I'm currently preparing a reel for painting and have used paint stripper to remove the paint. The reel has some minor surface rust and still requires a bit of work before it's ready for a coat of primer.
As you would all know the shape of the reel makes it difficult to get a wire brush into the corners etc.
So I am thinking of giving it an electrolysis bath which from what I have seen appears to be a very effective method to clean steel of rust and surface contaminants.
Just wondering if anyone here has tried this on their reels previously or any reason why this may not be a good idea for mower reels?
I have used a caustic soda bath using a battery charger on several reels. They have come out nice and clean after washing with the pressure washer and no damage to the shaft where the bearings sit. You need to dry asap and get a coat of primer on or a coat of oil where the bearings go or the rust will be back.
Hello tomkatoz Many thanks for that offer - as it gives us a resolution.
Many folks are interested in the best methods here. Cleaning and restoring reels has always been labour-intensive. Any method that makes this easier is most welcome.
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.
I've set one of these baths up yesterday from scratch within 15 minutes and had a SB 14 inch reel in there over night. Now this reel was so caked with rust I didn't believed that this method would solve it.
Well it went in at 1.00pm yesterday and came out at 9.30 this morning and I couldn't believe my eyes when it looked just like it went in, but after running my finger along one of the blades and all the paint remnants and massive rust wiped straight off I was sold.
I've now got the 14 inch bare chassis in there now, so guess what I'll be doing tomorrow ?
Being that I'm an Electroplated by trade this was never the way we cleaned up metal but then we didn't have the time to spend on cleaning like this either. As a home method I can highly recommend this method. The only concern I do have is that Hydrogen Embrittlement might play a role in this method which makes steel more brittle and heat treating is the only answer to relieve the stress out of it.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
BB, I�m pretty enthused with electrolysis. I am running three tanks, a 20 litre plastic bucket, a 200 litre plastic drum, and plastic stock trough. The bigger the container, the slower it works, but then again, the bigger the container, the greater the surface of the item being cleaned. Do you have any advice on the amperage to use - how high is too high!
I'm using a modified battery charger that's pushing up to 16 amps, which certainly speeds up the process. You can pump plenty in, but I wouldn't go above 30 amps that's if you've got a large enough Power Supply that can handle that.
In the plating game we had supplies that could throw up to 500 amps but that's a monster unit and was only ever used on the Chrome bath where you initially hit the item with high current and then reduced it for a period of around 3 minutes depending on thickness of plating wanted. There's a formula used for working out current in plating and it works on surface area of the item, but for what we are doing here up to 10amps is all you'd ever want.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
