Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Copper Plating
unfy:
both recent batches of basket bullets have been put through steel wool & acetone.
starting the plating process again. prolly gonna be another 4-5 hours yet again (damn these late nights, shoulda thought of that before starting it).
i'm doing both sets of bullets because i wonder if 40 wasn't quite enough to guaruntee that every bullet in the basket had a current path to the cathode.... ie: if there was just enough space around a bullet it could be in the basket but not touching wire directly or other lead(s) that were touching the wire.
i realize i have two different starting coat thicknesses... it was quite clear when hitting them with the steel wool. we'll see how it affects turnout in a bit. the fact that i don't think ANY of the bullets had a solid copper coat after the wool (and brush to get into lube groove) ... makes me really wonder about coat quality.
unfy:
got tired. only did 2.5 hours.
more failure.
it's still kind of flakey, kind of splotchy (better though), and generally fails the xacto cross hatch grip test.
... so...... i dunno. will ponder tomorrow.
unfy:
--- Quote from: ghknives on December 19, 2011, 08:58:45 PM ---The variac is a type 221B manufactured by Staco Energy rated for 120 volts input and 2.5 amp output. I found it on Ebay for about $15. The rectifier is a radio shack part #261-1185. It's rated at 50v and the biggest they had at the time. Most of what I do is less than 50v but I have run it higher with no negative issues
--- End quote ---
Out of curiousity ... if ya run it at 1-5v, what kind of amperage can you measure out of it ?
unfy:
Dug around work (we do video games / electrical engineering stuff)... and was finally able to find our DC voltage regulators (lt1084's). Grabbed data sheets, some application notes.... did some math ... grabbed some capacitors and resistors and stuff.... should have a variable DC power supply of up to 7A now.
Outside of a PC power supply, I don't believe I have any DC power source that can produce 7A, but ... whatever. It's a start and didn't cost me anything :D
unfy:
First attempt at voltage regulator failed. It's 1 three pin doohkicky, 2 capacitors, and 2 resistors... but I've still somehow managed to **** it up. Ugh.
Tonight I'll be trying again.
Avoiding spending money at the moment, so aquarium heater will have to wait (as well as just outright buying a DC power supply).
I imagine once I get it working, I'll prolly re-rough up the bullets, throw'em in the basket, and see how they plate overnight or while at work (or both if necessary). Sure, I won't be spinning the basket, but... whatever, I just wanna see a thick plate :). And I know where the bullets are in contact with each other won't plate ... hopefully the air agitation will help alleviate general problems.
Unless of course I come up with a way to rotate the basket automagically.... (unlikely... don't think I've got a low RPM motor handy).
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