RE: Best Way to Clean a Rusty Tank

[Moped]

Before you start, you'll need a manual battery charger, a plastic tub large enough to hold your tank, a sheet of clean metal to serve as an electrode, some old jumper cables, and a box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda. I've got a $40 Schumacher 12 volt, 10 amp charger that works well. The jumper cables will keep your charger clips out of the electrolyte.

First clean your tank out with some soapy water to get all of the gasoline residue out. Now, fill up your bucket with enough warm water to completely submerge the tank, adding one tablespoon of washing soda as you fill. Place your tank on one end of your tub, with the clean electrode at the other end. Hook up your cables to the charger, positive to positive and negative to negative. Now this is important. Hook the positive cable to the electrode and the negative cable to your tank in the tub. Don't get them reversed or you'll spend a weekend cleaning your electrode at the expense of the tank (as I just did this weekend to my T100R's tank). You might want to put on some elbow-length rubber gloves if you're going to be fishing around in the tub. The washing soda is pretty base and will damage your hands. You're now ready to plug in your charger. I've found that drawing 8 amps through the tub will lift off most paint and "convert" the rust in a few days. Depending on the condition of the piece to be "de-rusted", gunk will accumulate at the top of the tub, which you'll need to skim off to keep the charger from shorting.

After you're done, pull it out and seal the inside, following your sealer's instructions. Caswell Exposy Sealer is supposed to be the bee's knees (http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/epoxygas.htm) (http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/epoxygas.htm%29).


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/123/411651878_7bfb2b3231.jpg

(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/123/411651878_7bfb2b3231.jpg?v=0)

[rigidsporty]

That is genious. I still like the guy that put in acid, some old nuts and bolts and wrapped it up in a blanket to let it tumble around in the dryer.

[Metalman]

While the electrolysis process works good to break down rust you have to understand it works "line of sight". In other words a clear straight path through the solution from the part to be cleaned to the sacrificial electrode. If the inside of the tank is rusty having the sacrificial electrode outside the tank isn't going to do shit to the inside. Same thing applies if you hang a rusty part in the solution and the sacrificial electrode is only on one side of the tank, the side facing the electrode will benefit but not much will happen on the opposite side.
You still need to remove the back powder that the rust changes to after the process.

[Moped]

While the electrolysis process works good to break down rust you have to understand it works "line of sight". In other words a clear straight path through the solution from the part to be cleaned to the sacrificial electrode. If the inside of the tank is rusty having the sacrificial electrode outside the tank isn't going to do shit to the inside. Same thing applies if you hang a rusty part in the solution and the sacrificial electrode is only on one side of the tank, the side facing the electrode will benefit but not much will happen on the opposite side.
You still need to remove the back powder that the rust changes to after the process.

I haven't had problems with "line of sight". In my experience, surfaces not directly in front of the electrode will still convert the rust and remove paint. I dipped a pair of headlight ears a few weeks back and they were affected both inside and out. It might take longer, but you'll be fine. And, of course, you would typically clean the tank before deciding to epoxy-seal rust scale into your tank.