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Put this on another forum I belong to but thought it may be of interest here also!
Err, OK so I took a chance and bought an old KURT 6" vice and if you know anything about vices you'll know KURT are bloody expensive I could never justify buying a new one but this one came up on Ebay and I thought I'd take a punt...
This is how I picked it up...
So into the electrolytic bath it goes, I never tried to clean it off at all just bared a little metal for a contact point...
And after 24hrs... the rust that's left just wipes off and the black which is carbon I think needs a bit of elbow grease to remove but you can see the base metal just under it, it's the best way I've found for removing rust. I am going to leave it another day to see if it can get any better...
They say the the process works on line of sight i.e. that the sacrificial anodes you use need to be able to see the areas of the rust you need to remove but in my experience and definitely in this case a lot of the rust couldn't be seen by the anodes and it still removed it all over it has even removed the rust from underneath the vice. All I had was two metal plates about 8"x4" one at each end...
Ok so I've moved on managed to get it all apart, cleaned and got it primed ready for a top coat...
As it came apart
Basic cleaning...
Proper cleaning and primed...
OK so DON'T use Hammerite Special Primer on cast iron, I had to get it all off today right bloody job still it's done now, new etch primer and top coat...
Just jaws and a handle to make now!
Including new labels very kindly sent to me from Kurt free of charge...
That was a great refurbishment. I have tried the electrolytic derusting process, and it worked with just water, but I expect it would have been better with washing soda, whatever that is.
You'll like your Kurt, perhaps more so since you restored it from a very ugly tool.
The electrolyte I use is about a cup of washing soda (sodium carbonate) crystals per 5-gallon bucket, 35-amp. start-and-charge that I've seen hit 35 amps on large, rusty parts. The strength of the.solution doesn't seem to affect the.current beyond the cup-per-bucket, but I found pure water much slower...hardly worked at all for me!
The current seems to depend most on the size of workpiece and anodes (makes sense) and proximity?
Instead of scrap steel I use carbon rods (lots of them), either arc gouging or arc brazing, with the copper stripped apart from an inch to solder to (I'm too cheap to buy terminals). Ferric Chloride PCB etch works well for that.
Using carbon instead of steel seems to work just.as well as scrap, but the electrolyte stays clean without all the gungy foam and sediment, and no crust on the carbon anodes, which last a lot longer, worth spending a few local currency units. They're good for home anodising too!
Rules are for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of Wise Men - Douglas Bader
Hopefuldave wrote:Instead of scrap steel I use carbon rods (lots of them), either arc gouging or arc brazing, with the copper stripped apart from an inch to solder to (I'm too cheap to buy terminals). Ferric Chloride PCB etch works well for that.
I'm am just trying to understand what you are using for carbon rods. The carbon arc outing rods that you are using are still copper coated for most of their entire length? Like the picture below?
Hopefuldave wrote:Instead of scrap steel I use carbon rods (lots of them), either arc gouging or arc brazing, with the copper stripped apart from an inch to solder to (I'm too cheap to buy terminals). Ferric Chloride PCB etch works well for that.
I'm am just trying to understand what you are using for carbon rods. The carbon arc outing rods that you are using are still copper coated for most of their entire length? Like the picture below?
The way I read his post, is that he strips all but a tad bit of the copper from the rods. He leaves that little bit to solder his lead to.
James
