I just soaked my Miyata frame in Oxalic acid and it worked great. I used a deck cleaning solution that I purchased at Lowes.
Do you somehow cover up the BB or other open parts so that water doesn't get in there and rust the interior of the tubes? I'd like to try this but I don't know how to avoid getting the solution inside the frame; or does it even matter if it gets inside?
I use regular old Naval Jelly that you can get at the hardware store. Works great. When washing it off with water, I'll plug the seat, head tubes and BB, if I've removed it. For lighter rust issues, the cleaning kit from Menotomy/Old Roads is hard to beat. It removes rust, haze from paint and chrome and buffs to a nice shine. Check it out at: www.oldroads.com. For the inside of the tubes, I use either Boeshield or any other rust prevention product; WD40 will work if that's all you have.
Do you somehow cover up the BB or other open parts so that water doesn't get in there and rust the interior of the tubes? I'd like to try this but I don't know how to avoid getting the solution inside the frame; or does it even matter if it gets inside?
You WANT the "water" (actually oxalic acid solution) to get in to the inside of the bike. Don't you want to get rid of the interior rust too??? And, oxalic acid solution can not cause rust, that would be like saying aspirin causes headaches! You just need to be sure to treat the frame with some sort of acid neutralizer after you are done, so the acid does not continue to work "over time". Baking soda comes to mind,,,then treat interior with Frame Saver or similar solution, and you are golden!
Try using the Electrolytic Rust Removal method. It will turn the rust back into iron on the inside and outside of the part without material loss. Just google the term and you will find plenty of info about it. I use it quite abit and it really works well.
I just acquired a 1971 Schwinn Sports Tourer frame that has a bunch of rust on the seat tube, so I was thinking about how to do this.
I did a lot of electrolytic rust removal over the winter and had really fantastic results. I was working on old tools mainly. I did all kinds of things- pliers, sledge hammers, a bandsaw table, and the rustiest item of all which was a chunk of 1.5" thick steel that had been cut off of some large structure with a torch and had a good .25" of rust on it. I did this in a cement mixing tub using a sodium carbonate (soda ash) solution and an old ATX computer power supply.
One thing to note is that the process is extremely effective at removing paint as well as rust.
Anyway, the real subject of this post is what container to use for a bike frame. A kiddie pool is the obvious choice. The other choice that occurrs to me is to make a crude frame using some 4x4s and drape a tarp or two over it. That should hold water long enough to get the job done.
Do you somehow cover up the BB or other open parts so that water doesn't get in there and rust the interior of the tubes? I'd like to try this but I don't know how to avoid getting the solution inside the frame; or does it even matter if it gets inside?
I soaked the complete frame and fork. I stripped the bike down for a repaint and found some surface rust inside the seat tube. I mixed the Oxalic acid solution to about 1/4 the recommended strength that is required for washing a deck. It doesn't have to be super precise. After all the rust was gone I rinsed the bike and soaked it in a solution of borax to neutralize the acid.
Originally Posted by dbarnblatt@usa.
What did you use as a container? Bathtub?
Well I couldn't find anything big enough to put the frame in so I used a bicycle shipping box lined with plastic.
The bike shipping box is brilliant! I was just about to hit our scrap lumber pile and build a wood frame to line with plastic, but this is much easier. Calling my LBS to scavenge for boxes now!
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Originally Posted by twiz
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