Before:


 Oxalic Acid + water = Crazy easy rust  removal! No scrubbing @ all,
 just mix and let soak!

 Dan  Gorsline.

 Use with caution, Oxalic acid is very toxic. Andrew  Campbell.



 I'm in the process of cleaning/restoring a Logan 825  lathe, Enco
 6x26 knee mill, and many assorted tooling pieces that had been
 sitting in the previous owners garage. Somehow they "appeared" in my
 shop  back in January!

 So far I'm using white vinegar and salt followed by  water/baking
 soda rinse followed by HOT water rinse. Non-toxic and safely  dump
 on my gravel driveway. Does a great job! In between the first two
 steps some light fast brass wire brushing, or even wiping with a
 towel, knocks off any rust that the vinegar hasn't taken off. I
 usually start a  batch of parts one weekend. While they don't need a
 full week, life  happens and I usually can't get back to them until
 the next weekend. No  parts have suffered as far as I can tell from
 the extended soak.

 I  do have some metal prep and etch from Home Depot which is
 essentially phosphoric acid. I have not had to resort to that yet,
 but again it is safe and easy. It too would be followed by
 water/baking soda rinse followed by HOT water rinse.

 I have also purchased two carbon rods  from McMaster to set up a
 reverse electrolytic rust cleaning tank. Uses  simple washing soda.
 Again, safe and easy to use and dispose of. Just  beware it will
 generate hydrogen so open area away from ignition source is required.
 If hydrogen embrittlement of a part is a concern then a 30 minute
 bake in kitchen oven at 400°F will resolve the concern.

 In  all cases once rust has been removed by the one of the cleaners
 above, the  "cleaner neutralized" in the baking soda rinse, and the
 part hot water  rinsed/heat soaked/dried I follow up by coating
 parts/surfaces to be bare  metal with automatic transmission fluid.
 I have wax available for applying  to bare metal tooling surfaces as
 well. As weather warms and I can get  outside I'll be
 priming/painting the surfaces that will not remain bare,  none of
 which I have started to clean/strip yet.

 In all cases I wear  rubber gloves, long sleeves, long pants, and
 side shield safety glasses.  I'll use splash proof goggles when
 getting to the phosphoric acid or  electrolytic rust removal.

 I'm doing this cleaning/stripping/rust  removal all in basement, one
 small half gallon or gallon tub of parts at a  time. So far no
 complaints from my SO about odors so that is a plus as  well.

 I do have a 20 gallon parts washer with mineral spirits in the garage
 that I can use to preclean any really dirty/gunked up parts, along
 with the garden hose and common detergents for dust/dirt removal, and
 a vacuum cleaner for dust/debris clean up (along with mouse nests and
 droppings in drawers!).

 Bradly Chubb


 Perhaps this is unfounded, but OA is an acid and acids do bad things
 to aluminum.

 The auto boys leave their aluminum wheel hubs out of the OA when
 getting rust off of other wheel stuff.

 Rich Goldman


The OA didn't appear to damage the aluminum housings at all. It has a
slightly tarnished irregular look, but looks like that'll clean up
w/some polish. The had some impossible to remove crust before the
dip/soak, 100% gone now.

How much citric acid per gallon?

Dan Gorsline



Hello  I don't often speak up but do read the messages with great interest and have an RX 8 engine on my bench.I just wanted to say that I have been rust cleaning steel and iron in Molasses over the last 12 months and couldn't be happier with the results. I drop the parts into a 7 to 1 water/molasses mix and give them a light brush every couple of weeks and parts come out like new. The molasses doesn't attack  the metal so I can leave items in the soup for as long as I like. I strongly recommend this method as the mix can just be poured on the grass when finished with.

Mark Dillner

Wow that is a new one on me :-)

Paul Lamar

 The Rotary  Engine free News Letter. Powered by Linux. If you want
 off the list PLEASE  let me know and I will remove  you. ACRE NL web
 site.  http://www.rotaryeng.net/You Tube http://tinyurl.com/beqqxas
 Copyright  1998-2016 All world wide rights  reserved.