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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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