Any experience with or recommendations on restoring rusted galvanized steel?

[Robert Ollerton]

On steel used in electronics, its probably got a conversion coating
treatment (anodized, etc).

I would use a "buffered" phosphoric acid metal prep solution to
dissolve and convert the rust and it will leave a phosphate surface
conversion that will inhibit rust and give tooth for any future paint
coating.

 Sold in paint stores, auto paint, and even "large" building stores.
A gallon is like $15 us.

You can dip parts or for larger ares, lay some wet paper towels on the
area to be treated.    I use a spray bottle to mist areas to be
treated.

Keep an eye on it so it does not eat more than the rust, wipe it off
before it dries, hard on your hands, and will eat lots of neat looking
holes in your pants.  Also found in Coca Cola.

take your time and practice on something not too important.


Navel Jelly I suspect is some kind of Tanic acid/phosporic acid gel.

On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 4:17 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi, All,
>
> Some of the equipment I have has been through the wringer before it
> got to me so I have a couple of items of unpainted, galvanized steel
> where the galvanization is gone in patches larger than your hand and
> the steel underneath has oxidized to black (not so bad) or red (not so
> good).  At the moment, I'm dealing with a single-board-computer "base"
> and a semi-custom rack shelf that both need some help.  I know I can
> treat red iron oxide (rust) with naval jelly, but then I still have
> bare steel with no galvanization.  I'm not expecting to get a
> cosmetically perfect item, but is there a good way to restore/protect
> things like this, or should I just expect to paint the entire item (it
> would look strange to just paint the formerly-galvanized area).
>
> Obviously, descaling, sanding and painting is one way to deal with
> this.  I'm looking for possible alternatives.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions or pointers,
>
> -ethan
>