Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Copper Plating
unfy:
--- Quote from: Dan W on February 04, 2012, 04:09:15 PM ---<------------------ that is a scary avatar dude
--- End quote ---
LOL.... yeah... found it years ago as a joke for stuff here at work as an AIM avatar. Decided I'd start using it for other stuff as well :).
In other news... this weekend was possibly the laziest 'awake' weekend I've had in some time... up early, to bed early, but accomplished NOTHING the entire time.... other than watching the Puppy Bowl VIII on Animal Planet.
Well... not entirely true. I did razor-blade trim the edges of the pieces I cut out from the bottom of the 5 gallon buckets in prep for installing them back into the 'basket'. Gonna drill a bunch of quarter inch holes in the pieces, then zip tie them back into place. Should have taken me all of 30min to do (maxish?) ... but.. yeah... lazy weekend :(.
The goal is to at least get the holes drilled tonight and possibly put them back in place on the basket. Don't get me wrong, I still like the fact I cut them out... its just the easiest / free way to get sturdy screened-in-or-whatever things right now is to just re-use them. Guess my creative juices are running low at the moment heh. I'll also get everything ready for more plating attempts hopefully tomorrow night. I think I've got ~100 bullets to work with, if not I'll cast some more.
........
then again.... i might be a bit scared that the plating won't work.
* i've got a decent power source now
* i've got the aquarium heater getting the solution to 85-90 degrees
* i've got the 'big' copper sheets to be a proper anode
* i've got the air pumps for liquid agitation
* i've assumed my new basket is good
* i've got the motor for spinning the basket automatically
if.... this doesn't work.... i may be completely out of ideas.
Speaking of which, I think tonight I might also do a test plate of just a single bullet (hanging from a wire). Just to show that my setup still works. If it doesn't work -- it'll probably be time to toss out my copper sulfate solution (down the drain with LOTS of water, as per label) and get a fresh batch.... which will have to wait until this weekend due to $$$.
I can probably also dry-test my basket setup to see how the bullets 'tumble' and such.
**** IF **** the next mass copper plate test works, it'll be time to figure out how to more easily prepare bullets. That probably means playing with acid. Kinda nervous about that.
unfy:
Work and real life has been somewhat in the way.
I zip tied the cut out bits of the bucket back in place after drilling some holes in it ------ i suggest skipping cutting it out and just drilling holes directly in the base of the buckets. I bought a couple extra 5 gallon bucks for if I decide to redo my 'basket'.
I now just need to prep some lead, get new copper flashing in place as anode and let'er rip. Been real busy at work (even working weekends) so might take a bit.
unfy:
possibly last attempt at copper plating bullets about to start >:D
edit: well, about 3 hours to go to 24hrs
so far, the frictional gear system thing is the most prone to failure.
the rubber likes to get spun off of the 1/2" pvc end cap, even when epoxied into place.
it seems the coat might be okay, will know for sure later.
the new basket is great, it's a constant tumbling, bullets generally stay within the copper sulfate too. new anode seems to be good too.
if the basket stops for a long time (which it has with gear system failure while sleeping etc) ... ya get a copper 'dust' floating in liquid after things start spinning again. the coat is naturally uneven if this happens :/
if the coat is improved.... i will prolly try one more time.... need to fix frictional gear thing and i'll start with fresh copper sulfate solution. this session has definitely been encouraging.
unfy:
complete failure.
unfy:
Although this was a colossal failure, I really do like how the new basket turned out and how things looked early on.
The plating process seems to take a turn for the worse down the line, the first few hours of the process seem fine.
Prior successes with long plating times were all done with at least two passes. This would be akin to the 'first strike' mentioned earlier in the thread.
* want to try two passes
** just going off prior experience
** the prep for second coat will be roughing up with the fine steel wool.
* attempting fewer bullets next time
** mostly cause I'm lazy (roughing them up takes forever)
** but i wonder if the solution / setup just can't handle so many at once
** thinking 20 bullets.
* gonna dump copper sulfate solution and make new batch
** it's looking rather ick
* gonna change orientation of the copper anode so that it's less likely to get gunk on top of it
** right now it's laying flat along the bottom of the tub, has a film of ick on it
* friction gear was cooperating for last 5 hours of this last plate... so.. gonna leave it alone
** shrug
* will probably make a backup smaller-friction-gear thing
** just so if I do have to swap it out, i don't have to baby sit it
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