Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Copper Plating
OnTheFly:
I have no idea how the commercial bullets are plated, but is it possible that you could drop yours into a case cleaner and they would come out polished looking?
Fly
DaveB:
How about tumbling the lead before plating, that should smooth it out I would think too.
unfy:
--- Quote from: OnTheFly on December 14, 2011, 05:01:17 PM ---I have no idea how the commercial bullets are plated, but is it possible that you could drop yours into a case cleaner and they would come out polished looking?
Fly
--- End quote ---
They use much more narly chemicals and a rotating basket / drum kind of thing. I dunno if the weight of the bullets impacting each other helps smooth it out or not, but the more interesting chemicals is definitely beyond this project (I like living, thank you very much).
The rotating drum stuff -- if ya grabbed an old rotisserie grill attachment thing and built the basket to be your cathode source, this would be plausible. This would be an entirely separate project due to the extra engineering involved. Also, spinning basket would solve agitation problems.
As far as putting my plated bullets into a case tumbler or something AFTER the fact -- I actually plan on trying this. Subsequently, if I feel that maybe I need to do more than one coat of plating, a tumbler / vibrator cleaning thing is probably the easiest way to "polish" them for the next coat.
--- Quote from: DaveB on December 14, 2011, 05:08:28 PM ---How about tumbling the lead before plating, that should smooth it out I would think too.
--- End quote ---
I believe the purpose of wire brushing / cleaning the lead prior to plating is to remove oxidation to make it plate better. This would also tie in with the etching step (ie: you also should etch metals and concrete before painting, etc). There is a noticeable shine difference between straight lead and freshly "polished" lead. Ya can hit your own lead with a wire brush (gun cleaning kit?) and see the difference.
Tonight's agenda:
Vinegar to copper sulfate solution
Finer steel wool / brushing of the lead
Skipping the brushing of the lead and trying just a lemon juice / acid bath etch.
Throwing last nights plated bullets into vibrating tumbler.
unfy:
tumbling was relatively useless in a vibrating tumbler - the bullets are heavy and just sit at the bottom.
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vinegar added
hit it with steel wool gently instead of a stiff brush. was in salty lemon juice for 10min.
not sure what's up with the dark spot and stuff. maybe it was touching side of tank ? maybe i touched it too quickly as it came out of the tank ? i have no idea. there is a spot in the middle of the darkness that looks like lead.... and can be picked at by a needle like lead. ... really dunno what happened.
without the microscope .... this one definitely feels smoother even though it's at 30min.
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no-physical abrasion (but 30min in salty juice) attempt is plated for about 20min
it's not even at all, it's spotty, and flakey.
abrasion is required or a stronger or longer etching.
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hit one of last nights bullets with a wirebrush fairly gently (moderate?), and it didn't flake. it's sitting in acetone right now and will be attempting replating it in a bit.
unfy:
second plating did well, 30min, added a grain.
roughed it up some more with steel wool, juice bath for 2 min, acetone for 4 min, back into the dip.
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lemon juice is prolly not a valid etching thing.
.... looking at the HCl ... i *really* don't want to open that :(
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