Materials
- Powdered citric acid - sold at a grocery store or pharmacy if you don't have it at home.
- A container where we will place steel objects for restoration.
- A scraper, like a spatula. Or a metal brush.
For security:
- Latex gloves.
- Protective glasses.
Benefits of using citric acid:
- Does not remove paint on surfaces.
- The reaction is completely controlled.
- Very affordable - almost always available in the kitchen.
- After use, you can pour it into the sink.
- Much cheaper than sandpaper and surface restorer.
Cleaning the surface of parts
The first thing to do is to clean the surfaces from dirt and degrease. To do this, you can use a washing sponge, a dishwashing net and detergent.
We wash and clean the surfaces of parts and tools before restoring and removing rust.
Preparation of the solution
To prepare the solution, you need to take a plastic container that will hold all the rust removal items.
Pour the required amount of warm water into this container, 60 - 40 degrees Celsius. You shouldn’t overdo it with the volume of water, as you will need a lot of citric acid.
Add citric acid powder at approximately 60-80 grams per 100 ml of water. This is quite a lot and the solution will be quite concentrated. All proportions are experimental, so you can look for your golden proportion.
Pour into water and stir until completely dissolved.
Restoring rusted surfaces
We lower the steel objects into the solution. After a few minutes, small bubbles will begin to form on the surface, indicating that the reaction is proceeding normally.
After 30-60 minutes, rust flakes will be visible on the surface of the solution. Cleaning the parts with a sponge or wire brush will help speed up the process. To restore the surface of not very rusty objects, sometimes 60-90 minutes are enough.
You can add a little citric acid to the existing solution if necessary to speed up the reaction.
We wait until the rust completely disappears.
I left the massive parts of the plane for 7 hours, although most of the items recovered after 2-4 hours.
When you are finished, you can safely pour the solution into the sink, as it is non-toxic.
Protective oil coating
After removing the parts from the solution, rinse them with water and dry.
The citric acid solution, in addition to removing rust, left an oxide film on the surface of the steel, which will protect the metal for a short time.But to protect the surface as much as possible, treat it with motor oil. If you don’t have a motor one, take sunflower, it will be better than nothing.
Result of rust removal
The result obtained using this method.
This method removes corrosion in all hard-to-reach places, preserving the original mark if present, which is impossible with mechanical removal of rust with sandpaper. Restored surfaces can be easily cleaned to a shine with felt or wool with Goya paste.
Original article in English
