[Rab]

I cannot seem to achive any good results with my copy cad system,I need some help regarding my power supply. I bought a little benchtop variable power supply that has adjustable current limiting and adjustable voltage control. It is pretty much identical looking to the 3 amp rectifier that Caswell sell, it is rated at 0-50 volt, 0-3 amp. I had thought that I could simply dial in the amps and volts that I needed for my job, this was not the case. I could not get the voltage to the desired level at around 2v without raising the current up to around 2.5 amps, which was much to high for my half a dozen or so nuts and bolts. I tried to fit a bulb in series with the anode and hey presto I was able to get the desired .25 amps and 3v showing on the digital read-out on the power supply. The bulb in question happened to be a 24v truck tail light item, but surley the voltage and wattage is pretty unimportant as I can control them both at the power supply, or am I wrong ?
When I measure voltage at either side of the bulb I was getting the correct 3v at the power supply side, but at the annode side of the bulb I was only seeing 0.12v. is this normal or do I need to achieve the recommended 3v accross the annode and cathode ? I tried downsizing to a 3v lantern battery and once again I only saw 0.39v at the annode.
My attempts at plating copy cad have been dismal, despite having had superb results with my nickle set up.
My copy cad always comes out dark grey and I have to polish it with steel wool after plating to get any kind of shine, If the set up was operating correctly and the parts where polished before the plating process, should the come out of the tank shiney, or do you always have to polish the parts afterwards ( I am using brightner )
My annodes have both turned almost black now, is this normal ? I have tried a 500ma 3v regulated power adapter which should have done the trick but after around 2 hours of plating time the was no sign of a deposit of zinc at all.

My main question is when the kit recommends say 3v and .25 amps and I can send this to the tank, what voltage should I be reading accross the annode and cathode. I know that they are completing the circuit through the electrolyte but does 0.12v sound correct ?