Subject: Electo-Polishing of Stainless Steel

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 23:19:46 GMT

I Need to Polish  welds on small stainless steel components.
Grinding and Buffing is not possible (If the weld is ground then too
much material will be removed and failure will be likely)

I believe that Sulfuric and Phosporic acids together with DC current
can be used. 

Can Someone please advise what proportions and reccomend a suitable
current/voltage?

John Spargo

[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (D.W.Rech)
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 04:54:32 GMT

All right you primitive screwheads, listen up! ([email-masked]
said:)

>Can Someone please advise what proportions and reccomend a suitable
I used a 125 volt 10 amp variac turned down to 20-24 volts. Depending
on the pad on the end of the wand  (fiberglass, rockwool, cotton ) and
the strength of the acid ( phosphoric ) , the current was about 5
amps. You can use more voltage, but the pad will occassionally short
out. Be sure to protect both sides of the circuit with a 10 amp fuse. 
The system removed the blue in the stainless and also removed the
black carbon-like residue. It reduced our finishing time on stainless
steel sinks by about one-half.

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From: [email-masked] (Doug White)
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 96 15:18:08 GMT

Keywords: 
>steel sinks by about one-half.

Do you use a rectifier in this process, or just run AC?

Doug White

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From: [email-masked] (D.W.Rech)
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 1996 03:52:53 GMT

All right you primitive screwheads, listen up! ([email-masked] (Doug
White) said:)

>Do you use a rectifier in this process, or just run AC?
We just used AC. Found the circuit in a 1930's sheetmetal workers
book. It recommended using a doorbell transformer, but I figured that
it would be a little short on current handling capacity. The electrics
are the easy part. Finding a material for the pad that holds together
while scrubbing welds with acid is tougher. We used fiberglass sound
liner only because we had it. A tougher material would be better.