How do you remove light rust from wheels

[jasp]

I have some steel wheels which have light rust. I have seen it suggested to use spirit vinegar overnight.

Does anyone have any experience of this, or other, means?

Thank you

Edited May 29, 2023 by jasp
additional info

[cliff park]

In lockdown I was given a wood turning lathe which had been left in a shed which had a leaky roof  for about 5 years. I stripped it down, soaked all the parts, except the motor and switchgear, in spirit vinegar for various lengths of time, and it worked brilliantly. It all works well and I am using it to this day.  I used wire wool to clean it all up, but I imagine for your purposes a piece of cloth would be sufficient

[DCB]

I stick my rusted steel wheels in the lathe, and spin them against some fine emery or fine rubbing down paper. Finish with T cut cutting polish.  It works for K's, Triang etc driving wheels and Hornby Dublo 3 rail wagon / coach wheels.   Fitting them in the chuck is the challenge, a slave axle or a mandrel to suit the tyre removed from its wheel centre can be useful.  You can use a drill chuck if you don't have a lathe (yet).

I haven't had any success with any chemical method of removing rust from steel tyres, or from car bodies or anything else.....  

[melmerby]

Just run the loco on the track and spin the wheels a bit, the track friction will polish them up.

 

I thought Triang wheels were a Mazak like alloy, not steel and the only K's wheels I have had, had brass tyres.

[Il Grifone]

Some Tri-ang wheels (early ones) are zinc alloy, later ones have steel tyres. All the K's wheels I have also have steel tyres.

For cleaning I use an ink eraser, but I have seen a YouTube suggestion  of the use of a potato for rust removal and as a water repellant on carsand thought I'd try it.

[Steamport Southport]

What wheels though? 

 

Tiny bit of WD40 on a cotton bud works for the Maygib/Gibson type as recommended by the manufacturer.

 

 

 

Jason

[DCB]

23 hours ago, melmerby said:

Just run the loco on the track and spin the wheels a bit, the track friction will polish them up.

 

I thought Triang wheels were a Mazak like alloy, not steel and the only K's wheels I have had, had brass tyres.

If the wheels tyres are not too badly corroded and are on a loco spinning them works well, but if they are rusty they won't conduct well enough for the loco to run and the OP does not specify if the wheels are driven wheels on a loco or otherwise.   For really bad Triang / Hornby driving wheels I clamp the chassis in a vice by its X04's magnet and attach one wire to the vice and the other to a file which I hold against the insulated wheel.  For the non insulated wheels I use a small crocodile clip to attach the wire to the suppressor and spin the wheels with a file against the non insulated wheels.  The plated Hornby tyres seem to  become very badly pitted compared to the dull ones.  The same should work for K's etc but my corroded K's wheels were new unused ones which got wet.

[Fishplate]

Hi @jasp Yes, I've used this way to de-rust wheels. Placed in a small plastic box with a lid* with a small amount of vinegar just sufficient to submerge them (I tipped the box on a support to reduce the amount of vinegar required).

 

I found great results in less than an hour. Then wash off in water with a drop of detergent and dry. You can then either decant the used vinegar back into the bottle, or dispose of appropriately.

 

*otherwise the room will smell badly of vinegar very quickly. The lidded box I used is those you get a portion of food in from a chinese takeaway.

[jasp]

Thank you for your responses

I will try the vinegar.