No Tank Electrolysis or Anodising?

[Lionelgee]

Originally Posted by Grant McCullough

It is called electrolytic or electroplating, it shows him making his plating solution by dissolving the zinc strip from a battery directly into phosphoric acid. By using the brushing method he is applying a zinc plate (Rust protection)to the steel rim wiith the benefit of filling any small pitted areas too. I believe the phosphoric acid also chemically changes the red rust into black iron oxide, which also protects from corrosion. The sanding is to remove any high spots in the plating process and to give a good surface for paint adhesion. Here are a few videos describing the processes .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?=G-PtnwtOR24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Urr8BzgUog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS8Cke3CLC4
On some phosphoric acid based rust remover/converter products I have seen, they have a warning ...May cause hydrogen embrittlement.

The old dnepr/ural looks much nicer now.

Hello Grant,

Thank you for identifying the process used to restore the Soviet motor bike's wheel rims. It is named in the second video as "Brush Plating".

I was surprised when the voice over came on the first youTube link and it was a Geoffrey Croker video. I watch Geoffrey's Land Rover Series 3 restoration videos as I have projects of the same ilk.

The second video shows a commercially available version of the Soviet home-made process. Thank you also for posting the clip about the phosphoric treatment. Maybe I should of persevered with my Senior Chemistry for longer than a week, before swapping out to another subject!

It is good to know what the process is called "Brush Plating"; or as Youtube has informed me, the process is also known as "Wand Plating". I am off to watch some more YouTube clips :0)

Kind regards
Lionel