[maple_leaf_eh]

You guys are a bad influence. I decided that chemicals and solvents were too much trouble to attack rusted parts, so I made a backyard electrolysis tank. The difficult step was finding washing soda in Canada. It seems to be an America only consumer product. Fortunately, one of the pages I read described how to convert baking powder into washing soda. Bake it at 300 deg F for an hour to drive out an unwanted molecule.

The set up is my 12v battery charger through a leftover 12v battery, jumper cables, some steel plates, a pair of vise grips, some chain and a piece of steel fencepost, rainwater and couple tablespoons of the powder. I used copper wire to hang the parts from the chain.

Yes, it fizzed and yes the surface coatings were softened or slid off. More time in the tank is required. Hours (like overnight) versus 1 or 2 in the evening. Mark II will be bigger and deeper with more steel plates. I will try to rig some permanent hooks on the crossbar. The big question now is how to get good electrical contact for small parts like screws.