muriatic acid ratio

[71_k10]

Sorry for the silly question but I will be Zinc plating soon and I am a bit confused. I see many talk about a 5% muriatic solution. How many parts water to acid is this?
Thank you

[MrPontiac]

Now i don,t measure closly but i using 3 gal. of water to 2 pints of mauratic acid, seems to work for me, and if the water evaporates i add a little more water without any problems. Just soak your parts for about 4 to 5 sec. and dip them into distilled water before plating.

[XK120DHC]

Jeff;
Always remember: There is "Muriatic" Acid and there is HCI Hydrochloric Acid.. The latter being 100% HCI, Muriatic Acid is about 35% HCI (need to look that up to be sure). So, a 5% mix of HCI is a helluva lot stronger than a 5% mix of Muriatic Acid! (Battery Acid is the same way.. it is not 100% H2SO4)
A simple "Five Percent mix" is easy to figure.. Five goes into One Hundred Twenty times (20x5=100).. so 5% would be One Part Muriatic Acid and Nineteen Parts Water (distilled) for a total of Twenty Parts..

[woodjames]

Sorry, hate to sound like a jerk, but not really. Muriatic acid is more or less a trade name for HCl. You'll never find too strong of a concentration of HCl, not much out there over 40%, because it'll evaporate off(fuming) way to fast, watch for the ''white smoke'' of the hardware store grade stuff. On all containers of Muriatic acid it'll list the degree baum, and sometimes the concentration level in percent. To find out the percentage if you only have degree baum, here's a user friendly link Hydrochloric acid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The white smoke you'll see is pretty d a m n strong. Be sure to wear a mask, and don't store any metal near it! It'll eat plate, and make steel rust if it's anywhere near it. The stuff lingers too. So, if it's 20% baume, that's 32%. In a gallon, there 32 parts HCl, and 68 parts water. Another 4 gallons of water would be 400 parts water, mix the two, always add acid!!! and you've got 32/468= .06 * 100=6 % That's assuming percentages in volume not weight.

Charles is right on about sulfuric acid. That's easy to find at 99.9%, and most battery acid is of 33.3%.

Originally Posted by XK120DHC

Jeff;

Always remember: There is "Muriatic" Acid and there is HCI Hydrochloric Acid.. The latter being 100% HCI, Muriatic Acid is about 35% HCI (need to look that up to be sure). So, a 5% mix of HCI is a helluva lot stronger than a 5% mix of Muriatic Acid! (Battery Acid is the same way.. it is not 100% H2SO4)
A simple "Five Percent mix" is easy to figure.. Five goes into One Hundred Twenty times (20x5=100).. so 5% would be One Part Muriatic Acid and Nineteen Parts Water (distilled) for a total of Twenty Parts..

[XK120DHC]

Originally Posted by woodjames

Sorry, hate to sound like a jerk, but not really. Muriatic acid is more or less a trade name for HCl. You'll never find too strong of a concentration of HCl, not much out there over 40%, because it'll evaporate off (fuming) way to fast, .

James;
Thanks for that correction.. I have been under a misconception about "HCI" and "Muriatic", I guess.
When dealing with acids, there is no "sounding like a jerk" when correcting an incorrect statement.. We all need solid facts to pursue this hobby safely. The last thing we need is someone getting hurt..