An update on my trial metal cleaning process.......
Blake, i will bet soda blasting would really do the job, although i am not familiar with the process, it does make good sense. I have a cabinet blaster, but little to no room, to think about investing and then storing another piece of equipment, i do know there is not alot to a siphon set up though. i literally have 10 pounds of s**t crammed in a 2 pound bag here in my humble little "shop" to do the restoration work that i do.
Cleaning parts to bring back an original plated lustre, I am a bit out of my league here. I usually just run everything through a wire wheel to prep for new zinc or cad plating, so finding a good way to bring back some of lustre of an original plated finish is unfamiliar territory for me. And i am feeling lazy with 2157, i am looking forward to doing alot of hand work, but for some reason, encumbering myself investing in another piece of equipment and storing it in my tight work quarters demotivates my motivater, if you any can understand what i this means to me.
Don, i appreciate your suggestion using Simple Green. I happen to have a gallon of the stuff i rarely have used, so i took off a few bolts and the ground cable and soaked them about 6 hours, the difference between original scum dulled appearance and after being soaked in S.G. was pleasantly surprising. I just took a stiff plastic brush to the bolts and they cleaned up better than i expected, some of them are almost actually bright. I also tried some Purple Power, it did not produce the result of Simple Green.
I wonder if out there somewhere, someone makes a somewhat stiff plastic bristle wheel ? That is, instead of a wire wheel, a plastic bristle wheel.... ?
Has anyone used the rust removal method of using an electrolytic Sodium Carbonate bath ? See -
http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp I have heard it works extremely well, old tractor and car guys use this method to remove rust. A good friend of mine has been going to try it, but never got around to it....... I have heard this method produces very good results and can be used on rusty motorcycle gas tanks, simply filling the tank with the Na2HCO3 solution and dangling a bolt off the + terminal of the battery charger without the bolt touching the inside of the tank. For removing rust on other parts, sounds like basically all on needs is a 1 gallon or a 5 gallon plastic bucket, depending on size of parts, some Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, water, electricity and a 6-10 amp battery charger. Quite a few of 2157's smaller chrome parts have the beginnings of some deeper rust. I don't feel like going to the effort nor expense of plating these parts or replacing them with new. I just do not know if this Na2HCO3 method will damage the chrome plating.......... ? But it sounds worth trying, if it can remove rust *and* not damage chrome........ !
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts !!!!