Electolysis - Removing rust on Powermatic 54A Jointer

[David Falkner]

I've posted about the restoration on my well rusted PM 66 table saw and Delta DJ-15 jointer, but last year I picked up a PM 54A jointer found on CL. The jointer had been in a non-climate controlled storage building and subject to humidity so it had what I thought was surface rust. When I got it home I realized the rust was a little more than I had initially realized. But, I figured, I had already been successful in getting the heavy rust off the other two tools so this one didn't seem like it would be that bad.

This time I used Electrolysis everywhere I could and it worked great. So this is what I did -

When I brought it home it looked like this -
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Kind of heavy in some areas -
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Ugly spot there in front of the cutterhead, which doesn't look too good, either -
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Here's the cutterhead out of the jointer -
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What I have here is a towel wetted with water and baking soda. I don't remember how much but in a 5 gallon pail I think I used about 2 gallons of water and about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of baking soda. I wrung the towel out about 75% and placed a sacrificial sheet metal plate I picked up at Lowe's on top of the towel. Then I hooked my battery charger, one lead to the jointer and one to the metal plate. Then I placed some weight on the metal plate to make sure there was good contact. In this case I used some Honduras Mahogany cutoffs from some columns.
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After about 3-4 minutes the amperage gauge goes to about nothing which indicates the towel is now dry and has done all it is going to do. This is after removing the towel and no additional effort applied to the bed other than using the same towel to wipe the bed where the rust was.
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Far less rust, looks pretty good -
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Here's the cutterhead wrapped in a rag and with bailing wire wrapped tightly to make sure there is good contact. I hooked the leads up, gave it 3-4 minutes, and pulled the rag off.
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[David Falkner]

Here's the cutterhead after Electrolysis and a little buffing with a Scotch-Brite pad -
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And here's the finished machine. Looks good, runs good, and not a lot of effort to clean up using this process.
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Thanks for reading!
David

[David Wong]

Your results look fantastic. Congratulations on your restoration.

I purchased a Hammer A3-31 J/P that had been left outside for a year. I removed the rust on the tables with a combination of scraping with razor blades, and building a dam around the edge of the tables with modeling clay and pouring a pool of Evaporust. Your electrolysis method looks so much cleaner and faster. Thanks for sharing.

[David Falkner]

Your results look fantastic. Congratulations on your restoration.

I purchased a Hammer A3-31 J/P that had been left outside for a year. I removed the rust on the tables with a combination of scraping with razor blades, and building a dam around the edge of the tables with modeling clay and pouring a pool of Evaporust. Your electrolysis method looks so much cleaner and faster. Thanks for sharing.

Yes sir, glad to help! Holler if you have any questions about the process. I've done this several times on rusted pieces.

[Bruce Page]

Beautiful job, it's hard to believe it's the same machine. I almost cried when I saw the second picture close-up.

[John Donhowe]

Nice job and great write up. Now I really want to go out and find some neglected (cheap) piece of quality iron to try it out!

BTW, for future reference, if your towel dries out before enough rust is removed, don't re-moisten it with your baking soda solution- use water instead. The soda from the first run is still in the towel, so adding more solution could make too strong a concentration, and you might burn out your charger from too much current flow.

[David Falkner]

Nice job and great write up. Now I really want to go out and find some neglected (cheap) piece of quality iron to try it out!

BTW, for future reference, if your towel dries out before enough rust is removed, don't re-moisten it with your baking soda solution- use water instead. The soda from the first run is still in the towel, so adding more solution could make too strong a concentration, and you might burn out your charger from too much current flow.

Good tip, John. I used the dry towel and close to 0 amps as an indicator that it's time to remove the towel. I don't think I had to redo any spot but truly didn't think about the solution being too strong if I reapplied. I guess I got lucky because the first application did it every time.

Thanks!
David

[David Delo]

Great informational post David. Thanks for posting it.

[Bill Space]

Excellent post David!

I will store your method in my memory banks for future use! Never would have thought of doing it that way myself!


Just wondering, with the cutterhead, why did you elect to wrap it in the towel rather than drop it into a bucket of solution? I suppose to avoid pulling the bearings off? Or, why do anything different when the method is working so well?

Thanks for posting this!

Bill

[David Falkner]

Excellent post David!

I will store your method in my memory banks for future use! Never would have thought of doing it that way myself!

Just wondering, with the cutterhead, why did you elect to wrap it in the towel rather than drop it into a bucket of solution? I suppose to avoid pulling the bearings off? Or, why do anything different when the method is working so well?

Thanks for posting this!

Bill

Thanks, Bill! I guess I did it that way because I was on a roll with a method/procedure and it was working. Besides, it makes better photos than dropping something in a bucket. :D

[Roy Turbett]

Great tip on how to do large flat surfaces. You didn't mention this but the positive lead goes to the sacrificial anode (sheet metal) and the negative to the machine.

[David Falkner]

Great tip on how to do large flat surfaces. You didn't mention this but the positive lead goes to the sacrificial anode (sheet metal) and the negative to the machine.

Good point, Roy. I went back and looked at the photos and that's how I did it, even on the cutterhead. Thanks!

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I just learned something; thanks!

[Myk Rian]

Baking soda? Usually Arm and Hammer washing soda is used.

[Roy Turbett]

Baking soda? Usually Arm and Hammer washing soda is used.

Basically the same stuff but the washing soda is cheaper. Look for it in the laundry soap isle.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Basically the same stuff but the washing soda is cheaper. Look for it in the laundry soap isle.

Baking soda is NaHCO3 (1 sodium, 1 hydrogen, one carbon, and 3 oxygen molecules). Washing soda is Na2CO3 (2 sodium, 1 carbon, and 3 oxygen molecules).

Washing soda is slightly better according some, but not significantly so.

http://www.spaco.org/Blacksmithing/Rust/BakingVsWashingSoda.htm

[David Falkner]

Baking soda is NaHCO3 (1 sodium, 1 hydrogen, one carbon, and 3 oxygen molecules). Washing soda is Na2CO3 (2 sodium, 1 carbon, and 3 oxygen molecules).

Washing soda is slightly better according some, but not significantly so.

http://www.spaco.org/Blacksmithing/Rust/BakingVsWashingSoda.htm

I read all that when I started the process but I had baking soda on hand so that's what I used. it worked just fine. If I do it again sometime I may try the washing soda.

[Myk Rian]

You can turn baking soda into washing soda by baking it in an oven.

[Bill McNiel]

Very cool, thanks for posting and educating.

[David Falkner]

Very cool, thanks for posting and educating.

Yes sir, glad to share a little bit. It's a neat process and usually produces good results without a lot of effort. More importantly, I haven't seen it produce a disaster if it doesn't work perfectly the first time.