Alternatives to Shield Technology Restore Rust Remover?

This stuff is a big improvement on phosphoric acid because it dissolves rust but not metal, but it's really pricey. They push it as good value because your 500ml at £24 makes 20 Liters, but it doesn't take much surface area of metal to deplete it. There isn't a generic name for this modern type of rust remover so it's hard to Google up alternatives, so: Are there any similar but cheaper products out there? Thanks, Scrim

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Scrim
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The electroplating professionals use inhibited hydrochloric acid to pickle steel.Leaves it clean and greyish.It also attacks the oxides but leaves the base metal alone.It has to be flushed off,preferably with an alkali solution to neutralise it after the process,then the parts must be protected immediately as they will go red straight away.

Reply to
mark

I have been using brick and concrete cleaner from the local builder merchants, read the label it needs to say 90% hydrochloric acid or similar if it says green or less than 10% ear of bat, 10% tongue of newt then don't waste your money.

I bought it mainly for descaling black plate prior to machining but I have dropped some very corroded thread cutting taps into it just to see what they came out like. The came out matt grey as Mark says and given the state of the original taps they came out brilliant, they even had a sharp edge, whether this was etched by the acid I don't know. Costs about =A37 a gallon where I go.

John S.

Reply to
John S

Only really suitable for items you can immerse in a bucket, but I've had excellent results using electrolytic rust removal. The process only remove rust, not base metal. Just needs a suitable power supply (I use a 12v/4amp battery charger), and a sprinkle of washing soda.

Mike

Reply to
mikecb1

Ah,so you don`t immerse your stuff.Please expand as it seems interesting.

Mark.

Reply to
mark

Mark, This process DOES require immersion. I also use plastic planter troughs which have about a 600mm diagonal although check that they are type without drain holes.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Minchin

I looked at that comment and thought Mike had failed to mention that the washing soda was added to water so I can see the sense in Marks comment. Personally I've used electrolytic de-rusting on a number of items and am a fan. IIRC if using a battery charger it requires a dumb one as apparently the intelligent ones will just shut down and wont work for this purpose. Mine is a bit thick as it is quite happy in that use and not aware of no battery. Plenty of information out there such as

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3 other bookmarked links are now dead so a new search for further information may be required.
Reply to
David Billington

Ive just bought some Bilt Hamber de-ox gel (they also do crystals to mix with water) when I was ordering some other (car related) stuff. Not used it yet so cant give first hand results, but have some bits to do over weekend. Dave

Reply to
dave sanderson

Thanks. I like the sound of the electrolytic process. Hydrochloric - does it really only dissolve the rust and not the metal? Later today I managed to find some other products that seem similar to the Shield Technology product. One is Evapo-Rust and another Expro-32. I've ordered some of the latter and I'll report back if it impresses me. Evapo-Rust sounds interesting. According to the description it should be able to dissolve a lot of rust before it's depleted, but I'd already ordered the Expro-32, so maybe I'll get that another time...

Reply to
Scrim

Hydrochloric - does it

Only if you use the inhibited version.

Reply to
mark

I use Evaporust because it is non-corrosive and does not harm other metals, unlike many similar treatments. For the technically minded it is a chelating agent like EDTA.

Cliff Coggin.

Reply to
Cliff Coggin

I think these modern non-corrosives are going to be better for my home use, but what inhibitor do they use?

Scrim

Reply to
Scrim

I wonder if the high price of this stuff is a consequence of the ingredients being expensive or the recipe being secret? I read about the chelating agent - do you know what the other ingredients are?

Scrim

Reply to
Scrim

I seem to recall some vague information on the manufacturers website, though I have forgotten precisely what it was. Evaporust is expensive at £36 per US gallon, but I regard it as a small price to pay for an effective product that does no harm to me, the environment, or the customers work.

Cliff Coggin.

Reply to
Cliff Coggin

makes 20 Liters, but it doesn't take much

An old trick is to use household white vinegar. Use enough to

*completely* immerse the rusted object. Once the vinegar is in the plastic pail, start mixing in normal table salt until no more will dissolve. Keep stirring and adding salt until you know for sure that saturation has been achieved. It may take a pound or more of salt per container of vinegar.

Now, immerse object in the mixture. Make SURE the object is completely immersed, or you will get a line across the metal where the surface was and you will NEVER get rid of it.

Check every few hours until all the rust is gone. Heavy rust may take an overnight soaking.

The liquid is reusable, depending on how much rust has been removed and may safely be dumped in a discrete corner when used up.

Try it. It's cheap and removes rust ONLY. It's all I use.

mike

Reply to
m II

It is the hugely destructive effects of people playing with acids that they don't understand, that have driven the market for safer non-destructive alternatives, which is precisely where this thread started. I suggest, as a chemist most of my life, that people properly research the effects of acids on metals before being tempted to use the discredited technique mentioned above.

Cliff Coggin.

Reply to
Cliff Coggin

In article , Cliff Coggin writes

Cliff,

Whilst I would agree that it is perhaps unwise to encourage the uninitiated to start using strong acids like sulphuric, hydrochloric*, or nitric*. I think you are perhaps taking paranoia to extremes when you extend such a warning to the use of household vinegar.

Note Mike was not even recommending the use of glacial (100%) acetic acid, which can be damaging to fabric if not washed of, and moderately irritating to the skin. Household vinegar is typically 5-8% acetic acid.

I don't know why you describe the above technique as "discredited"; I have not tried it and can't comment from experience, but I am interested to hear why you make the claim. Personally, I would provisionally assume that if Mike says he has tried it and it works, that he was telling the truth unless I had some strong evidence to the contrary. You seem to have this, so please enlighten us.

*I'd be very reluctant to have hydrochloric acid in my workshop - not because of its hazard as a liquid (which is high, but manageable to the trained), but because HCl is a gas, and the acid, about 36% aqueous solution of HCl, gives off the gas and will corrode most metals within a pretty wide radius. Enough will leak out of most containers to do this. Nitric acid is similar. Sulphuric acid, though extremely dangerous if you don't know how to handle it, does not give off corrosive vapours unless heated.

David

Reply to
David Littlewood

I wish certain people would just find a few rusty bolts, washers and nuts. Then they could actually spend the cost of a few cups of coffee and buy salt and vinegar.

It's an easy enough process to try out and other than the smell of vinegar, has no bad side effects.

The last item I cleaned with this method was a badly rusted pair of needle nose pliers. After an overnight soak, they came out rust free. There WERE small pits in the metal where the rust had worked it's way in.

I should have mentioned that immediately after removal from the bath, the item(s) should be immediately rinsed with clean water and then dried.

The critics of this method have obviously never tried it. Their loss.

mike>

Reply to
m II

My experience with acid based rust removers is that they leave the metal in a highly reactive (dark colour and 'metallic smell') state that rusts just from being rinsed. One of the best features I found of 'Restore Rust Remover' was that it not only dissolved just the rust, but after a light scrubbing you were back to fairly passive bright steel. After scrubbing it recommended dipping back in the solution and wiping dry, which would make it even more passive. I think it was excellent, but about 10 times too expensive! Has anyone else used 'Restore' and compared it to other products?

Scrim

Reply to
Scrim

David. It's not the potential for personal injury I referred to, any fool who plays with acids without learning of their hazards deserves whatever injuries he gets. No, it was the damage to the metal I referred to. Penetration of the hydrogen ion into the crystal structure of the metal leads to long term degradation and frequently creates nodes on which future rusting is accelerated. That is just the effect on steel when only one metal is involved. Composite articles containing two or more metals will also suffer various electrolytic effects which will exacerbate the damage.

You have to ask yourself why institutions like ship builders and navies the world over, who jointly probably have the biggest and most damaging problem with rusting steel, spend fortunes on complex rust treatments if was as simple as dipping in a vat of salt and vinegar!

Cliff.

Reply to
Cliff Coggin

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