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| Rust removal on linear bearings and ballscrews? |
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| PekkaNF:
Some electronics industry have been shipped to china and our scrapyards are filled with component placement machines. I got some parts that I could use on one experiment. Balltracks seem to be unaffected, but other surfaces has some rust. I'm drying them out on the garage. What is a good way to stabilize them and then remove offending rust and grime. I'm 100% sure I have to make some plastic dummies to keep the balls inside the nuts/runners and then remove those out of rails. Plan (needs review and updates): 1) stabilize 2) make dummies, fill bearings with grease, move ballnuts/runners on dummies. 3) Clean the ballrails ballscrews 4) Purge ballnuts/runners with some sort of grease What do you think? Pekka |
| Pete W.:
Hi there, Pekka, First of all, it's important to remember that 1 inch of steel makes 13 inches of rust so don't panic! It looks worse than it is! There have been a couple of threads on here describing removal by chemical methods and by electrolysis, I haven't tried those myself but no doubt the folks who have will contribute here. If you're forced to remove rust by hand, assuming that the rust attack is spotty or patchy, I think it's important to confine your work to the actual area of the rust and leave the rust-free parts alone. My own preference is to use a scraper followed by a glass fibre brush. Several suppliers in the UK here stock a glass fibre brush whose bristles can be retracted into the handle, rather like the lead extension/retraction mechanism of a propelling pencil. It can be quite labour intensive and time consuming but good results can be achieved. |
| awemawson:
As many will know from my previous postings, I greatly favour Citric Acid.Very effective and safe to the hands as well as safe to dispose of - after all it's only lemon juice. I used about a cup full of crystals to a two gallon bucket but the actual dilution is not very critical. Andrew |
| PekkaNF:
I normally would attack rust with citric acid or phtosphorous acid, but these are precision parts and I don't want to mess with ball tracks. Glass fibre brush sounds interesting. Never seen one. Would like to have one. Pekka |
| awemawson:
Citric acid will only remove the rust and leave sound steel untouched. Fibreglass brush will erode both. Andrew |
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