Oxalic Acid Powder to remove rust - what ratio/how long?

[griff]

evening peeps

got some oxalic acid powder on the way from ebay to try and deal with some of the more crusty parts of the superfox
can anyone tell me what proportion of powder to water I need and how long to leave it in for?

oven cleaner/hammerite rust remover hasn't done much to be honest so thought this would be worth a go (then back to bendycat's peek/goddard's cloth stages)
now I just need to find a shallow tub long enough to fit the frame in!

thanks for any advice 

[Rodgy1970]

I got some a while back and I tried it out but I didn't note the ratio, does work well though.

The supplier said 250g to 1 litre but I reckoned that was a bit generous, I think 250g to 5 litres would work, if it didn't you could try 500g to 5 litres, it shouldn't do the steel any harm as far as I've read anyhow.

When you've finished you can use it to wash a concrete path or patio or path if you've got one.

[goosegp]

had some good results with OA
i mixed about 500g / 10 litres but i think it depends a lot on how patient you are, more diluted the longer it will take.
i ended up buying a cheap large square kitchen bin and dipping half a frame at a time. filled excess area around the frame with stones etc to reduce volume and then less mixture required.
didnt do any harm to steel or decals
just leave it in as long as it takes for the rust to react, you cant really leave it to long. left my frame in over night.
give it a good scrub and polish after.
i would recommend wearing some goggles to protect your eyes.

good luck

[griff]

thanks peeps for advice - will give the thing a bath when I get chance and post pics of how it goes!

cheers

griff

[Clean]

Griff,

Very interested in how you get on, please, mate.

Got a similar job to do and keen to learn! 

Probably will do it this Sunday, so let me know if you get there first and what you discover. 

Thanks,

Clean. (now ain't that ironic)! 

[griff]

got to be better than that hammerite shite I got from halfrauds 

[griff]

so finally managed to have a weekend spare to muck about with some acid

got a tubtrug full of acid solution and my frame half-dunked... lets see how it goes!

[sid1972]

you cannot beat a bit of cooking 

[trasher]

should work a treat ,i'v used it but didn't note down the ratio aswell
heres some results

[griff]

that looks good the gay pensioner! somehow I don't think my results will be as good (some of the chrome looks a bit shot tbh) but I'll see how it goes

done the BB/chainstays, now the seat stays are under & will have the headtube end in before bed

took the forks out already and they look good - they were in pretty good shape already but no hint of rust there now

if I get chance tomorrow will get the oven pride out & have a go at stripping the ano off some calipers 

[griff]

so today was a day of swings vs roundabouts...

good news - the browny black mx copy calipers very kindly turned a nice shade of silver thanks to the magic of oven pride 
never tried that stuff before and couldn't believe how easy it came off

bad news - after spending hours on the F&F, trying various methods including hammerite rust remover (crap), stanley blades and metal polish, lemon juice and finally 24 hours of oxalic acid bathing (should have done this first) I got pretty much all traces of rust off. this would be good news, if it were not for the fact that I can now see daylight coming in through the seat tube near the weld. was only the rust filling the crack before

as much as I wanted to get this built up (was the frame I had when I was a kid AND I'm supposed to be racing on it next month) the cost of fixing the crack and the dents in it would almost certainly be way more than buying another one....

on a more positive note, I've learnt a lot about how to remove rust and got a good supply of peek/brasso/goddards cloth for any future jobs 

[oldtired]

shame about that tis the only problem with OA and sadly the problem with with the oldies      having said that better to find out now than have it snap on you heading down the backside of the doubles  

for future ref although i'm sure you've figured this out i always spray the inside of the tubes with a tube protector and bung up the ends of the tubes, before dipping , you can also seal the tube with silicone permanently to prevent any further water getting in , seat post is a bit trickier need to seal it then remove the silicone after dipping use silicone remover then spry in the protector, or in my case useally just bung the seat post in forcing the silicone down to the bottom     

[griff]

was always a bit of a long shot considering the state it was in, but the only thing it cost me was time and chemicals so it could have been worse (hutchman kindly gave me the F&F so not like I'd forked out big money)
would defo use the acid again as it worked a treat on the rust without touching the chrome (also de-rusted my mtb seat clamp, some caliper springs and stem bolts  )

right - I need something to race on at MK now I have all the other parts and have signed up already, time to visit the wanted section 

[oldtired]

edit to above post 

[DJL]

do you stat off with hot or cold water?  i know the water will obviously cool but does it need to be hot at first to get the process going?

[Spen69]

John the Resto Man ;-)

Congrats on your fist trip down chemical street and welcome to burnt finger city now you've officially graduated from taking NOS bits out the box and bolting them together...

Before you skip the frame, bring it to the fix-it tent at MK and see what the master-bodgers think, ie Steve Animal, Simon Hootski and the master of masters Phil the man Sawzall. It depends if you want it all NOS looking or survivor I suppose?

See you at the 'Pad bud ;-)

[griff]

John the Resto Man ;-)

Congrats on your fist trip down chemical street and welcome to burnt finger city now you've officially graduated from taking NOS bits out the box and bolting them together...

Before you skip the frame, bring it to the fix-it tent at MK and see what the master-bodgers think, ie Steve Animal, Simon Hootski and the master of masters Phil the man Sawzall. It depends if you want it all NOS looking or survivor I suppose?

See you at the 'Pad bud ;-)

don't worry Spen - i won't be skipping it! will be bringing it with me to MK in case any of the 'master-bodgers' you mentioned think it can be saved economically
dave reckons it could maybe be filled with a bit of weld and ground back down (not sure if that would work for the crease in the downtube too  )
chrome would be gone, but in any case the chrome is really not in great shape to start with

on the plus side the asco looks in much better nick - some bits of rust on it but they've been coming off with a thumbnail 

[Rodgy1970]

do you stat off with hot or cold water?  i know the water will obviously cool but does it need to be hot at first to get the process going?

I mix it in hot water Danny as the OA powder is a bit like sugar in that it dissolves better the hotter the water.

[DJL]

do you stat off with hot or cold water?  i know the water will obviously cool but does it need to be hot at first to get the process going?

I mix it in hot water Danny as the OA powder is a bit like sugar in that it dissolves better the hotter the water.

nice one,  cheers rodders    is it pokey?  i.e. - do i need to wear gloves etc??

[Rodgy1970]

do you stat off with hot or cold water?  i know the water will obviously cool but does it need to be hot at first to get the process going?

I mix it in hot water Danny as the OA powder is a bit like sugar in that it dissolves better the hotter the water.

nice one,  cheers rodders    is it pokey?  i.e. - do i need to wear gloves etc??

I usually wear those latex gloves to be on the safe side, you never know what you'll react to dermatitis is nasty.

I did give it a bit of a sniff to see what it smelt like, then thought I'd better look it up to see if I'd fooked up my breathing aparatus.