I was thinking about making my own DIY parts cleaning using the idea of electrolysis. I really just dont feel like paying to have stuff hot tanked. Just wondering if anyone here has personally used and or done it yourself, how did it come out?

This is my plan, i think it would be big enough

 

That does not look safe....But sure does look fun!

 

lol hot tanking seems safer and more effective... media blasting too.

I know electrolysis occurs in coolant passages and damages the engine, that is if you use the wrong set of coolants and stuff.

 

That looks like a death trap

 

I just did my friends 1600 engine block out of his datsun. Pretty much same setup as you have pictured however we used a tall rubber trash can. Its not really hard HOWEVER it is dangerous. Do not (i cant stress this enough) Do not do this in your garage. Do it outside away from the house because if it does go wrong then you will have a nice little fire on your hands, also keep away from flames so no bbq,s or smoking around it. Anyway we used 8 pcs of 3.5' rebar grinded clean and connected with chainlink fence repair wires. Trash can was about 30 gallons so we used 3 cups of sodium carbonate, we used a Pool PH carbonate. Battery charger hook positive to rebar and negative to whatever your soaking. Make sure your part DOES NOT TOUCH ELECTRODES and dont get the wiring backwards. We suspended the engine block by a chain hanging from a tree branch however I know if you have solid pine wood blocks you can put them on the bottom of the bin and put part on top before filling with water. We soaked it for 24 hours changing out the electrodes every 6 hours and replacing solution. ENGINE IS SPOTLESS, immediately dry everything as well as possible and if its an engine block or intake manifold wd40 the cyclinder wall and ports and try to paint or powdercoat or whatever your doing soon cause now your part is fresh metal and will want to start oxidizing pretty quickly (a few days we left an intake out before it started doing it)

 

WoW! I've done it a few times, but on a WAY smaller scale than what you are talking about. Mine was done to clean coins in a small tupperware container on the kitchen counter. One thing to remember, although I doubt it would be an issue on such large pieces is that electrolysis works by stripping off small bits from the negative side and depositing it onto the positive side. (Or vice versa, I don't remember exactly.) With coins, this can be bad because you can literally "eat away" at the coin surface until its worthless if left in too long. As I said, I doubt it would strip away enough to make a difference, but in places where tolerances are critical, it might be good to check up on it.
Just a thought.

 

If doing larger parts that are cast it wont eat away enough of the surface, however with larger items you do have to refresh or change out the solution every 4-6 hours and while doing this you can always check to see where you are at in the process.

Me and my buddy were thinkin about building one using a pool liner and building a wood box large enough to hold car/truck frames and body panels like hoods and such, its easier and cheaper than using a sand or media blaster and all you have to do is degrease before painting anything. I love it