The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Electrolysis using graphite anodes

I have been running a large Electrolysis tank for a year or so , off and on. I have experimented on different anodes and found that graphite is very resistant to deterioration. It also helps keep the tank cleaner, which means less time spent draining and refilling my tank.
For those of you who know about electrolysis , you know how good it works.
For those of you still sand blasting , you might want to look into this.
I figured I would share my experience .

We appreciate you sharing your experience. The question is...are you letting us know graphite electrodes are the way to go? Can we retire our nasty sand blasters? I looked at your pics on Dropbox but didn't see anything related to your subject post. Care to share a bit more? Thanks

you need to elaborate Josh, I use electrolysis regularly, but can't think where I might find graphite in a form to use for it .... are graphite electrodes commonly available someplace? strip it outta pencils, old batteries, bullet proof vests?

Bill

I dont know were to get graphite in large quantities , but I had some found in scrap pile. They looked kinda like weird drill bits but I think they were for some machining process.
I am running my tank now with steel and iron anodes, as I couldn't find the graphite upon set up this morning.
You can tell by the weight real quick. It looks like a dark metal but feels like aluminium weight.
I did not get a any pics of the graphite set up. But when I started learning about Electrolysis I set up my tank and ran a few parts through. At first using steel anode. Very messy and the smaller steel broke down fast. Eventually loosing connections and pieces breaking off. I ran some smaller parts through a smaller tank (5 gal) and used graphite parts for anodes and they did not break down, no pitting on the graphite and it doesn't rust.
Graphite does not break down nearly as fast if at all.
All anodes seem to break down, its part of the process.
But graphite seems to work the best and does not give off toxins like stainless.

well now we just hafta find a source for graphite ... you may have found some because of your proximity to a manufacturer maybe hobby shops, I do recall seeing something one time about folks carving/sculpting graphite

Bill

Fleabay has some. They have everything!!
Search for item 200603041290


SimS

on eBay, search for graphite rod electrode

"from China", "from China", "from China", "from China", "from China"
what would we and they do without ebay and walmart?
using a piece of scrap vintage tin from the back yard seems handier and more cost effective

Bill

"McMaster-Carr" has them. From 1/4" up to 3" rods.

Any welding supply, Airgas for one:
http://www.airgas.com/browse/product_list.aspx?catID=418&WT.svl=418
Used for carbon arc gouging. Probably find them at any
good farm supply or some hardware stores if they have
welding supplies.
DG

now that's what I'm saying - but I certainly don't need a whole box of'em, just go up the road to the welder and "borrow" one or 2, not fuss about with online ordering and wait til next week to get on with the job problem is, will a "specialized flux covered electrode" [copper??] work for electrolysis?

Bill

The thing about electrodes is , they need line of sight. So extra anodes are all ways better. 1 or 2 probably wont cut it for our applications.
placement is very important when it comes to anodes. Way more important than the type of anode.
With the curves of old fenders and such , I use chicken coupe fencing wrapped completely around my tank with larger pieces of steel placed on the bottom. Some times I place anodes on top , with out touching the part , with the part submerged.
I have not found enough graphite to set up my big tank this way.


note : I was thinking about writing a tech tip article about electrolysis. But I seen there is one all ready.... maybe someone wants to edit including proper set up instructions , and tips for anode shapes etc.

Also I have been contemplating a huge roll in complete chassis/cab electrolysis tank. Anyone with thoughts on this please chime in.

Copper anodes will break down fast... faster than steel. I had copper wire exposed in one of my dips and the wire broke down before the steel wire fencing.

Josh, I think that tech tip covers the part about the anode:
"The electrode wants to be large (within reason); if possible, larger than the object being cleaned. The iron electrode works best if it "surrounds" the object to be cleaned"

what might be good to add to the tech tip is more about the battery charger as power supply, many/most modern chargers have sophisticated electronics that require some feedback from a battery and they won't work for the process

I simply use whatever sheet metal is handy for the electrode, either wrapped around the side of the 'tank' or a number of pieces spaced around the object and tied together with wire, but the biggest tank I've needed so far is a Rubbermaid tote, although I do want to build a box big enough to do some fenders I have .... I can't imagine many folks would be trying to set up doing a cab - also the chicken fencing we have around here is galvanized, zinc isn't a good thing

Bill