Brings back memories of working in treatments dept at British hovercraft corporation , cadmium plating, copper plating, and anodising. Working on hovercraft, and helicopter parts. Good video, well explained 😊
Wow ! This was great man, i've seen a lot of guys doing it with much more elaborate set ups with big power supplies and all, but no one ever really explains what voltage is required or what the actual solution is made of. I'm going to bookmark this, thanks for sharing mate, have a great day. Ray from Canada.
Super cool Steve, love the simplicity, thanks for sharing! It is difficult to appreciate the finish on camera (at least for my eyes) but I'm willing to trust you.
You have the two zinc plates shorted together with copper wire. If you connect the negative as at 1:32 you will have a dead short across your batteries.
At 1:32, indeed, the two zinc plates are connected by a copper wire. If you do as he says, with what is shown at that time frame, you will have a short across the battery. While he's talking about the charging process, loading the solution, that copper link between the two zinc plates would not be there...
@@michaelsimpson9779 ? At 1:32 the negative wire is not connected to the zinc plate! The copper wire is indeed connected to the opposite side of the vessel and that is to get a more even deposit on the part to be plated, the negative is connected to the bolt which is isolated from the zinc plates by being on a wooden rail, have another look.
Exactly. Don't "charge" the solution with that copper wire in place. Two electrode plates with nothing but the solution connecting them. Also, this doesn't take 2 minutes...It takes an hour and 2 minutes.
I'm sure that you can find something more suitable than a car battery for a small plating tank. A 9v smoke alarm battery would be enough to do half a 5 gallon bucket tank. I've found through impatience and experimentation that using excessive current when plating and anodizing almost always results in bad quality results.
What would the voltage/current requirements be for 3 or 4 times the amount of solution for increased capacity? How is that scaled if that’s an applicable question? I imagine that an increase in the mass of the anodes would be necessary? Apologies for the newbie questions
Do you by any chance know how to achieve that yellowish zinc plated look? Either way, this also looks like it will be a good amount of protection, but doesn't look as shiny
This man did not add brightener to his plating solution. Also it is a very basic ( primitive ) plating solution resulting in a very dull plate. The zinc film must be very thin based on the short time in the tank. You need low voltage 1.5 -3 volts and higher amperage 4-5 amps. The finished plating must be very bright and shiny if you want the yellow rainbow finish. A short dip ( 5 seconds ) in a potassium chromate solution will give you the desired yellow finish.
@@MidEngineeringthere is two types of zink plating one is shiny and the other is not. There is hot plating and cold plating. I can see the before and after differencemyself.
Brings back memories of working in treatments dept at British hovercraft corporation , cadmium plating, copper plating, and anodising. Working on hovercraft, and helicopter parts. Good video, well explained 😊
Wow ! This was great man, i've seen a lot of guys doing it with much more elaborate set ups with big power supplies and all, but no one ever really explains what voltage is required or what the actual solution is made of. I'm going to bookmark this, thanks for sharing mate, have a great day. Ray from Canada.
Super cool Steve, love the simplicity, thanks for sharing! It is difficult to appreciate the finish on camera (at least for my eyes) but I'm willing to trust you.
You have the two zinc plates shorted together with copper wire. If you connect the negative as at 1:32 you will have a dead short across your batteries.
No, the negative is connected to the wire hanger which is hanging on the wooden stick, the negative is not connected to the positive wire at all.
At 1:32, indeed, the two zinc plates are connected by a copper wire. If you do as he says, with what is shown at that time frame, you will have a short across the battery. While he's talking about the charging process, loading the solution, that copper link between the two zinc plates would not be there...
@@michaelsimpson9779 ? At 1:32 the negative wire is not connected to the zinc plate! The copper wire is indeed connected to the opposite side of the vessel and that is to get a more even deposit on the part to be plated, the negative is connected to the bolt which is isolated from the zinc plates by being on a wooden rail, have another look.
Exactly. Don't "charge" the solution with that copper wire in place. Two electrode plates with nothing but the solution connecting them. Also, this doesn't take 2 minutes...It takes an hour and 2 minutes.
Correct! I did not mention that the copper wire only gets added for the plating process, I will add this information as a caption.
thanks very good sean ireland
What happens if you use higher voltage (12V is eazier to come by from a car battery)? Or will you get a Beirut type of event?
I'm sure that you can find something more suitable than a car battery for a small plating tank. A 9v smoke alarm battery would be enough to do half a 5 gallon bucket tank. I've found through impatience and experimentation that using excessive current when plating and anodizing almost always results in bad quality results.
@@ottopartz1 Thanks for the reply, just wanted to know.
What would the voltage/current requirements be for 3 or 4 times the amount of solution for increased capacity? How is that scaled if that’s an applicable question? I imagine that an increase in the mass of the anodes would be necessary? Apologies for the newbie questions
Looks like it did nothing! 😂 I'm going to try it though, thinking it just needs a longer bath, thanks!
Do you by any chance know how to achieve that yellowish zinc plated look? Either way, this also looks like it will be a good amount of protection, but doesn't look as shiny
To get the yellow look you dip the plated part in a chromate solution, it is an additional set of steps after what Steve did here.
This man did not add brightener to his plating solution. Also it is a very basic ( primitive ) plating solution resulting in a very dull plate. The zinc film must be very thin based on the short time in the tank. You need low voltage 1.5 -3 volts and higher amperage 4-5 amps. The finished plating must be very bright and shiny if you want the yellow rainbow finish. A short dip ( 5 seconds ) in a potassium chromate solution will give you the desired yellow finish.
@@ethanallen3625 That or also the yellow/goldish finish could also be cadmium plating which is this yellow colour.
it just need V or it needs A also? 2x D batteries = 3V and if I adjust my charger to 3V will it run without problems?
I'd say somewhere between 0.5 - 1Ah is what you need for 1 litre.
100 grams of salt! Does he mean 10 grams?
Sorry but they look exactly the same before / after to me..
Just what I was thinking. If you buy Zinc plated bolts, they are shiny. How is that done I wonder?
@@MidEngineeringthere is two types of zink plating one is shiny and the other is not. There is hot plating and cold plating. I can see the before and after differencemyself.
Boy, are you confused!