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De-Rusting - Experiments with Citric Acid.
awemawson:
Should have used it on your pancakes yesterday on Shrove Tuesday
tom osselton:
Did you add more citric over the 12 days or used the same strenght?
Pete W.:
Hi there, Andrew and Tom,
Andrew, we had a surprise visit from family last evening bringing us an Indian take-away so pancakes were postponed. (It was a thank-you for a little paper-work help we'd rendered while #1 step-son was away working in foreign parts.)
Tom, no, I just left the solution as it was before I added the washing-up liquid (see an earlier post). I did stir it at intervals though.
Pete W.:
Hi there, all,
I recently bought a Myford accessory, the one with a 2 Morse taper shank and a replica of the Mandrel nose. It was a bit rusty so I decided to give it the citric acid treatment.
I didn't think to take a 'before' photo so I had to rustle the picture from the eBay listing - here's a cropped version of it:
I gave the item a good massage with water and washing-up liquid to get rid of any oil or grease, rinsed it off and then immersed it in citric acid solution, about four slightly heaped dessert spoons full in a 1 lb jam-jar of water.
After 24 hours immersion, it didn't look very different! It hadn't fizzed or bubbled like my earlier experimental objects did. I assume that the surface deposit wasn't the usual sort of rust. However, when I removed the item from the 'vat' (aka 'jam jar'), I was able to rub off most of the deposit with my fingers. A good rinse, a shake and a rinse in methylated spirits got us to this stage:
and the other side:
and a couple of views of the flange:
and:
As you can see, the surface is pitted and frosted between the pits. The photos make it look rustier than it does to the naked eye. Maybe I should have left it in the solution for longer, I still might do that. Otherwise, I might spin it in the lathe and apply some steel wool and/or some fine wet-and-dry paper. Watch this space!
efrench:
I use PhotoShop, but Microsoft Photo Editor also can change the color balance to make your pictures look more natural.
If you include a bit of white, black, or grey in the picture it will make the process easier.
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