Electrolysis - How do you do it?

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Mar 18, 2013
Messages
1,378
Reaction score
409
Location
Cairns, QLD
G'day all

Because I live in the Far North it is not a simple to thing to get what you need for some projects.. and as we all know, Bunnings or Masters only carry 2/3rds of what you need to get the job done, to this end, I need a brass cup washer and a brass wing nut, both 1/4 inch..

So I thought I would plate my own since its cost +$10.00 for postage from any supplier down south.

My question..
Do i put the Positive on the brass and neg on the zinc plated washer and wing nut or the neg on the brass and pos on the items I want plated..

I plan on putting them into a plastic container using some salty vinegar as the electrolyte..

Your comments are welcomed.

Cheers, Tone
 
Tone,
I will happily go get one for you then post it mate. :)
Can catch up for a couple of beers when we come to Cairns soon.
Doug
 
Electroplating (not electrolysis), works by taking ions from anode and placing onto cathode. Unfortunately you cannot do this with brass. You would have to annodize with brass coloring / die , and using sulphuric acid. It is possible to copper and zinc electroplate. If you want more info on annodizing, PM me. For a couple of small items it is not really worth it for the effort and resorces. But if you really want it or need it, talk to me. Take the offer from Tathradj or someone can post it to you in a letter, even though brass wingnuts will be hard to find.

Electrolysis is used for blasting rust off iron in a sodium carbonate or similar.

Restoring some vintage item are you?

If worst comes to worst, I can smelt up brand new ones, but this would take a month as I am busy
 
Not electroplating but somewhat along the same lines.

To remove rust from any ferrous metal ,suspend in a solution of Mollasses & water at a ratio of

1 Mollasses to 3 of water in a plastic container.
After a few weeks your metal will be rust free & ready to paint. Great for. Vehicle restoration etc.----

Every few days give the items a bit of a stir as the mixture does it's job
 
have to wait for the mix to ferment and make the acid does the work ..most people do not wait long enough.. I have a vat of the stuff that is fermented and ready to go down the back.. do not put the wrong metal in it as it will be destroyed and the mix ruined... with steel it only takes the rust and will not attack the metal like using electric setups..for very large items dig a hole and line it with plastic...mudgards , doors ect... :)
Pr2cv said:
Not electroplating but somewhat along the same lines.

To remove rust from any ferrous metal ,suspend in a solution of Mollasses & water at a ratio of

1 Mollasses to 3 of water in a plastic container.
After a few weeks your metal will be rust free & ready to paint. Great for. Vehicle restoration etc.----

Every few days give the items a bit of a stir as the mixture does it's job
 
How do you procure Molasses? - Where do you purchase and what quantities are available? - Also approximate price?
Do not have a need for it now, but just for future reference.
regards, Ned
 
Going off subject again with the original post, but I've also heard that placing rusty items into milk and leaving it for weeks until a bacteria grows can be great for things like an engine that needs to be cleaned up. But i'd hate to get a sniff of it!

Ned: I get molasses from my mate who buys it for horse feed, theres always some left in the bottom to scrape out of the bucket!
 

Latest posts

Top