173 replies to this topic

[peavley]

Thanks for the responses guys. I am going to track down an older charger and give it another shot. I called my dad and asked if I could use his "dumb" charger because my "smart" charger wouldn't do it...he got a kick out of that.

What if the piece that I want to clean has a wooden handle? Will it be OK to submerge the entire thing? I am not too concerned about cosmetics of the wooden handle because a dog has already chewed on it a little bit.

Thanks again.

[olcowhand]

Thanks for the responses guys. I am going to track down an older charger and give it another shot. I called my dad and asked if I could use his "dumb" charger because my "smart" charger wouldn't do it...he got a kick out of that.

What if the piece that I want to clean has a wooden handle? Will it be OK to submerge the entire thing? I am not too concerned about cosmetics of the wooden handle because a dog has already chewed on it a little bit.

Thanks again.

It won't hurt a thing to the process, and doubtful it will harm the wood at all.

[peavley]

OK here is an update...I tried it again. Again nothing happened. I got an older battery charger from my dad and hooked her up and...nothing. So then I thought maybe this battery charger is broken, so I hooked it up to my truck battery and plugged it in and nothing happened. Should it have done something when hooked to my truck? I did not disconnect the battery from the truck, I just simply clamped the connections on top of the truck connections. I figured that it should have given me some sort of reading, but it did not. Is there another way to test battery chargers? I did double check the outlet and the extension cord and it all was working fine.:wallbanging:

[caseguy]

You could use a multimeter to check the voltage output. I usually just clack the two leads together briefly if there's any doubt. If they have a "lively" spark, then it's probably good.

[olcowhand]

You could use a multimeter to check the voltage output. I usually just clack the two leads together briefly if there's any doubt. If they have a "lively" spark, then it's probably good.

Check the wires where they connect to the clamps. Mine quit a while back, a=but it was just a broken wire inside the insulation right at one of the clamps.

[MFGray]

Battery chargers are fine, but there are other ways - I have been cleaning an MF12 using a couple of different setups over the last year, including a computer games (X-box 360) power supply (puts out 16volts of very clean DC) and a 15 volt Compaq computer power source - Microsoft seems to send us new X-box power supplies whenever our X-boxes crash under guarantee, so we have a few around! Both have been able to cope with the load without any problems. There seem to be two processes at work. The chemical conversion of red ferrous oxide to black ferric iron (most of which can then be brushed off), and the generation of gas which tends to lift and loosen paint and rust flakes. (Museum restoration workers apparently prefer to operate at lower currents without the gas generation since it preserves more of the physical integrity of their artifacts, but I don't think that matters here). I have tried different anodes, including rebar, wire, nails and railway tie bolts, but the best have been old baking trays and saw blades - lots of surface area!

The key thing to maintain performance, as Olcowhand pointed out, is to keep brushing the accumulated gunk off the surface of the anodes. If there is fresh exposed metal there, then the system works efficiently - I think that is more important than the voltage. A good setup is one that allows you to remove and clean the anodes easily.

George.

[DMF]

Wow this is an awesome post! I will definately try to cobble a test together as I have 108 little clips that secure the teeth to my Ferguson hay rake that I am cleaning up. If it works like you guys have mentioned, I can easily see myself making a bigger tank when I begin the refurb of my MF 10!

[IamSherwood]

Awesome, just totally awesome.
First off I'd like to thank everyone who's contributed to this thread, and Nutndun's electr.... thread. And anyone who has ever mentioned
the word electr...
In the past week, I did alot of reading and searching on this topic.
This past weekend, we finally had some mild temps up here. It went all the way up to zero degrees C.(that's 32F for you F'rs)
So, I took a crack at it.
I'm one happy camper.

My system is much the same as everyone elses.
55 Gal plastic barrel
rebar electrodes-6pc
PH+ added to water.
Manual charger


Because it was still a bit cool, I used hot water to start with.
First batch cooked off in about 5 hours.
As the water cooled, so did the production.

Also, as mention several times in your posts. yes keeping the electrodes clean makes a big
difference.

so, this morning I started a new batch, but this time, I added 6 more electrodes.
I used pcs of bandsaw blade from my sawmill. They break sometimes, or you can only sharpen them so many times, and then they're scrap.
That extra surface area made a huge difference.
The nice thing about the blade pcs, is that very easy to clean up, and make. Just clamp to a saw horse, and run bench grinder over it.

It works so good, that I'm sure that once warmer weather gets here, there won't
be a rusty pc of anything left on the property.

That raises the ???
What about one of those heaters that they use for cattle water troughs?
Probably expensive, and suck up the electricity.

And here's another one for food for thought.
Why pull out the electrodes, and clean them?
Why not just hang a chunk of steel in, and reverse the leads for a while?

Anyway, thanks again, and I'm so happy to say bye to my scape'g and sanding
days.

[NUTNDUN]

The weather does make a big difference. I think flat stock is the way to go. Now you have me curious about switching the part and making it the sacrificial piece to clean off the electrodes. It might not take long either since the garbage isn't stuck on the anodes, at least not like paint and rust from years and years.

[IamSherwood]

I think we should take a look at how the big boys do it out there in the real world.
I'm sure commercial operations would have a better answer. Or maybe they just
discard the old anodes.

[ducky]

I think we should take a look at how the big boys do it out there in the real world.
I'm sure commercial operations would have a better answer. Or maybe they just
discard the old anodes.

To prevent rust in metal locks gates and sea walls they use Zinc anodes and replace then as they sacrifice.
Again this is to prevent not reverse.

[IamSherwood]

Opps, I said anodes.
I meant electrodes.
Yes, zinc anodes are used extensivly on boats as well, to prevent corrosion of the metal parts exposed
to water.

[IamSherwood]

Is there a hazard if you put galvinized metal in?

[olcowhand]

Is there a hazard if you put galvinized metal in?

I'd think it would give off the fumes that happen when you weld galvanized metal, so very dangerous to breathe. If in the open & you stay away from fumes, you'd be fine.

[IamSherwood]

Yes, I know about the fumes when welding to galvinized metal. I do that outside.
So, I'll be good hanging the sleeve hitch adaptor in the bubble bath, cause that's outside.
The 3 1/2" tube on it is galv. the rest not.