Hey everyone,
I was recently given a (very) big and (very) old Oxford cruiser. I love the big wheel, but the whole thing is totally rusty, and I’m a bit worried about busting it the first time I crash.
The pedals, frame, and even the spokes and rim, are all rusty. Does anyone have any rust-removal advice, specific to unicycles? What method would you use?
Thanks for any advice!
try rubbing the rusty bits with steel wool.
When my 24" rusted REALLY badly, I was told to coat the entire thing with a thick layer of WD-40 and then leave it for a day before rubbing it off with a cloth. It got most of the rust off but I found that what also worked was Autosol and sandpaper. Like if you’ve a full day of your time, you could carefully scrub the thing with sandpaper and autosol. It’d end up being shiny even.
whatever method you use to remove the rust, you should realize that you’ll end up with bare, unprotected metal that’ll start rusting the moment you’re done sanding / polishing / etc.
if you want your metal to stay rust-free you’ll need to coat it with something, be it wax, grease or paint. of course, paint is likely the best solution. use an etching primer to eat away the rust you didn’t get off in the first place.
check out this thread for more painting tips.
Go to the hardware store and get something called Naval Jelly. It’s a pink rust-removal goop, and will dissolve the rust.
As mentioned before, though, you’ll have to do something after to keep it from rusting again.
Rust Removal
Dear Chicken,
I use D-Rust-It Rust remover. This stuff works unbelievable and its non-hazardous. Just fill a kiddie pool (or etc.) with D-Rust-It and let it sit for a few hours, maybe overnight if severely rusted. It removes all the rust and leaves the rubbers, paint and plastic untouched…
This is a fantastic material…
I tried naval jellies, etc. and they burn your skin and attack your parts…
Good luck!
wouldn’t filling a kiddy pool with d-rust be kind of expensive?
i think this guys is advertising for D-rust-it wotever…
just get a piece of metallic cloth or wotever its called, and brush hard, with abit of oil.
lots of strategies lots of them work pick your favorite.
Okay, I don’t have a unicycle (I’ll go back to looking for/posting my question in a bit) but I used Limelite power gel on my beach cruiser with one of those sponges with the green scourer on it, only needed to rub gently and the rust is all gone.
Limelite is a limescale remover by the way and it left the chrome all shiny.
easiest and cheapest wud be to get a washing up scrubing brush my m8 used it and he his uni now like brand new
Try googling for “electrolytic rust removal”. It will find some sites with info on using a 12 volt battery charger, a tank or pail of water and a swimming pool chemical commonly called soda ash. Does an amazing job of rust removal without damaging the remaining metal.
CAUTION: Do Not Use on steel and aluminum combination parts, or on chromed parts. It will corrode the aluminum and destroy chrome.
Mike
Rust removal with D-Rust-It
My son bought an old rusty unicycle that we used the D-Rust-It on. It worked extremely well w/ very little labor involved.
I operate an imported car repair shop which specializes in British cars. Obviously anyone familiar w/ such cars will atest to the fact that you can just about watch/hear them rust! I used to sandblast and wire wheel for hours on end, but started using the fluid (D-Rust-It), and saved a great deal of time.
So instead of flailing away at rust, go to the ‘D-Rust-It’ website. The guy running the business is a chemical engineer, not some fly-by-night snake oil salesman. He even sent me a quart sample to try for free! No BS!
Cheers
haha wow this trhead has turned into a commercial its sweet !
goo-be-gone
If you want to see a commercial, go to the bottom of the page. If you want to be ignorant, don’t bother trying new things, your perogative.
Cheers