Re: diy zinc plated copper hosts
This morning at 9 i check theme and they were done.
Jar 1: Completely covered in a slightly white looking and a little dull substance. some spots were blackish. Crystals of zinc had also grown a sort of tree like thing going from the penny to the zinc, so i guess that means it plated all it was gonna plate.
Jar 2: Pretty much completely covered same as jar 1 but, some small specs had no zinc.
Also had a zinc crystal growiung but much smaller.
Jar 3: First off the jar was like completely white with pieces squish jelly like stuff all through it. I thought the zinc penny was gone cause just the wire was there (later found it as a thin flake on the bottom. Penny was very slightly coated but the finish was great and shiny, like those roof tiles but maybe 1/8 as thick. I probably should have let it go long to finish but i didnt feel like it.
I let the pennies dry and then later i came back and wiped them with alcohol and q-tips. This removed all black stuff and made them a little shinyand less white.
Next I ate thanksgiving dinner.
Just now i decided that i should use some fine sandpaper on it and see if it was white al the way through or if it was just on the surface. Just slightly brushing it with the paper revealed a very shiny finish. I wasn't able to get all the top layer off because the penny was so bumpy, especially around the words. I could have got it all of Abraham Lincoln but i love the way the shiny contrasts with the other stuf so i decided to leave it with some still on. With anything reasonably flat the whole thing could easily be polished shiny with steel wool or fine sandpaper. I really wish i could upload some pics.
All in all, vinegar is the best way. With vinegar it doesnt matter when you apply power because it isnt going to plate any until the water gets saturated with zinc. You might as well leave your zinc in there for like 3 hours before and save some batteries.
If you just want a very slight coating us the salt because it seems as though its coating doesnt need anything more than to wipe it with alcohol. I think how the salt works is that when the zinc is connected it only saturates the water with zinc until it is replaced by another electrode and then the plating starts.
I really need to do a few more tests to confirm that though
Also I wouldnt recommend to leave it overnight because the zinc almost bridged the gap between the coins and that would have shorted the batteries. Especially if you are using a wall charger or unprotected batteries.
