Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

On Sat, 12 Feb 2011 07:41:17 -0600, Ignoramus15263
wrote:

Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

Don Foreman is the resident expert on this. He's done a ton of it and
reported here several times. I know he's partial to Caswill products.
They sell complete starter kits.

Looks like he's busy watching after his honey. Ping him in a few days
if he doesn't see your query this time.

Karl

On Sat, 12 Feb 2011 07:41:17 -0600, Ignoramus15263
wrote:

Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

I zinc plate a lot of my steel projects, particularly those with
metal-to-metal contact. It's quite easy to do if you can follow
simple directions. I use materials from Caswell Plating. I would just
buy the zinc plating solution, a zinc anode or two, and some zinc
brightener.

www.caswellplating.com

I designed and built an adjustable constant-current supply. It can be
set anywhere from 10 mA to 1.5 amps -- most of my projects are small
enough to easily fit in a 2-gallon bucket. Before I made that supply
I used a variac, battery charger and ammeter.

I've been using the same chemicals for at least 5 years. The zinc
brightener needs to be replenished periodically if you want bright
zinc, but it only takes a few ml. Zinc eventually gets dull anyway so
I don't worry much about having it initially bright -- but if you
follow directions and replenish the brightener your zinc will be as
bright as commercial hardware.

On Feb 12, 3:41*am, Ignoramus15263 ignoramus15...@NOSPAM.
15263.invalid wrote:
Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

I've read that zinc galvanizing paint is as corrosion resistant as
actual galvanizing. What's peoples opinion on that?
Karl

On Feb 13, 6:31*am, " wrote:
On Feb 12, 3:41*am, Ignoramus15263 ignoramus15...@NOSPAM.

15263.invalid wrote:
Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

I've read that zinc galvanizing paint is as corrosion resistant as
actual galvanizing. What's peoples opinion on that?
Karl

After welding some rust holes in my truck I painted them with Crown
7008 cold galvanizing, brush not spray. Within a year the top coat
soon peeled off and some rust discoloration appeared. I've had longer
lasting results from standard auto primer and paint.

jsw

On 2011-02-13, wrote:
On Feb 12, 3:41?am, Ignoramus15263 ignoramus15...@NOSPAM.
15263.invalid wrote:
Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

I've read that zinc galvanizing paint is as corrosion resistant as
actual galvanizing. What's peoples opinion on that?
Karl

Spray cold galvanizing is very soft. May be OK on something stationary
that sees no action of any kind, like a part of a frame.

Bruch on cold galvanizing is a step better.

Here I wanted to cover two large shackles that I cleaned.

i

On 2011-02-13, Don Foreman wrote:
On Sat, 12 Feb 2011 07:41:17 -0600, Ignoramus15263
wrote:

Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

I zinc plate a lot of my steel projects, particularly those with
metal-to-metal contact. It's quite easy to do if you can follow
simple directions. I use materials from Caswell Plating. I would just
buy the zinc plating solution, a zinc anode or two, and some zinc
brightener.

www.caswellplating.com

I designed and built an adjustable constant-current supply. It can be
set anywhere from 10 mA to 1.5 amps -- most of my projects are small
enough to easily fit in a 2-gallon bucket. Before I made that supply
I used a variac, battery charger and ammeter.

I've been using the same chemicals for at least 5 years. The zinc
brightener needs to be replenished periodically if you want bright
zinc, but it only takes a few ml. Zinc eventually gets dull anyway so
I don't worry much about having it initially bright -- but if you
follow directions and replenish the brightener your zinc will be as
bright as commercial hardware.


Thanks, Don. I will give that kit a try.

i

On 2011-02-13, Don Foreman wrote:
On Sat, 12 Feb 2011 07:41:17 -0600, Ignoramus15263
wrote:

Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it.

I zinc plate a lot of my steel projects, particularly those with
metal-to-metal contact. It's quite easy to do if you can follow
simple directions. I use materials from Caswell Plating.

[ ... ]

www.caswellplating.com

I designed and built an adjustable constant-current supply. It can be
set anywhere from 10 mA to 1.5 amps -- most of my projects are small
enough to easily fit in a 2-gallon bucket. Before I made that supply
I used a variac, battery charger and ammeter.

Out of curiosity -- what is the voltage compliance of this CC
power supply? Likely one of the lab supplies that I have would do for
the task for reasonable sized objets.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
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On Feb 13, 5:53*pm, "DoN. Nichols" wrote:
On 2011-02-13, Don Foreman wrote:
...
* * * * Out of curiosity -- what is the voltage compliance of this CC
power supply? *Likely one of the lab supplies that I have would do for
the task for reasonable sized objets.
* * * * * * * * DoN.

The power supplies Caswell sells all go to at least 12V.
http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/rect.htm

I bought the 20V 5A model (last one at $130) for a general lab supply.
Right now it's standing in for the 45W solar panels in the Harbor
Freight kit while I burn-in test the controller. Here's a link to the
HF controller schematic for those of us who speak Geek:
http://solarpanelkitatharborfreight....eight-charge-1

jsw

On 2011-02-14, Jim Wilkins wrote:

[ ... ]

I bought the 20V 5A model (last one at $130) for a general lab supply.
Right now it's standing in for the 45W solar panels in the Harbor
Freight kit while I burn-in test the controller. Here's a link to the
HF controller schematic for those of us who speak Geek:
http://solarpanelkitatharborfreight....eight-charge-1

They don't *really* use phone jacks for the low voltage outputs,
do they? Especially the USB load. :-)

At least the switching regulators seem to be a good choice for
minimizing waste power while running off the solar power.

1N4007s seem to be popular there. :-) I remember that Transitron
used to make what they called "Stabistors" -- silicon diodes
characterized for the forward voltage drop and the temperature
coefficient thereof. They were used in series with zener diodes in
potted regulator blocks to provide stable output voltages with
temperature variations. A lot more efficient than putting the zener in
a crystal oven, which I have seen done many places. (Even some of the
Power Designs power supplies which had switch selectable output voltage
-- for 10-position switches for dialing in volts, tenths, hundredths,
and mV, with a toggle switch to add in an extra 10V, and a pot to adjust
the output in 100s of uV. Lovely little lab supplies -- and quite
accurate, once you allow the crystal oven to stabilize. (It bypasses
the power switch, so if you leave it plugged in, the oven is already
stable when you turn it on.)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On Feb 13, 9:26*pm, "DoN. Nichols" wrote:
On 2011-02-14, Jim Wilkins wrote:
.....
...Here's a link to the HF [solar panel]
controller schematic for those of us who speak Geek:
http://solarpanelkitatharborfreight....cs/harbor-frei...

* * * * They don't *really* use phone jacks for the low voltage outputs,
do they? *Especially the USB load. :-)

* * * * At least the switching regulators seem to be a good choice for
minimizing waste power while running off the solar power.
* * * * * * * * DoN.

It draws 14.3mA with the voltmeter off, ~ 40mA with it on. Yeah, the
5W CF lights included in the kit have phone plugs, but it's a standard
USB outlet. The wire in the kit is too small for a decent inverter,
which I'll connect right to the battery.

jsw

On 13 Feb 2011 22:53:53 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:



I designed and built an adjustable constant-current supply. It can be
set anywhere from 10 mA to 1.5 amps -- most of my projects are small
enough to easily fit in a 2-gallon bucket. Before I made that supply
I used a variac, battery charger and ammeter.

Out of curiosity -- what is the voltage compliance of this CC
power supply? Likely one of the lab supplies that I have would do for
the task for reasonable sized objets.

Enjoy,
DoN.

It's quite high, probably dynamic Z of tens of megohms, but that's
just how it turned out. It wouldn't need to be that high for plating.
I built it because I got tired of replacing the fuse in my multimeter
every time something shorted out in the bucket. It's just an LM324
opamp feedback loop comparing the voltage on an emitter (or source)
resistor to the voltage on a pot driven by a voltage reference.

Zinc only needs about 30 mA per square inch so a couple of amps is
plenty for anything that'll fit in a 2-gallon bucket.

A lab supply in constant current mode would work fine. I didn't want
to move my lab supply back and forth. This supply is about the size
of a recipe box and is bolted to the plating cart.

On Sun, 13 Feb 2011 03:31:13 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

On Feb 12, 3:41*am, Ignoramus15263 ignoramus15...@NOSPAM.
15263.invalid wrote:
Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

I've read that zinc galvanizing paint is as corrosion resistant as
actual galvanizing. What's peoples opinion on that?
Karl

It's paint with zinc dust as pigment. Plating is metal. An intact
paint film prevents corrosion, but paint is not as durable as metal.

I use the cold galvanize paint on projects made of angle iron, etc
where metal-to-metal contact doesn't happen. I have racks I made 20
years ago that are still rust free.

I use real zinc on smaller projects where there is metal-to-metal
contact. One example would be Ig's hasps.

Zinc plating is actually no more trouble than painting, and it's ready
to go into service as soon as it comes out of the bucket.

On Feb 13, 9:55*pm, Don Foreman wrote:
On Sun, 13 Feb 2011 03:31:13 -0800 (PST), "

wrote:
On Feb 12, 3:41*am, Ignoramus15263 ignoramus15...@NOSPAM.
15263.invalid wrote:
Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

I've read that zinc galvanizing paint is as corrosion resistant as
actual galvanizing. What's peoples opinion on that?
Karl

It's paint with zinc dust as pigment. Plating is metal. An intact
paint film prevents corrosion, but paint is not as durable as metal.

I use the cold galvanize paint on projects made of angle iron, etc
where metal-to-metal contact doesn't happen. *I have racks I made 20
years ago that are still rust free. *

I use real zinc on smaller projects where there is metal-to-metal
contact. *One example would be Ig's hasps. *

Zinc plating is actually no more trouble than painting, and it's ready
to go into service as soon as it comes out of the bucket. *

Good to know thanks everyone.

On 2011-02-14, wrote:
On Feb 13, 9:55?pm, Don Foreman wrote:
On Sun, 13 Feb 2011 03:31:13 -0800 (PST), "

wrote:
On Feb 12, 3:41?am, Ignoramus15263 ignoramus15...@NOSPAM.
15263.invalid wrote:
Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

I've read that zinc galvanizing paint is as corrosion resistant as
actual galvanizing. What's peoples opinion on that?
Karl

It's paint with zinc dust as pigment. Plating is metal. An intact
paint film prevents corrosion, but paint is not as durable as metal.

I use the cold galvanize paint on projects made of angle iron, etc
where metal-to-metal contact doesn't happen. ?I have racks I made 20
years ago that are still rust free. ?

I use real zinc on smaller projects where there is metal-to-metal
contact. ?One example would be Ig's hasps. ?

Zinc plating is actually no more trouble than painting, and it's ready
to go into service as soon as it comes out of the bucket. ?

Good to know thanks everyone.

The good thing about cold galvanize paint is that, though it could be
scratched easily, the rust does NOT go underneath the paint, like is
the case with other paints. It just develops on scratched areas. I
painted my trailer's frame with cold galvanized paint 3 years ago, and
while there is a bit of rust on scratches, it does not at all
propagate. I am very satisfied with that.

i

On 02/13/2011 06:26 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2011-02-14, Jim wrote:

[ ... ]


1N4007s seem to be popular there. :-) I remember that Transitron
used to make what they called "Stabistors" -- silicon diodes

"Transitron", now there is a blast from the past! I used to work for
them, while in college many years ago...still have a few of the old
plastic IC's they made back then.

bill

On 2011-02-14, Bill Martin wrote:
On 02/13/2011 06:26 PM, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2011-02-14, Jim wrote:

[ ... ]


1N4007s seem to be popular there. :-) I remember that Transitron
used to make what they called "Stabistors" -- silicon diodes

"Transitron", now there is a blast from the past! I used to work for
them, while in college many years ago...still have a few of the old
plastic IC's they made back then.

I worked for them too -- a summer in 1960, and for about a year
in (I think) 1962.

This was prior to the IC period of course. Ref-Amps were potted
combinations of zeners, transistor, and Stabistors to make for a very
low TC.

And the "binistor" (bistable transistor) never really took off,
but was discovered by accident. :-)

Somewhere, I should still have the orange binder data sheet
book.

Does the name "Bill VanDerHuevel" ring any bells?

Enjoy,
DoN.

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Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On Feb 14, 6:03*am, Ignoramus14196 ignoramus14...@NOSPAM.
14196.invalid wrote:
On 2011-02-14, wrote:



On Feb 13, 9:55?pm, Don Foreman wrote:
On Sun, 13 Feb 2011 03:31:13 -0800 (PST), "

wrote:
On Feb 12, 3:41?am, Ignoramus15263 ignoramus15...@NOSPAM.
15263.invalid wrote:
Has anyone tried zinc plating stuff at home, and if so, how successful
was it. I was reading about this and I am not sure if this is a risky
procesude in the sense of getting a bad result, or not. THanks

I've read that zinc galvanizing paint is as corrosion resistant as
actual galvanizing. What's peoples opinion on that?
Karl

It's paint with zinc dust as pigment. Plating is metal. An intact
paint film prevents corrosion, but paint is not as durable as metal.

I use the cold galvanize paint on projects made of angle iron, etc
where metal-to-metal contact doesn't happen. ?I have racks I made 20
years ago that are still rust free. ?

I use real zinc on smaller projects where there is metal-to-metal
contact. ?One example would be Ig's hasps. ?

Zinc plating is actually no more trouble than painting, and it's ready
to go into service as soon as it comes out of the bucket. ?

Good to know thanks everyone.

The good thing about cold galvanize paint is that, though it could be
scratched easily, the rust does NOT go underneath the paint, like is
the case with other paints. It just develops on scratched areas. I
painted my trailer's frame with cold galvanized paint 3 years ago, and
while there is a bit of rust on scratches, it does not at all
propagate. I am very satisfied with that.

i

That's good to know. I've used it on jobs where the parts should be
left alone.

I went for a professional help with my a href="http://www.dekalbmetal.com/products/zinc-alkaline/index.html"zinc plating services/a. They offered reliable services for a very nominal price. It saved me time and space.

I went for a professional help with my zinc plating services. They offered reliable services for a very nominal price. It saved me time and space.

http://www.dekalbmetal.com/products/...ine/index.html