Other uses for your electro setup

[Tom Neitzel]

Just a reminder that your electro setup can be used for other things.  If I remember correctly we got the electro idea from groups that were restoring old cast irons machines or engines.  They would clean and free up rusted parts.

Here's my new story.  Over the weekend I was trimming weeds in the yard (more like clearing brush) when I ran across some needle nose pliers I had lost a year or two ago.  They were encrusted with rust and frozen shut.

I didn't do anything other than just hook them up to the electro unit.  I left them a couple days.  It took the rust off and freed them up.  I cleaned it with a scrubbing pad, put a little oil on the hinge and the work great.  There's some pitting on the outside but that doesn't matter at all.

I had actually cleaned up an old file I found along the road a few years ago in the vinegar bath (before I found electro).

Tom

[a-green53]

I used my electro setup to clean an old pickaxe head that I found almost buried in the dirt and grass outside of my Grannies smokehouse, it sure took a lot of the rust off and I could even make out the makers name on it. :)

[C. Perry Rapier]

Tom and Ed, you are right. I too have used the electro to clean other things too, like barbeque grill grates, the cast iron ones, and metal tools also. I tried to use it to get splashes of cement of a piece of iron, it wouldn't work for that.

[shodantrickyrabbit]

I first used my electro setup on a old ax head I got at an estate sale. Took it out and pressure washed it then scrubbed it with a wire brush and finally used a file to de-burr edges and sharpen it up. After replacing the handle it looked better than a new one.

[Jeff Friend]

I have cleaned files, Stanley planes and plane irons, and Maytag Model 72 engine parts.  A guy at our hunting camp asked me to clean a gun barrel that was rusty and when I do, I plan to run a piece of stainless steel wire rope down the bore.  The wire will be separated from the barrel by short pieces of plastic tubing.

One note about electro cleaning - it can cause hydrogen embrittlement which weakens the metal so the gun will no longer be shootable.

[Gerald Melsheimer]

I know that I and perhaps others were not aware that electro could cause an embrittlement problem.  Under what conditions does this embritlement occur: length of time in electro, a particular type of metal, etc?  Thanks  Jerry

[Mike Bohannon]

I have cleaned files, Stanley planes and plane irons, and Maytag Model 72 engine parts.  A guy at our hunting camp asked me to clean a gun barrel that was rusty and when I do, I plan to run a piece of stainless steel wire rope down the bore.  The wire will be separated from the barrel by short pieces of plastic tubing.

One note about electro cleaning - it can cause hydrogen embrittlement which weakens the metal so the gun will no longer be shootable.

Thanks Jeff, I completly understand the process of 'hydrogen embrittlement' ;D.   For those less informed here are a couple of links.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement
http://mechanicalplating.com/hydrogen.htm

Jeff, now for those less informed I'll let you explain just what we are doing to our CI when we 'elecro' it.  :)  Ya gotta love an engineer. ;) Thanks,  Mike

[Tom Neitzel]

Just looking for more information, I don't know the answer.

In reading the link for the hydrogen embrittlement, it seems that the problems happen on the part that is being plated or coated.  Aren't we doing just the opposite in our cleaning process?

tom

[Roger Barfield]

From what I read, it talks about that occurring with steel.  I didn't see it mentioned with cast iron.  Did I read it correctly?  

[Jeff Friend]

That's what my wife says.  I have subjected her to many out-of-the-blue engineering calculations over the years when we've been driving somewhere or sitting in a restaurant.  Every time we go to a restaurant that has one of those little trains running around she reminds me of the annual mileage estimation I did about 8 years ago at a lunch counter in Boone, NC.  When you think about those trains, you realize that they really racking up the miles!

Back to the subject at hand.  After doing some Googling and reading on the subject, here is a summary:

1.  Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) can occur when tiny hydrogen bubbles (one web page called them blisters) become incorporated in internal delaminations or non-metallic inclusions of a metal.

2.  Several processes can get hydrogen at the surface of the metal, including plating, cathodic cleaning, and the metal being located in a high temperature or pressure environment where hydrogen gas is present.  We fall into the cathodic cleaning group.

3.  Some metals, such as high strength and alloy steels are more susceptible to HE, but it can happen to cast iron.

4.  The tiny bubble causes stress concentration points.  These can lead to rapid failure, especially in parts that are subject to tensile stress.

5.  Parts are baked to drive out the hydrogen and reduce the likelihood of a HE-induced failure.

I don’t think HE is a concern for a cathodically-cleaned skillet that has been seasoned because of the multiple heating cycles.  Besides, the flakes of graphite that are present in grey iron create many stress concentration points and hydrogen probably isn’t going to make a skillet more brittle than it is already.

[maloney108]

Great summary, Jeff - I looked into the process also and your comment about the graphite inclusions is right on the money!