Product to clean rusty bolts/screws

alphacrimedog · 11-11-2002, 10:23 PM

Does anyone know any products or tricks to clean rusty screws or bolts? Is there a product or some tried and true method to soak these parts in something that will help rid them of surface rust?

korijo · 11-11-2002, 10:31 PM

POR 15 has a cleaner product called Marine Clean. Aggitate and Soak for an hour, and rinse with water. Then, another product (by POR 15) called Metal Ready neutralizes any left over surface rust. Rinse thuroghly with water. Then paint or coat with silicon.

alphacrimedog · 11-11-2002, 10:57 PM

Great. Where can I find these products?

korijo · 11-11-2002, 11:05 PM

At your FLAPS or here :POR 15
HTH.

LHAYES · 11-12-2002, 05:31 AM

If you're a glutton for punishment or just like to tinker around with things check out http://www.oldengine.org/members/billd/electrol.htm
This process would probably work better on bigger parts but I'm going to try it with a bucket of rusty nuts and bolts.

rhaas · 11-12-2002, 05:56 AM

A method I have used in the past is using a rock tumbler. You use a sand and antifreeze solution. Drop the bolts/nuts in the tumbler with the antifreeze solution and let the tumbler do its action. This cleans bolts and nuts up real good.

URY914 · URY914's Garage

Will the electrolysis process work on aluminum??? Or will is eat it up?
Anyone know.

KWales · 11-12-2002, 01:44 PM

No,

Don't try aluminum or mag- this is only for steel or iron. I use lye ( 1 TBS per gallon of water) and a stainless steel rod as a positive electrode. The lye eats the paint off the part as it is being derusted. The rust is reduced to a black slime that comes off with a little scrubbing from a wire brush.

Use a stainless electrode. For my first try, a 1/8"x2" steel strap was used as the positive elecode. It was "eaten" (rusted) in two in about 6 hours. After treatment, the parts seem to be "charged" and have laid around in the garage in an unpainted condition for 3 or 4 months.

Ken

gint · 11-12-2002, 05:05 PM

Glass bead in the blast cabinet. Smaller screws, nuts bolts go in a glass jar. I shake the contents of the jar while blasting the parts inside it.

Or I just buy new ones.

alphacrimedog · 11-12-2002, 05:24 PM

yeah, I thought about buying new parts but at $12 a side for screws and washers for the rocker panels and a little more for the hardware to do the front and rear valances, I'll look for a way to clean what I have up and save myself $100.

gint · 11-12-2002, 06:16 PM

Yup. That $100 can go towards a blast cabinet.

24flys · 24flys's Garage

try a grinding wheel with a steel brush on it, it'll take the rust right off. make sure you use some vise grips or something to hold the bolts so you don't take the skin off your fingers!

good luck

24flys

74914 · 11-13-2002, 04:25 AM

I found blast cabinet plans for free on the web. 2-4x8 plywood pieces and I scrounged together the rest (hardware, plexi, etc. Bought a gun at K-mart for $9 and a 50 lb bag of black beauty for $12 and blast from a bucket. I vent it with a shop vac that I place outside the garage and run the hose through the window. That was about a year ago and I still have the bag.
Oh yeah, used compressor for $85.
Ed

gint · 11-13-2002, 04:47 AM

I try to use existing hardware wherever I can as long as it's feasible. The state (and price) of metric hardware around here is...

I don't even want to get started on that rant.

And you know how it goes. When you want a metric fitting you usually want it *now*. You order all of your parts for a job, strip/break a rusty fastener while taking everything apart. I hate to mail order a few bolts to finish a project. And then the cost of some of that metric stuff...

There I go again.

Dave at Pelican Parts · Dave at Pelican Parts's Garage

Hint, Mike--

Caterpillar dealer. They are supposedly the single largest seller of metric fasteners on the planet. And they're all over the place, particularly in Farm Country, where you usually won't find metric specialty shops.

--DD