Toilet Bowl Cleaner / Rust & Grime Remover

[Lazybones]

I know many of you are on the CCF also and may have seen the thread on using toilet bowl cleaner to clean parts.

I figured this would help several here too.

I used Lysol brand liquid Toilet Bowl Cleaner. Others have used The Works Brand from the dollar store.

I have been bead blasting and painting with VHT paint. There are two things I don't like about that.
1: It removes all of the original finish.
2: I don't care for the color.
There will be times I still bead blast. But; I like the more original look of this method of cleaning.

This is what I did.

I took a gallon size plastic tub. (I plan to buy a heavy 2-3 gallon bucket with a lid for the future.) Filled it most of the way with warm water then put a liberal amount 1/4 to 3/8 cup of cleaner. Mixed it up and then put in the rusty parts.
I let them sit for 15-20 minutes then pulled them out and scrubed them with a Scotch Brite type kitchen sponge. On the tougher crud an SOS Pad. Brass takes maybe 5 minutes.
I plan to save it and reuse it.

Here are some before and after pictures.

[campmaster-k]

Wow Lee that is amazing. Thanks for taking the time to post .

[Shadow Catcher]

The works is 15 to 20% hydrochloric acid, the rest is dyes and perfume and water from the MSDS https://www2.itap.purdue.edu/msds/docs/8765.pdf
Lysol contains Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and Oxalic acid
http://www.rbnainfo.com/MSDS/CAN/Lysol- ... nglish.pdf
An acid etch is one way to remove rust and some corrosion and these are easily obtainable, BUT they are not particularly safe and if you do not dispose of the carefully they can do environmental damage.

If you are going to be doing this with some regularity pick up a bottle of muriatic acid from a pool supply, Lowes, Home depot... And dilute it down a lot.
One of my jobs at North Star Steel included viewing steel billet slices that had been etched in Muriatic/hydrochloric acid at 185 degrees F. There were rather elaborate efforts to neutralize the fumes and the tanks and blower system were made with polypropylene plastic.

What I am trying to say is this is not a benign way of removing rust and yes it works really really well, but be VERY careful use plenty of ventilation and be careful how you dispose of your acid!

[Lazybones]

I've used Muriatic acid a lot to remove dryed concrete. Toilet bowl cleaner won't do that.

I HIGHLY DISCOURAGE using Muriatic Acid because it is TOO strong.
The other problem discovered using it is parts seem to "flash" rust right away.

Toilet bowl cleaner is much more benign; And in my opinion much safer.

Like Shadow Catcher said these are chemicals and you do need to use your common sence.

[ironhead]

Wonder how well Electrolysis would work

[DragonFire]

I'm going to try this on my jack stands...I pulled 2 out of the storage in the Aristocrat..forgot I had them and was going to buy 2 more...

Now I can get them super clean and paint the lower part to match the Grasshopper!!