I have thisvideo game repair kit.
I have had it for a little more than a year, and some of the bits are rusting out! I can’t seem to find any information about their warranty. Does Pro’s Kit have a warranty on these tools?
Proper storage is the key. Take your bits and wash them in hand dish-washing detergent. Put them in a plastic container with hot water and a little detergent, and agitate them. This should remove most of the rust. If it doesn’t, you can try a mixture of vinegar and table salt, which will produce a weak hydrochloric acid solution. Agitate, and if you use the vinegar solution, rinse with soapy water then with clean hot water.
Dry well and coat with a light coat of light oil or WD40. Allow to dry, then store the bits in a dry place. If you are getting rust while these are in storage, they are getting wet and not drying out. Consider improving storage conditions.
I always thought salt and water accelerated rust. Also, these bits have never been wet. Although it does get pretty humid here. When they are not being used, they stay in the case, and on the shelf.
They have a return policy -
http://www.proskit.com/index.php?main_page=shippinginfo&zenid=dsfspjhm4ehjpsr1jg1jeo9755
You’'ll have to contact them about any warranty, etc.
So, what’s a little rust?
If it really bothers you, clean them up with some Naval Jelly, and then spray with WD-40.
It would be quite unlikely that anyone here could answer this any better than they could
Yes, salt can accelerate rusting, particularly with stainless steel. Even with carbon steel, which is probably what you are dealing with, just the salt from contact with your skin can cause problems. A coating of light oil can prevent contact with your skin from causing problems.
It all depends on how bad the rust is. If it is a light rust, you should be able to just wash it with soapy water and apply a light oil or WD40. If there is flaking rust, you need to get rid of it. Navel Jelly, as mentioned, will work. The vinegar/Salt solution is like a poor man’s Navel Jelly. Chemically, it converts the rust (if it is flaking off it is probably hydrolyzed iron oxide, or iron hydroxide if you will) a ferric oxide to ferric chloride, which is highly soluble in acidic solutions. If you do this, it is very important to rinse and neutralize the surfaces with soapy water. Then, since the surface has been cleaned, you need to apply a light oil.
You say they have never been wet, but you experience high humidity and you have rust. There isn’t anything surprising here. The water in the air is condensing on the bits, getting them wet resulting in rusting.
My guess is the rust is just a little surface rust and washing with soapy water (perhaps using an old toothbrush or similar implement), drying, and coating with light oil will be all you need. Keep them oiled and dry and they should be OK. You may have some success with the return policy, but I doubt there is anything defective with the product and if you replace them with new ones without changing your storage conditions, you can expect the same result.
I’ve never heard this. Is this true? It doesn’t sound right to me.
Well, it is really all how you look at it. You could call it a mixture of acetic acid and sodium chloride or a mixture of sodium acetate and hydrochloric acid, it’s up to you.
The end result is the same. You have Cl- ions in an acidic aqueous solution, which will convert the hydrated iron oxides into Ferric Chloride and water. The Ferric Chloride is highly soluble in the acidic solution, so it will “disappear” for all intents and purposes.
While the chloride ion is not going anywhere, not changing energy or anything, and could be ignored in the equation, it is present, and could act like a catalyst…
In fact it may act as a mechanical instrument, by causing the rust to swell …
That is, its not so much acting to change the rust chemically, as to change it mechanically… catalyst ? well could be, they are sometimes about mechanical properties. Often they are about energy levels though, eg removing or adding an electron to a place to lower the energy threshold.
So you can probably just scrub with acetic acid, because Iron acetate is soluble…
Phosphoric acid converts the rust to the insoluble iron phosphate.
Hydroxides turn the rust into insoluble black iron oxides.