Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Copper Plating
unfy:
my hosting provider is being ddos'd or something... so images are attached
basket.jpg = the pvc construct with a couple of baskets tied together.
thin.jpg = 75min of freshly cast & brushed & acetoned bullets. battery powered. rotating the basket every 2-5 min. about 40 bullets.
So....
The support jig is just 1/2 inch pvc pipe. none of it's been glued yet since it's still prototype. The basket holding areas are 3/4 inch cross sections with bushings for the framing and no bushings for the spinny basket portion. the handle is just a half inch pvc with a 3/4" bushing that freely rotates and then a 1/2 inch end cap.
The basket is just a couple dollar store baskets with holes cut for the pvc and then tied together with wire. the turning mechanism has / pipe has holes drilled into it to allow the cathode wire through.
the basket has some thick 14awg (i believe?) wire, and some of the hanger wire spread throughout. i've noted some issues with the thin hanger wire looking black here or there, etc. I will probably take the basket apart and use a single 14awg wire to run around the basket a few times to offer better contact or something.
the coat looks kinda like crap on some of them. something to note, however -- it doesn't flake off while in the distilled water or drying it. so... it is applying it some what decently.
the coat itself is actually very thin as well. looking at the bullets through the basket was deceptive. using the cross hatch grippy area on a xacto knife takes the coat right off / cuts right through it. on the earlier bullets, it just makes shiny copper areas.
tomorrow, i'll work on improving the basket wiring. i'll then rough up another 40-50 bullets and try again for 3-4 hours.
NE Bull:
Whew! There you are, For a day or so I'd thought you gave up or even worse ;)
unfy:
If anyone was stuck behind a goldish ford ranger sunday evening that was going way slow on Kennedy or 2 (near neb city) - that would have been me. couldn't take it anymore and decided to go visit son in sidney ia :D
late start, but 40 bullets are in the hopefully-improved basket in the dip right now. gonna be a long night :(
edit: 2 hours to go.... they're still looking splotchy .... sigh.
edit: 20 min to go to the 4 hour mark... the coat is starting to look much better. i may stay up for an extra hour to see what 5 hours looks like.
unfy:
5 hours... and... well.
the coat is better, but still far from great.
it's also quite inconsistent from bullet to bullet.
some pass the xacto notched handle test, others dont.
as a reference, berry's might as well had been cast copper :P
i passed one through the sizing die and didn't flake surprisingly.
bed time, i'll do pics and stuff tomorrow
unfy:
That's the bullets after 5 hours in the basket. Rotated every 2-5minutes, battery powered (switched out batteries half way through).
The coat is better... but still not great.
Left to right:
1) Hit with a wire brush very gently and it didn't flake or anything. Note *gently*. The single bullets at the start I could be as violent as i wanted...
2) Passed through sizing die
3) Example of xacto knife hatch grip fail
4) Just for fun - a well plated bullet that's been hit with a wire brush. Looks a good bit like a berry's heh.
I might take a break for a week, or I might try hitting both sets of bullets with some of the super fine steel wool I got and try plating some more.
Last three ideas:
1) 2 coats (a strike, buff, then the actual one)
2) aquarium tank heater.... my solution has got to be around 50-60F... which is too cold.
3) acid etching (still don't wanna! heh)
Stuff kinda not interested in trying anymore atm:
1) uhhh i guess only one thing -- the cast -> distilledwater -> acetone -> plating
quick edit : the copper wire of the basket appears to coat nicely. i wonder if the solution is prefering to plate it rather than the bullets ? would the basket be better constructed with a 'star of copper wire' in the middle, placing the bullets between it and the anode ?
meh, tonight i'll definitely be roughing up the ~80 or so bullets i have with the fine steel wool and attempting to plate them again.
i don't doubt that the aquarium heater is going to be a required purchase, and that a strike followed by the 'real coat' might be required.
if there was just an easier way to rough up the bullets. something like chucking them in a drill or even the foster brass trimmer seen in some of my pictures :).
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