Rust removal, cleaning motorcycle gas tanks. Tumbler tumbling.

[krazytroutcatcher]

I built a similar one about three years ago with a frame that can be pulled over to another angle, it has a tendency to miss the inside top on the tunnel area of the tank but this can easily be blasted off before or after tumbling.

[schlusselmensch]

@krazytroutcatcher Yeah, that seems to be the trouble area of most tanks I've cleaned but it's just a case of leaving it running and reversing it 2 or 3 times a day. I've had a real crusty Metralla tank on there for at least 50 hours. Looking pretty good now.

[2000talon]

Cool, i was wondering how to get rust out of one of my tanks.

[jasoncalhoun2008]

that is so cool i want one

[MrBevelTech]

Why not just push the R90S off a fucking cliff.

[schlusselmensch]

@MrBevelTech Pointless, the BMW suspension would simply absorb all the impact. 'Course, this bike ran when It was finished so I wouldn't have had to push it.

[schlusselmensch]

I am building a second machine that will use an electric window drive to twist the tank a little bit every revolution. A gell cell battery will just ride along on the rotating frame and a switch for the window motor will make contact for a brief period every revolution. I went to the trouble of obtaining 2 axis tumbling so that every bit of the tank interior surface would be scoured clean. Have you got an old Lanz or a Field Marshal you want to sell me? Hopefully cheap?

[mdirtycreek]

I have lots of old tractors that are in need of cleaning so I think it would be worth building something.I have an old cement mixer that i am going to try and use.

[mdirtycreek]

I have been thinking about something like that for old tractor tanks,they can be very rusty and hard to clean.

[schlusselmensch]

@mdirtycreek Don't know if the effort would be worth it for just one tank but I have enough rusty tanks to last me for bloody ever. It's currently working on a Metralla tank that was truly awful inside. There's no reason you could not make something that rotates the tank in one axis and then manually reposition it periodically it so that all the interior surfaces see the abrasive. It actually sounds uncannily like waves crashing on a shore, a quite relaxing background noise.

[schlusselmensch]

Because electrolysis doesn't reliably remove the shellac-like residue from old fuel.

Because a lot of these tanks have an anti-surge collar that prevents the top interior of the tank from being cleaned because of the gassing off.

Because some tanks I would have to immerse totally to completely clean and the original finishes are either delicate or expensive, or both. No question the electric method has its merits but this thing misses nothing. It was worth the effort.

[TattedandPierced]

smart why not just do it by electrolysis