Evapo-Rust on frame, no-dunk techniques?
 

I'm in a small condo and work on my bike on our patio. I'm in the process of removing rust from the frame and decided on evapo-rust.

I believe the instructions for evapo-rust are to dunk your parts in a container of the stuff and let it soak for a few hours. Unfortunately due to my space constraints, I don't really have anything I can dunk a frame into, nor the space.

I was wondering if anyone had any techniques for this? I was thinking about soaking a rag in the stuff and wrapping it around the frame tubes where the rust is. Has anyone tried something like this with success?

How about getting a large industrial plastic bag (a local factory may discard them) and using that to hold the frame and solution?

EDIT: The heavy bags that flat-screen TVs often come packed in should be ideal; perhaps a local electronics outlet discards them.

Or something like this, doubled, should do the job: Amazon.com: Clear Contractor Bags, Ruffies Pro, 3 mil, 42 Gallon (20 ct): Health & Personal Care

Two nice things about a bag over a tank are that you would not need too much solution and it is easy to agitate.

Go to the firearms section of your sporting goods store and pick up a flexible shotgun cleaning rod, a large patch tip and a 12-gauge cleaning swab. Depending on frame design, you should be able to get into the main tubes fairly well to swab around generous amounts of rust remover. Do this a few times a day, plugging the holes with plastic bags to prevent rapid evaporation. If you have access to the stays through the seat tube or external holes, you can plug any other holes and position the frame so you can fill the stay. You might have to do this a couple of times in different positions to reach all areas of the stays. It's a lot more hassle and not as good as dunking, but it can be done where dunking is impractical and should do a decent job. Set the frame on a protective mat or old towel in the bathtub between swabbings.

For external rust you can use a wrap technique like you described. Just swab the area heavily with rust remover and wrap in rags soaked in remover. Overwrap the area with plastic wrap to ****** evaporation. Again you might have to do it a few times to get good results. If rust is limited to a specific area like the BB shell and chain stays, you could try soaking just that area in a smaller, shallower container.

Edit: Oh for the love of Pete :rolleyes:, the word police won't let me use the word ****** in proper and politically correct context. Please insert "slow the rate of evaporation".

Yes, but your post did allow the word 7.21.14, which has been censored before.

[QUOTE=Bustaknot;17207129]I'm in a small condo and work on my bike on our patio. I'm in the process of removing rust from the frame and decided on evapo-rust.

I believe the instructions for evapo-rust are to dunk your parts in a container of the stuff and let it soak for a few hours. Unfortunately due to my space constraints, I don't really have anything I can dunk a frame into, nor the space.

I was wondering if anyone had any techniques for this? I was thinking about soaking a rag in the stuff and wrapping it around the frame tubes where the rust is. Has anyone tried something like this with success?[/QUOTE


I have done similar many times using multi-layer blue paper shop towel pieces saturated to dripping with EvapoRust. Use pieces large enough to cover the rusty spot and wrap the wet towel with clear plastic kitchen wrap to prevent evaporation of the liquid. Leave it on for a coupla hours and repeat as needed. The spot should be degreased prior to using the EvapoRust. To treat tubes internally just plug/tape the bottom hole and fill from the top hole following the same guideline of letting it soak an hour or so before draining. The ER can be reused after filtering or waiting for the solids/sludge to settle out.

Any EvpoRust contact with the frame will help. Soaking rags, wrapping then around then wrapping plastic bags around that would be my suggestion. Repeating every few hours might further help. My experience with ER is that it is rather temp dependent. So keeping the wrapped frame as warm as possible will help shorten the time. For inside the tubes I'd consider pouring in the ER then sealing the open ends with rags and changing the orientation of the frame every so often.

I picked up a plant tray that's rectangular in shape and about 4" deep. I place a bag in that to act as a bladder/liner. Then place one section of the frame in it at a time (head tube, then Down Tube, then stays and on). Doesn't take up much more space then the frame alone and I can reuse the ER for the rest of the frame.

Don't forget to rinse well and dry out that water. Andy.

Thanks guys. I'll try to post my results after I give it a shot. But it's thanksgiving here in Canada so I won't be able to do it till maybe next weekend it seems. Turkey vs evapo-rusting. It's a tough decision.