electrolysis

[buckeyehunter]

[Bell-Two]

Thanks Mike for the detailed instructions, I have a couple of old chargers I think I will try it out!

[OhioCoinHunter]

Mike, I watched your video yesterday and left comments. That is a neat little setup. Thanks for showing how you made it. I can't wait to make one and try it out.

[buckeyehunter]

Mike, I watched your video yesterday and left comments. That is a neat little setup. Thanks for showing how you made it. I can't wait to make one and try it out.

I seen you left a comment, thanks! it works great! If you ever get time i would love to see your big setup sometime!

[Goes4ever]

I heard you can use a car battery charger to do really large items, anyone ever try that?

[OhioCoinHunter]

Mike, I watched your video yesterday and left comments. That is a neat little setup. Thanks for showing how you made it. I can't wait to make one and try it out.

I seen you left a comment, thanks! it works great! If you ever get time i would love to see your big setup sometime!

Here's my setup:







Here are some "Before & After" pics:

A skillet I restored





A cast iron dutch oven I restored for a friend

[OhioCoinHunter]

Let me add that since those pics of my electro tank were taken, I've made two changes:

A. I cut about a foot or so of the plastic drum off to make it shorter.

B. I set the drum on a drum dolly so I can easily wheel it around in the garage.

The inside of the tank is lined with sheet metal panels that I bolted together. All the carbon and rust go from the object being cleaned to the stainless steel. When I want to clean the stainless steel lining, I hang a junk skillet in the tank and reverse the battery cables. Then all the crud stuck to the stainless steel goes to the junk skillet. The solution in the tank lasts a long time. I've had it in there for about a year and have cleaned many cast iron pieces. It does an excellent job. A large tank like this would come in real handy for large iron relics.

[buckeyehunter]

Dan, that is absolutely amazing! thanks for sharing that, I am AMAZED at how well those pans came clean, they look BRAND NEW!

[Goes4ever]

great setup Dan can you explain more about yours? What is your power source, why so many clips?

[OhioCoinHunter]

Dan, that is absolutely amazing! thanks for sharing that, I am AMAZED at how well those pans came clean, they look BRAND NEW!

Thanks. I also love to go to flea markets and auctions to look for old cast iron skillets, dutch ovens, corn bread/muffin molds, bread pans and other cast iron antiques that are highly collectible. I've gotten lucky and found some "gems in the rough." I have my own set of cast iron that I use. The rest I get my hands on I restore and sell to collectors. Last year I was torn between hunting for cast iron and metal detecting. Metal detecting won and I didn't find and restore much cast iron. It will be the same this year.

[OhioCoinHunter]

great setup Dan can you explain more about yours? What is your power source, why so many clips?

The power source is a car battery charger. I usually like to keep 40 amps of electricity pumping through the solution in the tank. The solution is water and Ph+. As the solution heats up, it will pull more amps. So even if the charger is set on 40 amps, the amp meter on the charger will eventually begin to increase. When that happens, I just put the charger on 25 amps and it'll stay around 40 or 50 amps.

The clips on the stainless angle bar across the top are to keep the bar from moving or from falling off the tank if it is accidently bumped. You don't absolutely need them. But I like to use them to keep that bar still even if it is bumped. (The reason for that is explained in the next paragraph.) I hang the cast iron piece to be cleaned from the bar. The piece must be completely submerged in the solution. Then I hook the negative charger cable to the stainless bar and the positive charger cable to the stainless steel lining inside the drum. Lately I've been clamping a vice grip wrench onto the top of the lining sticking out of the solution. Then I attached the positive clamp to that. The reason for that is because the white bubbles rise and get on the battery charger clamp and muck it up. (The other reason for the vice grips is also explained below.) There is an element of danger when using electrolysis to clean items.

It only takes a few hours to clean up most pieces, however you can leave stuff cooking for as long as 24 hours. Here's a word of caution. Those pretty white bubbles are full of hydrogen gas...the same gas that was inside the Hindenburg blimp when it exploded. The bubbles, which are very difficult to ignite, are highly flammable. A guy on the cast iron forum where I used to post said he had his electro tank fired up in his basement. He heard a very loud blast that sounded like someone fired a shotgun inside the house. An electric spark from one of the battery cable clamps ignited the bubbles. Thankfully his house didn't burn to the ground, but he got the fright of his life. I use those clips you asked about to help keep everything nice and still so no sparks are created. That's also why the ends of the metal clips are rubber - spark reduction.

The negative battery cable is clamped on the bar right next to the clip to help ensure the battery clamp doesn't move and create a spark. That's also why I now attach the positive battery cable clamp to vice grips instead of directly on the steel lining in the drum. It raises the clamp up away from the bubbles. You've got to be very careful. If you don't blow up your house or your self, you end up with a really nice piece of iron.

I have a few other tricks for restoring cast iron, but that's in addition to electro which is the primary interest here. I really like Mike's setup for cleaning coins. I'm amazed at the before and after pics in his video. Awesome!

[buckeyehunter]

thanks for all the detail on how you built your big one, that is so freaking awesome, what a great job and a nice looking set-up.

I just threw mine together and plan on making it nicer including a nicer container. I was talking to Camb one day and he has a stailess steel bolt going through his plastic container to hook his lead up to. They can deffinently be made to look a whole lot prettier than mine.

[OhioCoinHunter]

thanks for all the detail on how you built your big one, that is so freaking awesome, what a great job and a nice looking set-up.

I just threw mine together and plan on making it nicer including a nicer container. I was talking to Camb one day and he has a stailess steel bolt going through his plastic container to hook his lead up to. They can deffinently be made to look a whole lot prettier than mine.

It doesn't matter how pretty it looks as long as it works. And yours works very well.

[Bell-Two]

I am going to make one of these I have two chargers I can use, one is 350 milliamps the other is 800 milliamps any recommendation on which one I should use?

[buckeyehunter]

I am going to make one of these I have two chargers I can use, one is 350 milliamps the other is 800 milliamps any recommendation on which one I should use?

350 milliamps would probably work best, less of a chance of cooking something to much!