My home electrolysis setup and demonstration

[time4me]

Someone posted a ring they found that was horribly encrusted in black - so much so that you could only see the basic shape of a ring. I replied that he might try electrolysis on the ring to get the black crust off. I had found a silver ring in an ocean beach on Cape Cod that was pretty badly encrusted, and was able to get the crust off nicely with my home electrolysis kit. Someone else posted asking me to explain my setup, so I thought I'd show it here...

You'll need an old 12 volt or 18 volt charger from a cell phone or something. I only had a 12 volt, but I've read that 18 volts works much better...

Alligator clips - you'll need to cut the end off of the charger, and pull the two wires apart, and then strip them enough to hook an alligator clip to each one...

A glass (glass not plastic) full of water.

Add one teaspoon of regular table salt to the glass of water...

Add five or six drops of lemon juice to the salt water...

You'll then need a stainless steel spoon to set in the salt water and clip the negative clip to. The positive clip goes on the item you want to get the crust off of. If you don't know which is which, just guess. If you've got it wrong, the spoon will start to fizz. This happened to me the first time, so I unplugged the plug and switched the clips, tying a knot into the positive wire so I'd know which one goes where going forward.

Once you've got one clip on the submerged spoon, and the other clip on your item, plug in the plug and then sink the item into the water (shouldn't matter if it is already in the water before plugging in the plug), being careful to not touch the item to the spoon - keep them apart.

It might take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes - maybe longer - for the process to do enough to get the gunk off of your item.

So here is my demonstration. I found this encrusted coin the other day - looked suspiciously like a newer memorial cent, but who can tell?

One side...

other side...

Into the electrolysis unit it goes...

Check the time when it goes in, so you know how long it has been cooking...

Then sit back and watch the electrolysis work its magic...

Once you think enough of the black crust has flaked off of the item, unplug the plug and remove your item...

Then with the item in your hand, pour some baking soda over it and rub it all over it to stop the electrolysis process...

Then rinse off the item under some running water - the baking soda ends up acting like a very fine powder polish to help remove the black gunk...

The result? Not perfect, but heck of a lot better than what I started with...

I hope this little demonstration helps some of you out.

Jim

 

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[MrBling]

Thanks
Good post with good photos
I've bookmarked it for reference- I'm going to try the process on some crusty iron relics in the next couple of weeks

 

[mumszie]

Now this was a very good demo! I liked the way you don't just write about it but have pictures to SHOW how you do it. GOOD JOB! I also will book mark this for future reference.

 

[Narthoniel]

Thank you for the detailed information about this, i had no clue how to do it before, but now i see its not so hard at all

 

[creekhunter]

Thanks!

 

[Born2Dtect]

Nice job, time4me,

I would add that the higher the voltage and the higher the (current)amperage of the power supply, the faster the reaction. I suggest going slow at first (lower voltage and current). Another way to adjust the reaction is use a larger rectangular dish. By changing the distance between the SS object (spoon) and your coin or metal find you can control the reaction. A good indication of this reaction is the bubbling, more bubbles (faster reaction) Less (slower reaction).

Ed D.

 

[JOe L]

Ditto on the thanks. JOe

 

[gottahunt]

Great post . Now I know how I can clean up a few of my coins.

 

[Marius]

THX JIm

I did same stuff with battery inside of glass of salt water,working ok,i dont have expensive coins to play with it i just will use rock tumbler later on all clad i have.
Its worth to try your setup on interesting coins.

 

[stormfighter]

Excellent Class!! Thank You. See you at a beach. DAN

 

[magicpsn]

Nice demo! Nice Picts!! Thanks
I have read that people use car battery chargers too...I haven't tried it but will need to after your nice illistration!
Thanks again!

 

[nudels]

Thank you for taking the time to do and post this. These nuggets of info really add to the community.

 

[teklord]

Thank you so much for this post. I followed your instructions and cleaned an encrusted silver ring this afternoon. It was easy. Good ventilation helps. Is there a point where damage starts from this process?

Tek

 

[LOAFER]

Can this be dangerous for a rookie ?? ZAP ouch anything like that

 

[time4me]

Can this be dangerous for a rookie ?? ZAP ouch anything like that

Yes, of course any time you start screwing around with electricity there is always a risk of getting zapped. When I use this kit, I make sure I keep the plug out of the socket until both alligator clips are connected and everything is ready to go. Then I plug it in until the process is completed, then I unplug it before removing the item from the solution.

If you try this yourself, PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL AND REMEMBER SAFTEY IS #1 PRIORITY.

 

[Davers]

Someone posted a ring they found that was horribly encrusted in black - so much so that you could only see the basic shape of a ring. I replied that he might try electrolysis on the ring to get the black crust off. I had found a silver ring in an ocean beach on Cape Cod that was pretty badly encrusted, and was able to get the crust off nicely with my home electrolysis kit. Someone else posted asking me to explain my setup, so I thought I'd show it here...

You'll need an old 12 volt or 18 volt charger from a cell phone or something. I only had a 12 volt, but I've read that 18 volts works much better...

Alligator clips - you'll need to cut the end off of the charger, and pull the two wires apart, and then strip them enough to hook an alligator clip to each one...

A glass (glass not plastic) full of water.

Add one teaspoon of regular table salt to the glass of water...

Add five or six drops of lemon juice to the salt water...

You'll then need a stainless steel spoon to set in the salt water and clip the negative clip to. The positive clip goes on the item you want to get the crust off of. If you don't know which is which, just guess. If you've got it wrong, the spoon will start to fizz. This happened to me the first time, so I unplugged the plug and switched the clips, tying a knot into the positive wire so I'd know which one goes where going forward.

Once you've got one clip on the submerged spoon, and the other clip on your item, plug in the plug and then sink the item into the water (shouldn't matter if it is already in the water before plugging in the plug), being careful to not touch the item to the spoon - keep them apart.

It might take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes - maybe longer - for the process to do enough to get the gunk off of your item.

So here is my demonstration. I found this encrusted coin the other day - looked suspiciously like a newer memorial cent, but who can tell?

One side...

other side...

Into the electrolysis unit it goes...

Check the time when it goes in, so you know how long it has been cooking...

Then sit back and watch the electrolysis work its magic...

Once you think enough of the black crust has flaked off of the item, unplug the plug and remove your item...

Then with the item in your hand, pour some baking soda over it and rub it all over it to stop the electrolysis process...

Then rinse off the item under some running water - the baking soda ends up acting like a very fine powder polish to help remove the black gunk...

The result? Not perfect, but heck of a lot better than what I started with...

I hope this little demonstration helps some of you out.

Jim

Cool just what I was looking for.

I need to make a Med Size Set-up
& a small size 'like this' for coins & small buckles & to Id small parts.
Really needed to know how much 'Voltage' to use . = 12-18 COOL!

 

[Irishgoldhound]

I use my old blackberry charger works great perfect voltage... cut the end off that goes into the phone charger, split the wires and put alligator clips on positive and negative and you're ready to go.