I have had it boys...I am done with this...

[jhowes]

Where do you find "phosphorics" and what form do they come in?

[Cool Hand Lurker]

Muratic will attack the metal itself. It will crumble cast iron and put veins in some cold rolled steel alloys. Just my experience. Using it for a short time probably won't do this. To neutralize it, plain water is not sufficient. Make up a bath of water and bicarbonate of soda. It is a "base" and will neutralize the acid. You can see the foaming reaction, just use enough solution until it stops foaming. If the muriatic acid container is leaking you will find rust forming on your machinery in a short time just from the vapors.

Phosphoric acid is better. It takes off the rust but does not attack the steel and it leaves a gray coating that is rust resistant and can be left on for painting. I believe this is what the new car companies use. You can get it in the hardware store labeled as "concrete cleaner and rust remover" and it should show the ingredient as phosphoric acid, not muriatic acid. Both acids are used for concrete etching.

Electrolytic is the best though.

[Bruce of MN]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Lurker

If the muriatic acid container is leaking you will find rust forming on your machinery in a short time just from the vapors..

I have heard stories about even tightly screwed on caps allowing fumes out and everything else on the shelf and around getting rusty.

[Tom from Drippin']

It's my understanding that muratic acid LOVES chrome, and just minor vapors will destroy nice chrome.

[Kirby1374]

Originally Posted by jhowes

Where do you find "phosphorics" and what form do they come in?

Our True Value hardware sells Ospho. It is a green liquid and is a phosphoric acid metal prep.

[Job]

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Originally Posted by fordgarage

Those stories about muriatic acid vapor are fact, not fable. I have seen it also.

We need to clean and paint the shelves above and below the muriatic acid in the hardware store I manage yearly. The fumes leak out of factory sealed bottles and rust the shelves badly. This year we threw the shelves out and replaced them they were so bad.
Job

[dave m]

I glass bead everything looks like new when finished & dose'nt hurt the metal --brass-aluminum--ect steve plucker i'm close --up in dayton if you need anything bead blasted pm me

[Ron in Quincy]

Steve,

If you are going to use that bad stuff, best to neuturalize with Baking soda water solution to stop the action of the acid. Also do not expose any other bare parts to the fumes as they will rust immediately. I quit using Muriatic Acid over 30 years ago. Just my opinion.

Ron

[jerseyboy]

Originally Posted by RockHillWill

I like the electrolytic method as well. It has been my experience that this method works best with multiple electrodes around the perimeter as it is most effective when the path between the part and the electrode is a straight line.

Using the muriatic acid was a big mistake at my shop. On two occassions an errant breeze made me inhale that stuff and I suffered for some time. Additionnaly, the corrosive residue began rapidly rusting nearby items that I did not want rust to be on.

I eventually went to a vibratory tumbler. I dump my parts in it and let it run for 2-3 hours and my parts are very nice and clean. Then I rinse and apply WD40 until I am ready to work with them at a later date.

Hey Rockhillwill,

What type of media do you put in the tumbler?

Keep V-8ing and 4-banging!

[RockHillWill]

My tumbler is 12" x 12" and 36" long. As it vibrates, it tumbles the media as well as the parts inside over each other. When I first acquired it I took it to a media supplier along with the items that I wanted to tumble. Once there, he displayed an large selection and I chose a media that would fit down inside the teeth on transmission gears to clean the bottom of the grooves. What I ended up with was a ceramic media about 3/16" in diameter by about 1/2" long and they were taper cut at each end. I do not know the name , but they also supplied me with a cleaning agent to dip the parts in when I was done tumbling. After I apply WD40 to the entire part, they will stay corrosion free for as long as a year of more or untill the WD40 needs reapplying.

I also use the phosphoric method of limiting rust on sheet metal parts. Brent Terry showed me that process. I like it because I can go back over it and weld and re-apply it, and it does not interfere with subsequent metal shaping in any way. I prefer to apply it thickly, then right away, wipe it down with a cloth. If I do it that way, I have a consistant smooth finish.

[RonC]

I've had good luck (if your not in a big hurry) degreasing really greasy parts in 50/50 Simple Green HD for up to a week and sometimes longer. http://www.simplegreen.com/products_pro_hd.php. After, wash and scrub with a brass cleaning brush in hot soapy (dish detergent water) until clean. The Simple Grean HD works pretty good. After if lightly rusty soak the parts in the Evapo-Rust. That stuff works really well too.

[Cool Hand Lurker]

Tom from Drippin mentioned the effect of muriatic on chrome. The quickest way to remove chrome from a part you want to paint is with muriatic and a steel wool pad. It washes off qiock! Besure to use safety glasses and rubber gloves and be sure to neutralize it with the bicarbonate solution before painting.