The Hodaka Club Forum

I wanted to get some feedback from people who have used Rustol. I read it can be reused to do more than 1 tank. Is that correct?

I'll bite.
Yes, I've used Rustol. Good stuff, and yes you can re-use it. There's a thousand recipes and methods out there - vinegar, electrolysis, etc. I've grown to like Phosphoric Acid (cheap and easy to get at home improvement stores, can use straight or dilute). I would stay away from Muriatic acid.
Lot's of stuff works, so go with whatever happens to float your particular boat.

I used Apple Cider Vinegar straight. Works best if it sits for a week but I did 2 days and got most of the rust out of the Wombat tank. Cheap, too.

I had 4 tanks I bought. 2 were rusted a little and the other 2 pretty rusty. To clean them I bought 4 Gal's Metal Rescue on Ebay poured about a quart or more in each tank then filled the tanks with about a very large cup full of BB's small nuts and bolts. I sealed off the petcocks screwed the cap down good and duct taped the cap to the tank. Wife gave me a large bed blanket, I wrapped the tank in the blanket and duct taped it around the tank. Put the tank and blanket with some pillows to hold it tight and put it in my wife's Dryer. Turned it on for around 45 min checking it off and on, turning it around and off and on.When done it was really clean inside.

Then poured all the crap out, washed it out with water then put in a fresh 1/2 Gal of Metal Rescue and let it sit for a few days moving it around everyday. They all came out lookin clean. Some of the tanks took longer in the dryer because more rust. I also set the dryer to low heat and no heat just wanted the bb's and nuts to do there thing breaking up the rust. I tried alot of different rust removers and I think Metal Rescue works best.
MTRob

Just did a tank for my KT. Rust blisters inside but not real bad. I just wanted to clean what was there and stop future rust. Did the nuts and bolts inside and about 30min worth of shaking, sliding and jigging it around inside. Bolts worked the best, had ried large bottle of 1000s of BBs, and abrasive beads from my vibrating parts cleaner.

For treatment inside I put in what I had left of a gallon of Metal Rescue, it did something but not much(in a few hours). I have liked the results I have gotten using Krud Killer Rust treatment on parts that I clean and prep for powder coating or paint. Its a rust remover and converter. I get it by the gallon but can be little hard to find by the gallon. Here it is in a smaller bottle.

http://www.amazon.com/KUTTER-MR32-32-Ou ... iller+Rust

Most of these are based upon Phosphoric acid in different dilutions. The Kud Kutter works best for me, you can see it bubbling and working and treatment time is measure in mins to a few hours. I think Metal Rescue may produce similar results over a longer period of time, more diluted I suspect.

Once treated, rinse and dried, then coated with two stroke oil until I start putting fuel inside.

Pictures, Before and After would aid this post immensely. Show your rusty nuts, your process,containers, all you can.

I recently bought a tool canister for an Ace 100 from Ebay. As you can see by the photo, it is plenty rusty. Inside is worse.
I soaked it for 3 days is a solution of 2/3 white vinegar and 1/3 phosphoric acid. It did a great job. I will post a photo of the final results as soon as I have completed the process.

Agree but hard to get pics inside the tank. I use my bore scope to inspect the inside the tank. Next time I will try to take pics of the bore cam display. Here are what pics I took but cannot see the rust that was at the bottom or on the sides, just the tunnel what was not bad.

So you really want to see my Rusty Nut, OK, you asked for it you got it, cover your eyes now!!

Do not have a final treatment pic but a mid process pic, still more treatment occurred, but can see the progress.
There was much more rust in the bottom and sides than on the tunnel.

Note on use of phosphoric acid.

I had a gallon shipped to me by mistake when I order a gallon of Propylene Glycol ( for use in humidity control in cigar humidor)

Turns out to be lucky for me as now I have a gallon of the stuff that is the base for most of these rust treatments.

But

At 85% phosphoric acid its too strong and MUST be diluted, the issue is now much. In talking to my powder coating guy he uses a solution at 17% phosphoric acid and he has bubblers in his tanks to agitate the parts. At 85% the acid is like a light syrup and too thick for use in a spray bottle.
I tried it at 70% and still too thick and dries with white globs which are rock hard and needed to re-blast to remove. Currently I am trying 50% solution,he suggested, which does work in the spray bottle. The desire is to use the phosphoric acid to spritz down parts fresh out of the blaster cabinet in prep for powder coat or paint, vs parts that need to be soaked to reach areas that cannot be blasted or inside of tanks.

The solution needs to be such that it will dry and not leave a residue on the part. If the part is to be washed off with water first it needs to be with water that has a pinch of sodium hydroxide, else flash surface rust will occur. I generally spay and just set aside to dry, little harder now in cooler winter temps.

50% still seems a little strong, at todays temps, maybe fine at summer temps. Going to try 30% next.

Of course proper handling of any acid needs to be observed and when mixing always pour acid into water vs water into acid, you want any splashing to be water vs acid.

I didnt use Rustol on this one. I bought some anhydrous citric acid and mixed it up in water. It was $15 for 3 pounds and I used a cup with 2 gallons of water.

Pretty good results, but no rust inhibitor after the fact.

[URL=http://s33.photobucket.com/user/AJ ... .jpg[/img][/url]
[URL=http://s33.photobucket.com/user/AJ ... .jpg[/img][/url]

Also going to test this product on another tank I have. Will report results, before and after.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005FM ... UTF8&psc=1

Milkstone remover by Dairyland works real well, although keeping the mixture temperature maintained 80 deg or more for 24 hrs works the best.
It is available at most farm/ranch supply stores by the gallon and much less than the advertised rust removers that have come onto the market.