that based on the chemistry involved you're forcing the FeO2 (That's rust in english) to give up Oxygen, essentially forcing reverse rusting, leaving as much iron behind as possible.

But on the positively charged piece of metal, you're basically doing turbo rust. You're using the positive charge to attract O2 out of the water and separate it. Hydrogen bubbles are released and the Oxygen is, for lack of a better term, forced into the iron. Something as thin as chicken wire wouldn't last long.

I'm about to build a new rig to electrolyze about ten planes, three Disston saw blades, 15 chisels, and god knows what else. I'm actually considering building a cage out of rebar, though I've got another idea based around mild steel sheet. May build both to decide which works better.

As for amps, if you're doing something SERIOUSLY rusted, the slower you do this the better. 6v instead of 12v. The pages I've read on the process, mostly written by car guys trying to save old, non replacable parts, say the slower you do it, the less vigorous the bubbles, the less likely you are to break loose some of the rusty powder. Once it's detached, you're not going to get any iron out of it. Just a thought.

Oh, and for anyone looking to build a rig themselves, I just picked up a brand new auto battery charger from Harbor Freight for $19. Can't beat it.

[Steve Clardy]

I just tried the electro thing with a broken #5 bailey base. Used laundry soap, as that was all I had. Works great!!!!

[Glenn Crocker]

"Does most everyone rub out and oil the black iron electrolisis leaves or do you take it to bright metal? or repaint with the origional colors ?"

Kurt, this is a Millers Falls #12 breast drill I picked up a few years ago at First Monday Trade Day in Scottsboro, AL. Almost all the original paint was gone, and I used paint remover and a brass wire wheel to clean it. (didn't know about electrolysis then, would have yielded better results.) The #12 breast plate was likely solid black when new. I found that the #13 model was black and red underneath; I liked the red and black combination better.
(reference to http://www.public.coe.edu/%7Erroeder/main/breast_drills/breast_drill2.htm)