Build Your Own Barrel Plater

[lcaswell]

Seanc, a regular contributor on our forums and zinc plating expert has constructed a small, cost effective barrel plating machine to plate batches of parts without the need to wire each one up.

See Plating Barrel | zinc plating

As Sean stated:

"I had hoped to get others involved in the technical aspects, perhaps come up w/some improvements or better methods/components. I'm sure with enough "bright minds" thinking about it, it could be improved significantly."

[NOL4154]

Sean,
Looks good and very creative. Questions, how do you maintain the temperature of the zinc bath? Question two where did you purchase the basket, motor, etc...
Nol4154


As Sean stated:

"I had hoped to get others involved in the technical aspects, perhaps come up w/some improvements or better methods/components. I'm sure with enough "bright minds" thinking about it, it could be improved significantly."

[seanc]

Looks good and very creative.

Thank you. It has some limitations, but works well enough.

how do you maintain the temperature of the zinc bath?

When needed, I use simple aquarium heaters.

where did you purchase the basket, motor, etc...

One of the design goals was that everything should be off-the-shelf at typical retail stores.

While I did use some pieces that I had on-hand in my scrap bins (metal pendulum weights, plastic spacer bits, tie-wraps, copper braid, etc.), they could be bought cheap at any typical hardware store.

The rotisserie motor I got off ebay, but again, could be bought locally (most likely at higher cost though).

Everything else I purchased at local hardware & grocery stores.

All outlined on the "How it's made" pages.

Sean

[kevenc]

On my last (and first) rotary plating exercise I used an old Skil hammer drill for the rotation. I'm sure it wouldn't have to be a hammer drill, but any drill that has a screw lock should work.

Many drills will lock on at full speed with a button, and the larger drills that tend to have a lock button tend to go slower than the smaller ones (they're geared down more) and some have a screw lock. A screw lock model will have a lock button and a screw on the trigger so that it can be locked at any speed. My drill will reliably lock at incredibly slow speeds, from about 1 rpm to full speed (about 1500 rpm). Plus, any electrode attached to the metal gearcase (the front of the drill) also connects to anything chucked in the drill. I wouldn't rely on this for currents above about 5 amps (guess) but for my case at 300 ma, it worked great.

Probably more expensive than the rotisserie, but the drill has other uses and is easier to connect to with the drill chuck. Harbor Freight may have a suitable drill for not much money. Considering what we're asking of the drill, any drill that can be locked at low speeds should work forever.

Harbor Freights model 3670-1VGA should work for $20, but it doesn't have a metal gearcase to connect to. See page 11 of the manual to see the screw lock
http://www.harborfreight.com/manuals/3000-3999/3670.pdf
. It would rotate the basket though, however it would be harder to mount. If you need a metal gearcase model (to connect through) they probably have one, although I don't see one with a screw lock at first glance on their website.

Just my $0.02.

[kevenc]

That is a really nice system. I'm not familiar with barrel plating systems (pretty new at this). Does the dangler just connect to what falls on it? It just dangles in the area and connects by touching what's near it?

Thanks!
Keven

[seanc]

Keven:

... Does the dangler just connect to what falls on it? It just dangles in the area and connects by touching what's near it?

That's it!

As long as the dangler makes contact with one piece, and the other pieces touch that first piece (and each other), current flows daisy-chain and the parts plate.

It does need a minimum size pile of parts for any given size basket though. In my case, about 50-55 sq-in worth of nuts/bolts/washers. Any less and the dangler does lose contact occasionally.

The drill motor is a good alternative! You'll have to post some photos of your setup.

Sean

[Gixxerpat]

I'm a complete novice to this ..but is there a reason that the barrel has to turn..i would have thought that the "dangler" placed into the items would be sufficient...can you explain ..?

[seanc]

I'm a complete novice to this ..but is there a reason that the barrel has to turn..i would have thought that the "dangler" placed into the items would be sufficient...can you explain ..?

Electroplating is essentially "line-of-sight". Without tumbling, only the outer, exposed parts would plate.

Sean

[Gixxerpat]

Got ya..thanx

[mk1a]

great set set up, makes me think about all the parts I would like to plate.
for contact to the parts I would have used a wire basket with a spring loaded connection even if the spring was the connector its self, however like you say about the dangler it would need striped from time to time and is more surface area. the next idea would be a plate dangler that would act as a dam in the basket so a part would always be against it. still more surface area in the tank and the positioning would have to be very accurate to keep parts from sliding under and jamming.