Home zinc plating

Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

Reply to
Ignoramus15263
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Don Foreman is the resident expert on this. He's done a ton of it and reported here several times. I know he's partial to Caswill products. They sell complete starter kits.

Looks like he's busy watching after his honey. Ping him in a few days if he doesn't see your query this time.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

I zinc plate a lot of my steel projects, particularly those with metal-to-metal contact. It's quite easy to do if you can follow simple directions. I use materials from Caswell Plating. I would just buy the zinc plating solution, a zinc anode or two, and some zinc brightener.

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I designed and built an adjustable constant-current supply. It can be set anywhere from 10 mA to 1.5 amps -- most of my projects are small enough to easily fit in a 2-gallon bucket. Before I made that supply I used a variac, battery charger and ammeter.

I've been using the same chemicals for at least 5 years. The zinc brightener needs to be replenished periodically if you want bright zinc, but it only takes a few ml. Zinc eventually gets dull anyway so I don't worry much about having it initially bright -- but if you follow directions and replenish the brightener your zinc will be as bright as commercial hardware.

Reply to
Don Foreman

I've read that zinc galvanizing paint is as corrosion resistant as actual galvanizing. What's peoples opinion on that? Karl

Reply to
kfvorwerk

After welding some rust holes in my truck I painted them with Crown

7008 cold galvanizing, brush not spray. Within a year the top coat soon peeled off and some rust discoloration appeared. I've had longer lasting results from standard auto primer and paint.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Spray cold galvanizing is very soft. May be OK on something stationary that sees no action of any kind, like a part of a frame.

Bruch on cold galvanizing is a step better.

Here I wanted to cover two large shackles that I cleaned.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus9135

Thanks, Don. I will give that kit a try.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus9135

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Out of curiosity -- what is the voltage compliance of this CC power supply? Likely one of the lab supplies that I have would do for the task for reasonable sized objets.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

The power supplies Caswell sells all go to at least 12V.

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I bought the 20V 5A model (last one at $130) for a general lab supply. Right now it's standing in for the 45W solar panels in the Harbor Freight kit while I burn-in test the controller. Here's a link to the HF controller schematic for those of us who speak Geek:
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jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins
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They don't *really* use phone jacks for the low voltage outputs, do they? Especially the USB load. :-)

At least the switching regulators seem to be a good choice for minimizing waste power while running off the solar power.

1N4007s seem to be popular there. :-) I remember that Transitron used to make what they called "Stabistors" -- silicon diodes characterized for the forward voltage drop and the temperature coefficient thereof. They were used in series with zener diodes in potted regulator blocks to provide stable output voltages with temperature variations. A lot more efficient than putting the zener in a crystal oven, which I have seen done many places. (Even some of the Power Designs power supplies which had switch selectable output voltage

-- for 10-position switches for dialing in volts, tenths, hundredths, and mV, with a toggle switch to add in an extra 10V, and a pot to adjust the output in 100s of uV. Lovely little lab supplies -- and quite accurate, once you allow the crystal oven to stabilize. (It bypasses the power switch, so if you leave it plugged in, the oven is already stable when you turn it on.)

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

It draws 14.3mA with the voltmeter off, ~ 40mA with it on. Yeah, the

5W CF lights included in the kit have phone plugs, but it's a standard USB outlet. The wire in the kit is too small for a decent inverter, which I'll connect right to the battery.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

It's quite high, probably dynamic Z of tens of megohms, but that's just how it turned out. It wouldn't need to be that high for plating. I built it because I got tired of replacing the fuse in my multimeter every time something shorted out in the bucket. It's just an LM324 opamp feedback loop comparing the voltage on an emitter (or source) resistor to the voltage on a pot driven by a voltage reference.

Zinc only needs about 30 mA per square inch so a couple of amps is plenty for anything that'll fit in a 2-gallon bucket.

A lab supply in constant current mode would work fine. I didn't want to move my lab supply back and forth. This supply is about the size of a recipe box and is bolted to the plating cart.

Reply to
Don Foreman

It's paint with zinc dust as pigment. Plating is metal. An intact paint film prevents corrosion, but paint is not as durable as metal.

I use the cold galvanize paint on projects made of angle iron, etc where metal-to-metal contact doesn't happen. I have racks I made 20 years ago that are still rust free.

I use real zinc on smaller projects where there is metal-to-metal contact. One example would be Ig's hasps.

Zinc plating is actually no more trouble than painting, and it's ready to go into service as soon as it comes out of the bucket.

Reply to
Don Foreman

Good to know thanks everyone.

Reply to
kfvorwerk

The good thing about cold galvanize paint is that, though it could be scratched easily, the rust does NOT go underneath the paint, like is the case with other paints. It just develops on scratched areas. I painted my trailer's frame with cold galvanized paint 3 years ago, and while there is a bit of rust on scratches, it does not at all propagate. I am very satisfied with that.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus14196

"Transitron", now there is a blast from the past! I used to work for them, while in college many years ago...still have a few of the old plastic IC's they made back then.

bill

Reply to
Bill Martin

I worked for them too -- a summer in 1960, and for about a year in (I think) 1962.

This was prior to the IC period of course. Ref-Amps were potted combinations of zeners, transistor, and Stabistors to make for a very low TC.

And the "binistor" (bistable transistor) never really took off, but was discovered by accident. :-)

Somewhere, I should still have the orange binder data sheet book.

Does the name "Bill VanDerHuevel" ring any bells?

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

That's good to know. I've used it on jobs where the parts should be left alone.

Reply to
kfvorwerk

I went for a professional help with my zinc plating services. They offered reliable services for a very nominal price. It saved me time and space.

Reply to
justinroberts455

I went for a professional help with my zinc plating services. They offered reliable services for a very nominal price. It saved me time and space.

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Reply to
justinroberts455

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