Re:3 hours isn't equal to 30 min.
Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine
>Joe,
Just saw your reply to me ansd thought that I'd bring it back to the top, as the original thread was getting down there a bit.
but I since I was zapping these specimens at work,
-What!?!, you can zap tools while at work? So, in effect, you're getting paid while zapping tools? Man, that's just not right. Good on ya'. ;~)
and was able to check their progress every hour or so
-I don't understand, what did you do to "check their progress? You can't just look at the tool and determine if its done or not, at least I can't. I take the tool out of the solution, rinse with boiling water, than wire brush/wheel then determine if it needs to go in again.
Especially if your battery charger has a low and high setting (I used "low")
-So do I.
I noticed some bubbles, but little rust removal for at least an hour.
-Some Bubbles? Brother, you should be getting zillions of bubbles IMMEDIATELY, enough to cause a brown froth on top of the water. The rustier the tool, the more bubbles you should be getting. You are obviously not getting a good connection somewhere. How are you attaching your tool to the rod that get the negative clamp? What are you using for rods? I use galvanized iron flat stock that I got from Home Depot. Works great especially once the galvanized material is scraped off, which is easily done after a few cycles of zapping.
In particular, the frog and body required about 8 hours to look decent. In both cases, I'd visit the tub every 2 hours, rinse off some of the black oxidation, and then turn the piece so that the rustier side would face the anode.
-What did you use to rinse off the tool? Cold Water? If so, next time use boiling water, or at least the hottest water that you can get from the sink, and I'm sure you'll see a DRAMATIC difference in the amount of rust coming off, even after just 30 minutes.
The corrugations added up to a lot of surface area, and a lot of crannies that I didn't want to scrub. Instead, I left the body in the tub overnight. It worked quite well.
-Again, I've cleaned heavily rusted corrugated soles to shiney after only 30 minutes.
Electrolysis is a self-limiting process. Once the rust is gone, the process stops.
-Right. this also equates into "less rust, less bubbles", which equates into "more rust, more bubbles"
If the process has stopped, the japanning is no longer in danger...at least no more than it was when the surrounding rusted metal was bubbling for the first two or three hours.
-I'll take your word on that.
And you should consider the collector value of the tool (a 603 deserves more attention than a Craftsman #4)
-I wouldn't give it a second thought to put a rusty 603 in for 30 minutes at a time.
And since you are producing hydrogen, I wouldn't suggest zapping a hunk of rust, and leaving it to cook in an unventilated basement or gargage. Odds are nothing would happen, but there's no point in risking it.
-Agree with you 100% here.
As a conscientious user, I've found that even leaving bare metal parts (screws, threaded rods) in the bath over a weekend is still easier on the pieces than cleaning them with emory paper or navel jelly.
-Amen
Like I said eariler Joe, sounds to me like you are not getting opimum connection somewhere, either between the tool and the rod it's on, or one of the chargers clamps-to-rod connections. Does your needle jump up high on the scale when you turn on your charger? The rustier the tool the higher that needle should jump up the scale.
-Hope this helps. you are spending way to much time on just one tool. In eight hours I can do bunches of tools. Sometimes I'll wire several tools at a time onto the negative rod if they are small.
Todd O.