Tight space surface rust removal

[Bamacruiser98]

Good evening all, I’m currently cleaning up this old parts drawer/catalog cabinet and I wanted to hear what methods you all would use to attack the interior of this piece. Originally I wasn’t going to mess with it but I was lying to myself. I’ve cleaned up dozens of old antiques and vintage pieces to keep and flip so my methods usually work pretty well but I’m not above asking others how they approach something like this. The openings are about 6”x4” so aside from a Dremel type tool I ain’t getting much in there. I’ve had good luck with CLR but I still have to go over it with a wire bit to really clean it up. I’m all ears…

 

[cgrutt]

Are you able to dip piece in a chelation bath such as Evaporust or similar?

 

[Bamacruiser98]

I thought about that earlier, the biggest thing I have is one of those ********* moving tubs with the yellow lid from Home Depot but I’m not quite sure it’ll fit but I may can do half at a time, probably my best bet huh?

 

[cgrutt]

Not sure is it all steel? I've made a DIY bath with citric acid and sodium carbonate that worked very good and was fairly inexpensive (around $20 for about 4 gal IIRC) but you may need quite alot to fill a roughneck. There's a thread about process it was pretty easy and worked great.

 

[whateg01]

I have gone back to vinegar for derusting. Cheap at the grocery store. For odd shapes I build a plywood box the size and shape needed and line it with heavy plastic.

 

[jubilee]

Hard to reach places I
blow with compressed air
soak with acetone
blow with compressed air
spray with rust converter, two coats
paint

 

[joe_pinehill1]

Phosphoric Acid works good for rust removal. Brush on, soak and wash off. But treat the metal quickly it will develop flash rust. Phosphoric Acid will turn rust into Iron Phosphate and will not harm parent metal. Do not get it on concrete.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Naval Jelly could be applied in the corners with a small brush, then rinse off the drawers in the sink. I've also had good results by soaking a paper towel in Evaporust and then laying it over a rusty item, you could wad up a soaked paper towel and stick it in the drawer corners. You do have to be careful about leaving anything in place too long if you're concerned about paint removal.

 

[racecougar]

I'd sandblast it.

 

[carbleaks]

I thought about that earlier, the biggest thing I have is one of those ********* moving tubs with the yellow lid from Home Depot but I’m not quite sure it’ll fit but I may can do half at a time, probably my best bet huh?

Wray Schelin, a metalshaper who is on YouTube, had a rusty Cadillac. He used Rust 911 pumped through a sprinkler to de rust the underbelly. He used a large tarp to create his own "tub" around the whole car. This allowed him to use a lot less of the liquid than submersing it. Just a couple gallons recycled over and over.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Build a tank with concrete blocks and a plastic tarp. Did a trailer frame that way.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Wray Schelin, a metalshaper who is on YouTube, had a rusty Cadillac. He used Rust 911 pumped through a sprinkler to de rust the underbelly. He used a large tarp to create his own "tub" around the whole car. This allowed him to use a lot less of the liquid than submersing it. Just a couple gallons recycled over and over.

If you remember Miss Belvedere, the 1957 Plymouth that was buried in a time castle in Tulsa, that was how they derusted that car. Of course there was pretty much nothing left afterwards but that's besides the point. The company that did the work describes how it was done on their website. https://safestrustremover.com/howto.html

 

[yhprum]

If you can find a suitable container, citric acid powder method would probably be cheapest. Industrial or agricultural graded powder is quite a bit cheaper.

 

[rsanter]

Krud kutter rust remover gel works very well on light surface rust

 

[Renegade1LI]

Try a small needle scaler, I’ve had good luck removing rust from tight spots with one.

 

[metalmagpie]

Looking at your picture, it looks to me like if you put that thing in a bath the solution would seep inside and when you took it out of the bath it would not be possible to get it all out. So I would rule out any immersive technique.

One option is to simply paint it with hammered type paint made to go over rusty metal. The rusty patches will be far less obvious with the textured paint. This method is probably the cheapest way to go unless you own a big bead blasting cabinet.

I am a huge fan of needle guns but those don't work all that well on tight dry rust like that. Thick rust, absolutely. But you could try a needle gun in the corners and an extended die grinder with a small wire brush on the flat parts of your workpiece. Like this one: https://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-professional-extended-air-die-grinder-64624.html

Best possible solution would be to blast it. To pay someone to sandblast it would cost several times what that thing is worth, though.

I do really like the lawn sprayer approach from below. 10 points for creativity.