Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Copper Plating
bkoenig:
Interesting. I have used electrolysis to remove nasty fouling from a rifle bore. Basically the same thing but with a c cell battery for power and the current flowing the opposite direction so it pulls gunk off instead of plating it on.
unfy:
bkoenig: same concept yup.
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BTW -- I was a bit too excited last night and forgot to mention some obvious safety stuffs.
Copper Sulfate is very nasty in high concetrations. guano can make you very sick even if it gets under your finger nails and then you chew your nails afterwards. Sooo... yeah, take care. Although I wasn't wearing them when it came to actually plating the quarter, I usually wear latex gloves. That way if any gets on me, the glove gets thrown away...... just in case I rub my eyes later, etc.
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Today I stopped by Menards on the way to work for some more supplies. While I was there, since it's a different store, I looked for similar supplies as to last time. There was no Zepp root killer, but there was some Root Gone:
http://www.heartlandlabs.com/images/rootgone_000.jpg
It, too, is a 99% copper sulfate thing.
Also while there, I was looking for some etching acid. There were some small bottles by Rustoleum that had acid warnings but no actual contents / percentages. Instead, grabbed some muriatic acid for $4. Silly historical names >:D. Muratic acid is hydrochloric acid. It's Sunny Side white label branded, 31.45% HCl.
This should etch the lead just nicely to allow better coating.
Working with acids requires A LOT of safety precautions. Stay away from fumes, wear long sleeve shirts or other protective gear (eye stuff!), and some rubber gloves and jug of oh-guano water prolly aint a bad idea.
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The copper coat on my quarter survived the morning in my pocket with no real signs of wear. There's a few shiny spots, from rubbing around and stuff, but they're *copper* shiny, not typical quarter shiny :D
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Tonight I'll clean try some more experimentation and post pics (naturally).
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Edit: updated acid stuffs
unfy:
Switched to a different metal... some... computer back plate things. Buffed, acetone, water, plate.
6v (4 D cells), 10min.
Didn't... come out that great.
and then rubbing it off:
.... dunno if i need more time & better polishing or.... if it doesn't like the receiving metal...
unfy:
I had zero luck getting a washer to plate (at 6v nor 13v). It all just rubbed off
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Moving on to lead, at 13v 10min i get:
the black means it's way over current'd.
i'm now attempting a 3V bullet.
unfy:
3V at 20min.
It generally kept it's color much better.... but a lot rubbed off....
next one will be 1.5v.
i prolly need to use an acid etcher here soon or clean it better or something.
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