Question about Evaporust

[pj67coll]

Anbody ever used "Evaporust"? I'm attempting to restore an old hand drill, the kind with the extension that you lean against with your body to provide force when you are drilling. I can only dissassemble it so far and I can't separate the shaft from the chuck. I can see tiny ball bearings between two components and I'm wanting to take the rust off without damaging the surface of the ball bearings.

- Peter.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by pj67coll

Anbody ever used "Evaporust"? I'm attempting to restore an old hand drill, the kind with the extension that you lean against with your body to provide force when you are drilling. I can only dissassemble it so far and I can't separate the shaft from the chuck. I can see tiny ball bearings between two components and I'm wanting to take the rust off without damaging the surface of the ball bearings.

- Peter.

I've never bought evaporust because it is seriously expensive over here. I have used the competition - Rustyco. This stuff is similar.

In fact the Eastwoods rust dissolver is also similar

...as is the stuff you get as a preparation for POR15 and KBS.

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All of these products seem to work on OIL FREE surfaces that are immersed in the stuff for a lot longer than the adverts will lead you to believe!

If you include any muck or gunk in these baths you end up with sediment problems. I've seen people rigging up fish tank pumps (on the interweb) and such to try and stop sediment from settling - cos when it does it slows / stops the rust eating process.

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In the situation of an assembly you can't dismantle that was lubricated I think these products are unlikely to help.

Try and look for a penetrating oil that also kills rust. Over here "Brunox" do one that kind of makes an OK job in such situations - but whether you can get that in the US of A I don't know...

...there is probably an equivalent.

[ThatOne]

Originally Posted by pj67coll

Anbody ever used "Evaporust"? I'm attempting to restore an old hand drill, the kind with the extension that you lean against with your body to provide force when you are drilling. I can only dissassemble it so far and I can't separate the shaft from the chuck. I can see tiny ball bearings between two components and I'm wanting to take the rust off without damaging the surface of the ball bearings.

- Peter.

In my experience using Evaporust it has no obvious effect on un-rusted steel surfaces. If the ball bearings are not rusted it shouldn't effect them, if there is rust on the ball bearings or the races they run in that's a whole different situation. Then the rust will be removed and the underlying damage to the steel itself will be exposed.

[Stretch]

Oh I've just remembered another thing with these rust dissolvers: Some of them kill chrome - so you might find coatings gone as well. Check before use!

[pj67coll]

Would the ball bearings be chrome coated? I wouldn't think so but though I can just barely see them in the gap in the shaft there is no way I can get to them to see what they are comprised of? The warning about the bearing surfaces being problematic after de-rusting is well taken but as there is no way for me to get in there and look I' just have to try and experiment I guess.

- Peter.

[Stretch]

I'm in a slightly worse position as you as I can't see the drill! I dropped some shiny plated differential cogs into that Rustyco stuff I'm using and it turned the coating into back mush overnight.

That problem could been a cleanliness related problem too because the solution had been used to de-rust parts that originally had been galvanised. Leaving parts in some sort of electrolyte can promote a bit of dissimilar electrickery that starts a slow electroplating process - so stuff gets transferred through out the bath from surface to surface and muck to muck and muck to surface etc.

On the whole these products do a little bit of the "wonder stuff" they are meant to do but if you are introducing grotty / dirty stuff it can sometimes have a bit of an unexpected effect (if the dreaded sludge doesn't get to it first).

Because you are trying to free up a greasy closed environment I'd stick with the oil based (penetrating oil) solutions if you can find them.

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Because you are trying to free up a greasy closed environment I'd stick with the oil based (penetrating oil) solutions if you can find them.

I do have PB Blaster which seems to work well in that respect but I'm not sure how it'll deal with rust. But then I can't even see if there is significant internal rust in this area so it's all guess work at this stage.

- Peter.

[tyl604]

Why not use WD40 just to be safe?

[strelnik]

Originally Posted by pj67coll

I do have PB Blaster which seems to work well in that respect but I'm not sure how it'll deal with rust. But then I can't even see if there is significant internal rust in this area so it's all guess work at this stage.

- Peter.

Believe it or not, I have also had great success with..... boiling water!

If these pieces are stuck together with rust, boiling in a pot for about 30 min followed by a soak in vinegar made the parts loose enough to be taken apart and in my case, the shaft cleaned with a fiberglass wheel.

[greazzer]

I tried it on an exhaust header and it really did little. The deep pitted rust remained and I could see where even the rust dug into the grainy parts were not phased at all. I cleaned the heck out of the part, and all I noticed that the Evaporust turned black. I considered it a waste of $25 bucks a gallon.

[billythekid]

Evapo-Rust is a great product. it may cost a little more than some of the others, but in my opinion it is far better than the rest. the liquid does turn black but it will still remove the rust. if you add heat to it, it will speed up the process.

[greazzer]

Not sure it will work on cast. My header's rust wasn't really removed. It was warm outside and it sat overnight, and then another overnight and after two days ... no great results. Could have been the cast ... who knows. It gets great reviews on the net.

[pj67coll]

All interesting ideas folks, thanks for the input. I've got part of it soaking in PB Blaster. I hope to attack it properly this weekend. The boiling water idea is interesting. The internal rust is something I mostly can't get to physically so I have to try other options. The external stuff I can clean with a wire wheel if necessary. Because I can't separate the shaft I'll have to experiment and see what works. If I screw it up it'll be a learning experience and I'll know what not to do on the next one. if it works out I might post some before and after pic's.

- Peter.

[Mike D]

Soaking in plain vinegar works at removing rust also. The nice thing about vinegar is you can heat the solution in a pan without any fire risk. There might be an "ire" risk if you do this when the significant other is home though.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/body-repair/344019-ketchup-vinegar-wire-brush-3-days-%3Dalmost-no-rust-3.html

No matter which method you use, if the surfaces of the bearings has deteriorated then they are compromised. Many of the older ball bearings were indeed chrome coated. When the coating is worn away the softer material beneath rapidly degrades.

[elchivito]

I found an old, rusted Colt DA 41 in the barn. It wouldn't cycle. Originally nickel plated but about half the plating was gone. Soaked it in Kroil for a couple of days, then hosed it down with WD40 and blew it dry with my air compressor. Put it into the sonic cleaner for a bath and it came out working fairly well. The Kroil did remove the rust and reveal the metal damage beneath, didn't hurt the remaining nickel at all. I've also resurrected old carbon steel folding knives with Kroil, but it will leave a dark patina on carbon steel if left to soak too long.