"Ted Edwards" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:

For use in a tank, my electrode is a plain sheet of mild steel (the
cover
off an old microwave oven) that I sanded clean on one side with a disk
sander. Just wipe it dry when you're done. I see no need for stainless.
However, I do wonder about what could be toxic in using stainless for
this
job.

Could be chromium. Also, you are talking about the *anode*. This is
the sacraficial electrode in plating so you will be eroding a metalic
anode into your solution thus conaminating it. You won't get the eroded
material plating out nicely - concentrations are all wrong for plating.
Graphite won't do that so is to be preffered for electrocleaning.

From my reading about the process (and I know little about electrochemistry
myself), it appears there is no erosion of metal involved at all, on either
side. That's why I question the idea that stainless causes a problem.

Ed Huntress