Dennis Wilson wrote:
>
> Can one make ones own home hot tank??
>
> If so how? I know its NaOH, but at what molarity? At what temp? Any other
> chemicals?
*** According to ``How to Restore your Collector Car'' by Tom Brownell,
an alkali solution is used to remove grease. He recommends 6&1/2 ounces of
lye added to two gallons of water in a ten-quart pail. Apparently, it
doesn't eat metal at all, because he also recommends making up & using a
larger batch with the same proportions in a 50-gallon drum. He also
recommends heating the lye. You elevate the drum or pail, and build
a fire under it ( or use a propane stove ). And you use ample safety
garb when dealing with it: ``rubber gloves, a face shield, full covering
of old clothes, including a plastic or rubber apron''.
There are more instructions than what I just said: you should really
get the book.
Once you remove the grease with an alkali, you can remove the rust in
an acid bath. I use ``metalprep'', diluted as instructed on the bottle.
I keep my metalprep in a hermetically-sealed plastic bucket: So far its
been sitting there for 5 years, and it still works!
- Jerry Kaidor
p.s. Make sure you rinse it good between degreasing and derusting, or
you're liable to get splashed!
p.p.s. Don't derust high-carbon or spring steel: the acid solution will
eat it alive! This effect is called ``Hydrogen embrittlement''. I threw
some split lockwashers in my derusto bath once, just for yucks. They came
out looking like bits of something that came out of a volcano.
>
> What will this "eat"? Will it touch any ferrous metals?? Does it remove
> paint? Will it remove rust, I doubt it but it might change it somehow?
>
> Cheers Dennis
>
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