Some rust on a lyman mold

[atom73]

I was looking at one of my 44 cal Lyman molds yesterday and freaked out cause I saw some rust on it. I swear I put it away with a coat of oil on it but there it is. It is on one side of the mold, and some on the face near the pin and in the vent lines. None of the rust got into the cavity, it is out on the edge of the mold but the vent lines wont work right if I use it to cast. What is the best way to clean the rust off, clear the vent lines, and clean the face of the mold so it will close all the way. Thanks, I promise this wont happen again.
Mike

[DLCTEX]

I'd do it the same way I clean rust off a rifle. 0000 steel wool and oil. Then lightly run the vent lines with a scribe if needed.

[Suo Gan]

It depends on how bad the rust is. You might drive the pins out and smooth the rust with a piece of wet dry sandpaper on a piece of plate glass. Just swirl it around. A little goes a long way you cannot put the metal back. If you do this just remove the surface of the rust do not worry about the discoloration as that will be too deep. Clear the vent lines with a carbide tipped pen. If it is just very minor rust, a little steel wool should do it. I get the little squares of cardboard impregnated with VPI. I also bought a goldenrod and have that in my mold cabinet. The combination of both the VPI and the goldenrod work here, but we have a fairly dry climate too. But I keep them in the garage and we park wet cars in there and it can get pretty humid at times. I found that when I stored them in oil or grease that some oils and greases would pool and be wicked away from the surface of the mold and I would get rusting. The best grease I found was marine grease and then wrapping them in brown paper from a paper bag, but it was hard to wash off when I wanted to use them. I like my system now as it requires no mold prep before casting and no more rust :).

[fredj338]

I use a stiff gun cleaning nylon brush & some good gun oil to scrub them. It is generally light surface rust & comes right off.

[stubshaft]

Kroil and 0000 steel wool.

[EDK]

Do a search on EVAPORUST here...great stuff. Your local auto parts stores usually stock it. Since I'm less than 5 miles from the Mississippi river, humidity and rust problems usually remain high.

We use a soft brass bristle brush for a lot of small stuff at work. One type looks like a tooth brush with a gray handle. Use something like that and the light oil or solvent of your choice and don't get overly enthusiastic! We also use a lot of KROIL...in aerosol cans lately.

:redneck::cbpour:

[AndyC]

I use a toothbrush and gun-oil - does a great job

[atom73]

So I got my issue taken care of. Used Naval Jelly (phosphoric acid gel) sold at the hardware store. Dissolved the rust but left the steel alone. Its not to strong so I doesnt affect the mold itself, just the oxides. I tapped out the pins first, worked it with the naval jelly and a Q tip letting it sit for about 10 min then scrubbing it with a qtip with the jelly on it. Cleaned it up, ran it on some 600 grit sandpaper on a block, ran a exacto blade carefully through the vent lines, oiled it up and replaced the pins. Slick, closes nice and looks great, got it down to fresh metal.
Thanks for the help.]
Mike

[AndyC]

Naval jelly? Sounds cool - I'll have to look into that stuff, then :)

[Casting Timmy]

Start with the brush and oil like others have said, then try more and more agressive methods from there.

[bmac1949]

+1 on the toothbrush and oil and LOTS of elbow grease. The H&G web site has a good article about cleaning up molds at http://hgmould.gunloads.com/casting/hgmoldchart.htm This guy is really particular about how he cleans one up.

[Mk42gunner]

Glad you got it taken care of.

A pencil eraser works for taking light rust off too, just rub gently.

Robert

[JeffinNZ]

Toothpaste and toothbrush. Works well but use HER toothbrush. Don't want to make yourself sick.........

[John Boy]

What is the best way to clean the rust off, clear the vent lines, and clean the face of the mold so it will close all the way.
A 50:50 mix of ATF and Acetone plus bronze wool

[cajun shooter]

A very fast and easy way that requires no elbow grease and you don't even dirty your hands.
About three years ago I posted a story about a new product that I had purchased and found to be fantastic for removing rust from moulds, dies, tools, and even guns.
It's name is Evapo-Rust and it's sold in Quart and Gallon containers.
My casting shop is in a outdoor shop that is in Louisiana and we have tons of Humidity.
I decided to try the product and purchased my first gallon. My first mould was only there for about 15 minutes and it came out looking brand new.
Allow me to say this, the product will remove any bluing and do it fast. I was trying to remove a rusted barrel end on a High Standard Derringer and it slipped into the can. Before I could get to it the bluing was gone from the first 1/2 inch of the barrels .
I had tools that had been exposed to salt water in a storage compartment of my boat that I was going to throw away. I decided to put them in the Evapo-Rust and was taken back by seeing good usable tools after a few hours of soaking.
You will love this product if tried. You can also leave it in any container that you use and reuse it again.
Just don't pour it back into the main bottle.

[imashooter2]

Electrolytic rust removal:

http://www.smex.net.au/Reference/RustRemoval02.htm

And here is a quick and easy set up I've used several times:

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/ERR-out.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/ERR-in.jpg

[skimmerhead]

take a plastic container put water in it, add a bit of sodium carbonate. put a scrap piece of steel in and connect the positve clamp of your battery charger to it. this is your anode. hang your piece of rusted steel into water with a piece of copper wire making sure it doesn't touch the anode, then connect the negative clamp from the battery charger to the copper wire, put your charger on 2 amps and turn it on. if your connections are right you'll see some bubbles start to form and fizz up. this means its working. you cannot damage your mold or any part with this because it only removes the rust, does not remove metal, you cannot over do it. i use this system all the time, in fact i have a rifle barrel in the solution right now thats been finished derusting since yesterday, but i'm not feeling well so i'll get to it tomorrow. you can't over do it. time in is determined by amount of rust, anywhere from a few hours to a few days. once finished remove from water, wash with soapy water and dry.

skimmerhead

[cdet69]

I have to reccomend evapo rust. I got mine from harbour freight in a one quart bottle. I was amazed how well it worked. Cleaned up the rust and left nice clean metal. Wish I had known about it sooner.

[gbrown]

Evapo-Rust is a good product. If there is an Ace Hardware store near, most of them carry it in the quart or gallon size. Here is a link to their FAQ page. Pretty neat stuff. I got a Pacific 20 guage reloader that looked like it sat out in the rain in SW LA. Took it down and soaked the pieces--I do mine for 24 hrs. Came out clean as a whistle.

http://www.evaporust.com/faq.html

[atom73]

Gonna try the evaporust on some other projects, thanks.

[Shooter6br]

Rustroluem makes a good rust remover gel

[Hiaboo]

Evaporust for sure.. If you can get ur hands on that stuff, it works miracles but it takes off bluing for sure (its a form of rust) It really cleans the metal too.

[nanuk]

looks like I can get "Evaporust" locally

gonna have to try some