The electrolysis bath has been completed and I have to say I am very impressed by the results and the relative ease of the whole process.
I've attached some photos show the before and after shots and also my set-up of the electrolysis tank.
As you can see by the photo of the reel before the electrolysis, the reel wasn't badly corroded. However I'd already spent about 2 hours applying paint stripper and attacking it with a wire brush. This proved frustrating as it was hard to get good purchase on the reel with the brush due to the odd angles involved - hence why I started researching the electrolysis method.
The tank set-up is basically two small sections of re-bar (300mm long) wired to the side of a plastic crate. The reel was then suspended in the crate via a wire coat-hanger. The crate was filled with 60 liters of tap water with about 15 tablespoons of old fashion washing-soda (sodium carbonate) which helps the water become more conductive (so I've read). I then connected a normal 12V car battery charger to the tank, attaching the negative to the reel and the positive to the re-bar. The two re-bars have a wire electrically connecting them to each other to help the electrolysis process (the yellow wire you can see running around the outside of the crate).
I basically followed this youtube tutorial for my set-up. ()
I was amazed how quickly the rust started to lift after only 30 minutes. After 3 hours it had really started to clean up and the rust and paint could be wiped off with my finger. I left it 24 hours just to get it really clean and was very impressed with the results. I was surprised just how much rust was removed and also the amount of old paint that was lifted too.
The rust and paint had turned to a paste and after a quick wash off with a high pressure cleaner and 5 minutes later the reel was ready to paint. Even a normal garden hose would have cleaned it off just fine.
A quick coat of primer and then the first of two top coats of enamel and she's all done.
Overall, a really easy process with next to no effort required once the reel has been bathed and the electrolysis has done its thing.
