Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Copper Plating
unfy:
on page 4 of the powder coat thread, i'm intrigued.
now, i suck with a rattle can... and i have no idea if i could possibly get an even remotely consistent & balanced powder coat... but... i am VERY intrigued so far....
30 pages to go on the thread....
On copper plating... i picked up an 8 foot piece of pvc molding / lattice board. 1/4 inch thick, 1 1/2 inch wide. Cut it into a 3 inch by 3/8's of an inch little strip... it has possibilities.
bkoenig:
Yeah, I'm definitely going to try the powder coating. I'm thinking stick them upside down in holes drilled into a metal sheet, then coat them. That would ensure the base is coated, but leave the lead tip exposed so it can expand. Some of the guys shows pictures of coated bullets they'd smashed flat with a hammer, and the powdercoat is still intact. It's tough stuff, maybe even tougher than copper jackets.
I'll have to start a new thread when I get everything lined up.
unfy:
Just a pic of the clippies as they currently exist.
unfy:
--- Quote from: DangerousDrummer ---Hey unfy,
Got a $15 1.2 -30 v, 5 amp adjustable power supply with fan. Have you read the bullet plating paper on CaswellPlating website. The writer was using a kit, but there is no need to spend the money on a kit, but his bullets looked good. The trick to even plating seems to be low voltage, low current. I intend to build a holder out of a plastic cutting board.
--- End quote ---
$15 ? Wow. Where'd you get it from ?
I've read lots of stuff on Caswell's site. They tend to approach it from a non-mass-production-reloader-guy angle though.
Their kit usually involves a pickling solution (probably an acid...) ... and their CuSO4 bath might have additives to it that might be appropriate for "professional copper plating" (including stuff for PCB's and stuff). Brightners and other such things. Not sure what the contents of the brighteners and other additives are... no one seems to discuss them. Part of making money I suppose.
I believe my home made variable DC power supply is a bit under powered for what I'm trying to do. I'll have to fiddle with it some more, and I'll have to also try flat out ~12v 2amps to see what I get. Do note that the plating folks have their own idea of what "low voltage" and "low amperage" means.
I think my variable power supply on last attempt was ~1v at 0.2 or 0.3 amps. Coat quality was rubbish on 10 bullets (but does fine for 3). The coat quality and timing also suggests it's a power issue not just a 'didnt leave them in long enough'.
As far as 'own terms' - for them, low voltage could mean anywhere from 1 to 16 volts, and low amperage could be anywhere from 1.0 to 30.0 amps.
A plastic cutting board is indeed a decent idea for holder stuff, maybe. If ya could draw something on paper and post a pic of it ? Or ?
Also... while I'm having more success with the individual cell approach - building it is a lot more labor intensive, and although the clothespins and hanging rod stuff I have built is easy to work with... it's technically more labor intensive than just "dumping lead in a basket".
Rudy had mentioned a link which you may recall or have seen already as well:
http://www.nulltime.com/zincplating/shop_setup/plating_barrel/index.html
His rotating barrel setup probably better than what I did. It should also be easy to build what he's got (sans motor of course). I prolly noted in my response that zinc plating nuts and bolts and stuff is one thing, but attempting to get a good even coat on bullets is another story altogether. Tumble basket plate can prolly work just fine, I dunno.
I will note, with a tumble basket plate approach, ya prolly want to put some ridges in the basket to make sure bullets tumble more "violently" kind of.
DangerousDrummer:
Here is what I have found so far about brighteners.. Still don't know of a suitable substitute, but brighteners with low voltage and max amperage of 2 amps seem to be the magic combination. The brightner is attracted to the point of highest conductivity (which would allow for the greatest stacking of metal) and act as a blocker, which forces the material elsewhere until a new place of high conductivity develops, which then attracts the brightner/blocker. Lack of a brightner is what causes the "fingers" or hairs of plating matrial to build up.
The explanation I found...
"In a well controlled plating bath, the carrier supports the formation of a black skin on the anode material which serves to regulate the diffusion of copper ions into the electrolyte. The material is also attracted to, but not co-deposited on the cathode (work piece) forming a layer (film layer) in close proximity to the surface that controls the rate of copper grain growth.
The brightener works within the film layer to control copper deposition on a microscopic level. It tends to be attracted to points of high electro-potential, temporarily packing the area and forcing copper to deposit elsewhere. As soon as the deposit levels, the local point of high potential disappears and the brightener drifts away. (i.e. brighteners inhibit the normal tendency of the plating bath to preferentially plate areas of high potential which would inevitably result in rough, dull plating) By continuously moving with the highest potential, brightener/levelers prevent the formation of large copper crystals, giving the highest possible packing density of small equiaxed crystals which resulting in smooth, glossy, high ductility copper deposition.
Mark Brelsford of QMS in Toronto, ON likens the action of the carrier to the function of a doorman at a theater who regulates the flow of people into a theater but doesn't really care where they go once inside. The brightener would then be the ushers who politely lead each person to a vacant seat until the theater is uniformly filled."
I hooked up the power supply a little while ago, works great. Now to calculate how many bullets 5 amp will plate.
Here is where I got it.
www.eimodule.com
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