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Cleaning of parts
Padstar - 22/6/12 at 09:57 PM

How do u guys generally clean your used parts. I want a few bits from the donor to look brand spanking (or as near to it as possible) and have done a bit of research in various methods.

Call me lazy but the good old wire brush and elbow grease seem like a lot of work to end up with a finish that's a little way from perfect so I have the following two options that I am considering. Use rear uprights as the to be cleaned item example. I can either take them to a place down the road that will sand blast or soda them and then powder coat or I can clean using DIY electrolysis, etc and paint. From what I have read on line a standard car battery charger plus a water solution will give a reasonably good finish along with a brush and a good rinse which will then allow a paint finish after.

Have any of u used this method and would you go for it over the professional option. Would there be much in the final finish vs additional cost?

Chippy - 22/6/12 at 10:14 PM

I have both an osmosis system, (big plastic bucket, and some steel sheet), and a blast cabinet. They both work well I used the osmodic system to do the sierra front uprights, and found it worked OK other than you need to dry the bits quickly and well otherwise you soon get a fine rust on the parts. For straight foreward bits I find the blast cab works better as you end up with a nice dry and slightly textured surface which takes paint well. HTH Ray

spiderman - 22/6/12 at 10:33 PM

Electrolysis. Look to the left on the home page in "Most viewed threads" and click on the link to the thread. Loads of input from people who have done it. Just be sure not to use Stainless steel as an anode as it can be dangerous and leave you with some VERY nasty chemicals to deal with.

loggyboy - 23/6/12 at 12:57 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Chippy
I have both an osmosis system, (big plastic bucket, and some steel sheet),


Do you mean electrolosis?

snapper - 23/6/12 at 05:46 AM

Parts washer for the oily stuff
Electrolysis for the rusty stuff
Blast cabinet for the surface however the dust gets everywhere and you need to strip moving parts and bearings out so we don't use that much
Dremel or drill with wire brush

Padstar - 2/7/12 at 12:34 PM

I now have lots of rusty stuff to play with, break down clean and put away for safe keeping as i go.

A few questions. Once cleaned via the magic of electrolisis do i have to paint or powder coat straight away or just dry thoroughly?

Secondly if i have a few moving parts (mainly a diff), can the whole thing be dunked in to clean? I really just want teh case to be cleaned so it looks nice and new but can this be done without removing the inards? Are the mechanical elements easy to remove and replace after cleaning and painting?

RichardK - 2/7/12 at 12:55 PM

Stuff that's been in the electrolysis bin do tend to get a fine misting of rust pretty quickly so I'd advised drying off toughly as quick as poss then priming.

Don't put the dif any where near the electrolysis bath!, Just wire brush it , or wire cup on the angry grinder and just paint the bugger, it's pretty difficult to strip a dif enough to put in a bath and you need special tools too to put it back together properly.

Cheers

Rich

loggyboy - 2/7/12 at 02:21 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Padstar
I now have lots of rusty stuff to play with, break down clean and put away for safe keeping as i go.

A few questions. Once cleaned via the magic of electrolisis do i have to paint or powder coat straight away or just dry thoroughly?

Secondly if i have a few moving parts (mainly a diff), can the whole thing be dunked in to clean? I really just want teh case to be cleaned so it looks nice and new but can this be done without removing the inards? Are the mechanical elements easy to remove and replace after cleaning and painting?


Once removed from electrolysis the bare metal will be quite suspetable to rust, as would any bare metal, but if you cant paint/coat it straight away then keeping it a well ventilated dry atmosphere will limit most rust, it may just need a quick wirebrushing prior to coating. You could coat it in oil, but that would then need cleaning well prior to coating.

The Diff is likely to be aluminium so isnt suitable for electrolysis.

Padstar - 2/7/12 at 09:09 PM

Are any of the following not suitable for electrolysis;

Uprights
Break disks
Break callipers
Wishbones

RichardK - 4/7/12 at 10:24 AM

Why not uprights or calipers? Usually these are substantial lumps of metal and wouldn't be affected by electroylisis, certainly I did mine and they've survived

loggyboy - 4/7/12 at 10:29 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Padstar
Are any of the following not suitable for electrolysis;

Uprights
Break disks
Break callipers
Wishbones


In short no, all steel so all suitable for electrolysis.

coyoteboy - 4/7/12 at 07:32 PM

Pretty much all steel or iron based parts are suitable for electrolysis and it's a self-limiting safe process that can't cause harm (to them).