I've posted about the restoration on my well rusted PM 66 table saw and Delta DJ-15 jointer, but last year I picked up a PM 54A jointer found on CL. The jointer had been in a non-climate controlled storage building and subject to humidity so it had what I thought was surface rust. When I got it home I realized the rust was a little more than I had initially realized. But, I figured, I had already been successful in getting the heavy rust off the other two tools so this one didn't seem like it would be that bad.
This time I used Electrolysis everywhere I could and it worked great. So this is what I did -
When I brought it home it looked like this -
PM 54A - rusted beds, fence.jpg
Kind of heavy in some areas -
PM 54A - more rust.jpg
Ugly spot there in front of the cutterhead, which doesn't look too good, either -
PM 54A - rusted cutterhead.jpg
Here's the cutterhead out of the jointer -
PM 54A - cutterhead before electrolysis.jpg
What I have here is a towel wetted with water and baking soda. I don't remember how much but in a 5 gallon pail I think I used about 2 gallons of water and about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of baking soda. I wrung the towel out about 75% and placed a sacrificial sheet metal plate I picked up at Lowe's on top of the towel. Then I hooked my battery charger, one lead to the jointer and one to the metal plate. Then I placed some weight on the metal plate to make sure there was good contact. In this case I used some Honduras Mahogany cutoffs from some columns.
PM 54A - electrolysis.jpg
After about 3-4 minutes the amperage gauge goes to about nothing which indicates the towel is now dry and has done all it is going to do. This is after removing the towel and no additional effort applied to the bed other than using the same towel to wipe the bed where the rust was.
PM 54A - after electrolysis.jpg
Far less rust, looks pretty good -
PM 54A - less rust.jpg
Here's the cutterhead wrapped in a rag and with bailing wire wrapped tightly to make sure there is good contact. I hooked the leads up, gave it 3-4 minutes, and pulled the rag off.
PM 54A - cutterhead electrolysis.jpg