Tank rust video

[Ty Hamby]

I have started tumbling my tanks. I have started off dry tumbling for now. I have a large quantity or ceramic media I acquired in an auction years ago and can finally play with it. I have sizes from BB size to 1/2"x1" that will not even fit easily through the neck. I also have lots of sizes in between. I have so much of this media, I could fill an 18L cylinder to the neck and still have leftover of each size. If you have been following my fill station build, cascade tank repair, or my tank tumbler build then follow along with me as I experiment with different media sizes and quantities to determine what works best for each desired result. Today I played around with the smallest media I got. Figured it was the easiest to work with so why not try it out. This video below was taken after 4 hours in the tank dry. Nothing added except the media. The results were... well the result is that I will not be wasting my time with this media again. It didn't touch the steel. Tomorrow I jump up to the 1/4" x 1/2" cylindrical ceramic media. I have also constructed a SS whip and a SS bottom brush. I will post photos of them both tomorrow. Maybe a video instead. For now take a look at this video and tell me your thoughts on this cylinders rust after 4 hours with smooth dry media. Also. The rust on the neck is and issue as well. Thoughts on how best to tackle that.
This tank is a 2014 18L Faber CE M25x2 cylinder. I have 2) 18L and 4) 15L CE M25x2 cylinders that are all similar looking inside. Valves will also need restoring as they were also poorly maintained. (cylinders lived on the ocean getting boat fills AFAIK).. I just got new SOS (Blue Steel) kits today.
So check out the rust as it is now and Ill update my next video when I get more time to tumble.

 

[grf88]

Are these tanks DOT certified as I thought most European tanks did not have DOT certification as well.

 

[Ty Hamby]

You are correct. CE tanks are not DOT certified. Now watch my cylinder rust thread get derailed by the non-DOT tank safety certification crew.

 

[Gone for diving]

I use 1/4 inch SS punch outs from a fab shop. Mainly dry. But it's good to do wet occasionally to clean the media.

 

[happy-diver]

 

[grf88]

You are correct. CE tanks are not DOT certified. Now watch my cylinder rust thread get derailed by the non-DOT tank safety certification crew.

It doesn't take away from the usefulness of the thread I just wanted to make sure you knew that you will need a compressor or a friend with one to get them filled in North America.

 

[greeniguana]

It doesn't take away from the usefulness of the thread I just wanted to make sure you knew that you will need a compressor or a friend with one to get them filled in North America.

 

[Johnoly]

There's way too much media inside that tank. There are many different types of media from rocks, sand, triangles, nuts, bolts, broken tiles, etc. But the one universal effect that you are trying to "Balance" is you want it to be like a surfer's curl wave inside the rotation. That is the media & liquid rides up the tank wall and curls/falls over on to almost bare tank wall below. Having media land on top of itself doesn't do anything. That 'surfers curl' is a balance of the type/weight/shape of the media, PLUS the rotational speed, PLUS the amount of media, PLUS the slippage against the wall. Sliding & slipping media is fine, it just takes way too long.

Every tank is different on shape and especially 'media slippage' even if two tanks are exactly the same size/manufacture side by side. I always started with a small amount of triangle ceramics with very little simple green and a medium speed. Then kept adding 1/4 cup of media and playing with the speed until the surf curl develops. Then try to lengthen that surf curl as you look inside the tank. Tilting the tank at different angles will also help you 'move' the curl along the wall. Your tank inside picture to me looks like it will take an overnite run to clean it up. Also the quick warm air drying stand is just as important as the tumbling so be ready in minutes.

Lastly, every tank I tumbled still needed to be 'whipped'. Then maybe a chemical treatment and rust inhibitor. Tumbling tanks is not the final step.

PS. I'm not a tumbling expert by any means and there are many other people on SB way more experienced than me ( tagging @Tanks A Lot ) I just did it as part of filling tanks.

 

[Umuntu]

It doesn't take away from the usefulness of the thread I just wanted to make sure you knew that you will need a compressor or a friend with one to get them filled in North America.

From the OP’s first post above …

If you have been following my fill station build, cascade tank repair, or my tank tumbler build then follow along with me as I experiment with different media sizes and quantities to determine what works best for each desired result.

Note fill station build

Now give the DOT issue a rest and let the experiments go on.

 

[Ty Hamby]

Note fill station build

Now give the DOT issue a rest and let the experiments go on.

When I sell my fill station, my 6 CE tanks go with the compressor. I do understand the filling limitations. Since I have a lathe (to make a neck adapter M25x2 x 1/2NPT) and a willing hydro guy to test them, I will keep them in spec. He just wont stamp them since he has no way to properly log them. I am trying to get him to at least for myself, date them without his RIN. I am also aware of a group of people who believe taking the cylinders to test pressures via hydro does more harm than good. Achim from Interspace Explorers is one example of a tech instructor talking about the harms of hydro. A good VIS with logged data following the cylinder has a higher value imo. YMMV

There's way too much media inside that tank. There are many different types of media from rocks, sand, triangles, nuts, bolts, broken tiles, etc. But the one universal effect that you are trying to "Balance" is you want it to be like a surfer's curl wave inside the rotation. That is the media & liquid rides up the tank wall and curls/falls over on to almost bare tank wall below. Having media land on top of itself doesn't do anything. That 'surfers curl' is a balance of the type/weight/shape of the media, PLUS the rotational speed, PLUS the amount of media, PLUS the slippage against the wall. Sliding & slipping media is fine, it just takes way too long.

Every tank is different on shape and especially 'media slippage' even if two tanks are exactly the same size/manufacture side by side. I always started with a small amount of triangle ceramics with very little simple green and a medium speed. Then kept adding 1/4 cup of media and playing with the speed until the surf curl develops. Then try to lengthen that surf curl as you look inside the tank. Tilting the tank at different angles will also help you 'move' the curl along the wall. Your tank inside picture to me looks like it will take an overnite run to clean it up. Also the quick warm air drying stand is just as important as the tumbling so be ready in minutes.

Lastly, every tank I tumbled still needed to be 'whipped'. Then maybe a chemical treatment and rust inhibitor. Tumbling tanks is not the final step.

PS. I'm not a tumbling expert by any means and there are many other people on SB way more experienced than me. I just did it as part of filling tanks.

Thank you for this writeup. I am clearly in for the long haul on cleaning these. I have a really bad one on the tumbler now, going on 6 hours. It almost looks great inside. Very slight staining inside. I will follow up this thread today with a video of the cleaning tools I have made so far. I found a SS bottom brush on Amazon that is $10 bucks. more to follow. Thank you. I will try the curl method once I finish the "long cook with too much media" method. I also do have simple green and some rust remover. Ill post photos of that too later in the day. Does the simple green really need to be clear (unscented)? I have the green forestry smelling stuff.