Quote:
Originally Posted by piscator
Thanks DP, add sulphuric acid to the yellow bath and rinse the part in hydrochloric and distilled water just after it comes out of the electrolyte and before letting it swim in the yellow. I hope I restated that correctly.
I'm not interested in producing gloriously shiny parts, just parts that are clean and protected against rust. How much does the yellow zinc contribute to that? For my utilitarian purposes, I'm wondering if the yellowing step is worth the trouble.
Robert
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Robert if your going to take the time to do parts why not do it right? Sodium dichromate adds corrosion protection but it won't stick to dull zinc plating. I'm not sure of the exact salt spray hours I'm sure it depends on several variables there's ton of information just google it. To answer your question
1. 10oz per gallon distilled water of sodium dichromate and 2 oz battery acid sulphuric.
2. You also make blue chromate with sodium dichromate but use nitric acid instead along with different ratios I would have to look in my notes.
This is how I do it I'm sure there's probably different ways.
3. Pull part from electrolyte bath rinse with a 5% hydrochloric acid/ distilled water solution. When a bubbles appears take out.
4. Place in sodium dichromate for 5 to seconds 10 depending on size et
5. Rinse in distilled water hang to dry.
I spent hours going through patents, reading et and wasted time and money thinking I could make a good electrolyte solution it never happened for bright zinc.
Once you look at some of the patents you'll realize it's not as easy as vinegar, salts et.
The key to zinc is the brighteners.
Caswell is the only game in town for the hobbyist, other companies will only sell with minimums that don't make sense for the home plating guy.
For $78 dollars you can buy replenishment packs and for $20 to $65 a bottle brighteners. An 8/10 plating anode off amazon and your good,
Spending a $150 to do it right makes sense to me.