Electrolysis for Rust Removal

The water won't matter. I use tap water, but once you put the washing soda in distilled water isn't distilled anymore. You are using washing soda and not baking soda, aren't you? If you used the bicarb it won't work as fast since the solution isn't as alkaline as it is with the washing soda (sodium carbonate).

Since we're talking about an electrolyte that costs pennies to make just dump the tank out and remix using tap water. Personally I use a 5% solution instead of the 1% the first post calls for, especially if the part is particularly rusty (more than just light surface rust).

 

hold on there, the - black lead goes on the tank, the + red lead goes on the threaded rod. the - black can go anywhere on the outside of the tank, just so it makes a good connection.
think of your rod like a florescent tube, the process is going to work faster where the light would be brightest and slower in the shadows, so your going to want to move the rod around when the first area is done.
it's best to keep the tank almost full, the bubbles are hydrogen if you get a spark in them it might pop a little flame, no big deal but you don't want a quarter tank of them. the bubble goo won't hurt the paint at all if it runs over

 

Glad that you caught that. With the leads reversed he was plating the tank with steel from the threaded rod (very, very slowly, and no...it would not have worked to renew the tank).

 

Yeah I have it hooked-up correctly. Positive (red) to rod, and Negative (black) to tank. Tank is almost completely full with mixture. Yeah I have washing soda. I bought the exact box shown at the beginning of this thread. I'm gonna dump out the mixture and start again when I get home. I'm really starting to think it's my weak-arse charger more than anything else. Sorta off topic but what size amp charger are y'all using on this?

 

The amount of wash soda and the size of the rod determines the current draw more than the charger but a newer charger is always nice.
Double up on the soda.

 

Is the charger definitely working? (test lamp?)

I did some experiments last night with shower gel (because it was all I had with sodium in it!) and a couple of old inlet valves from a scrap Honda head & the results were amazing

I'm currently (pun intended) attempting a copper plating experiment too as I noticed some copper from the charger wire transferred to the anode when I did the valves.

 

It finally worked! I started anew last night and used tap water and increased the washing soda from 1 tbsp per gallon to 5 tbsp per gallon. Probably a little overkill but it worked. Thanks everyone!