TECH: Gas Tank Rust Removal with a Battery Charger

Just wanted to say this worked awesome.

Have some 3.5 gallon fat bobs on a '49 I picked up and the left side tank was in pretty rough shape. Ended up doing the process 3 different times totaling around 12 hours and the tank looks great inside. It's not perfect but it'll work just fine!

gonna try it !

could this be set-up as a tank to de-chrome parts ?

Originally Posted by some1else

could this be set-up as a tank to de-chrome parts ?

The process is similar. There are forums on Caswell's site that will go into depth.

thanks great info just when i thought i new it all

awesome can't wait to try this

Awesome!!

I am trying it on a set of harley split tanks right now. Walmart doesnt carry washing soda anymore, but if you heat baking soda in the oven in a pan it converts it. Hope this helps someone

great write up.love these tips and tricks!

i just halfazzed shook some nuts and bolts and PB Blaster around in a tank and called it good, now i have to drain the gas and try this out.

Originally Posted by some1else

could this be set-up as a tank to de-chrome parts ?

You can use acid (diluted) instead of baking soda as the solution. My understanding (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that plating the metal is reverse polarity of what we see in this thread. So instead of having the positive on the anode and the negative on whatever you're trying to get the rust off, the negative is the anode and the positive is the part/whatever you're trying to plate. Basically the metals migrate from one to the other.
See what you're doing is creating a continuous circuit with electricity, and you're solution is forming that circuit. You could form a circuit in anything, a bucket, a rubber maid tub, whatever's laying around. Baking soda is just less caustic than acid from my understanding, and will not remove chrome or harder metals, just oxidation.

What I'm going to do using this info is try out a parts bath out of a 5 gal. bucket. I'm just trying to remove rust off chrome forks, I'll dip one end in, watch it and wait, then dip the other in without taking it apart. I'll tie all the other parts I'm doing to a chain.

Now I haven't tried any of this that I'm talking about, but plan on it in the next couple weeks. I've been hemming and hawing over what to do with the Indian tank for a while. I was thinking about doing this method to it, but now I'm just going to take it to get dipped at a radiator shop then tigged, turns out it's all held together with JB weld and shit.

Ok thinking about this real quick while I was out, what about plating chrome using aluminum? I used aluminum foil as a polish, it tends to stick to chrome and polishes it up nice.

What if I used this baking soda bath method, positive on the anode, to get all the rust off. Then use a piece of aluminum bar as the anode and switch the polarity (neg on the aluminum anode)? haha home chrome plating. At least that would be better than using aluminum foil to polish it up temporarily.

Well I'm talking to myself
Got a parts bath rigged up, it's really easy. Will post up with pics later, really have to start a build thread. It doesn't take long to polish up chrome bits, just like polishing coins. I did the springer last night, very stress free. DO NOT try the aluminum method I talked about earlier. Just heartache.

I plated a headlight ring in copper (it was already solid brass) by using the battery charger hooked up to copper wire and a giant copper nut as the sacrificial annode? I forget the polarity I used when I did it. But it only took a couple minutes to start seeing a reaction.

Fool around with it. Or check out caswell plating's online forums.

thanks tito, I'll have to get back to it. This shit's fun, I have a lot of parts to wash up though.
Like you said, plating copper onto brass probably has something to do with similar and dis-similar metals.
Plating Aluminum onto steel probably isn't going to happen, but copper to brass would work.
The thing was that it looked like it was working, but just ended up pulling chrome off--even though polarity was reversed, which was odd to me. I think the aluminum was suspended in the bath but couldn't plate the steel.
I'll have to check that website you're talking about and learn the different stages.
I'm pretty sure there are stages to chroming, soft to harder metals. IIRC it's something like steel to copper, nickel, then chromium.
Another note, I try to pour these baths down the sink when I'm done. IMO it's better off being treated at the plant than ending up in the environment.

I am having trouble getting my charger to output when connected to the rod and tank. 3 chargers and all do nothing. I tested for continuity prior to putting the solution in the tank and it was good. Could it be a grounding issue no that I have added the water and nuts/bolts?

i had a similar issue with mine. could be paint where you were clamping the negative clamp. has to be metal

This is really really cool!