Voltage, current, and pH
TomP's input is wonderfully "industrial" yet, as he states, can certainly be performed at home in the garage. Here is a comment regarding the convenience of using a voltage higher than 12V and a current limit higher than one used with nitric acid.
Resistivity of the electrocleaning (I like to call it electrocleaning rather than the presumptuous electropolishishing term which tends to connote something that might compete with actual mechanical polishing which it does not) decreases with increased pH of the solution used. The greater the pH the more dangerous it is to use and the more difficult it is to obtain for us in garage-type operations. Nitric acid keeps best in glass containers which are VERY dangerous to have in an unsecured area accessible by children or unwary adults.
So, if you want to use easily obtained solutions, like lemon juice or FSR without being too concerned about getting ANY of it in your eye on your skin you need higher voltage and higher current to overcome the greatly increased resistivity of a sponge soaked with the milder pH solution while making it easy to use. You can get a tingle from using 25V if you happen to get yourself across the voltage with acidic solutioned hands and, therefore, you chould use plastic gloves (like nitrile or vinyl or).
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