Some CopyCad questions.

[aermakov@rogers.com]

Firstly, thanks for the great kit. Took me awile to setup the workplace, but after that it was a breeze. For some reason the aquarium heater you supplied didn't work, i measured the resistance and it shows that the circuit is open. I had my plating solution sit in a bigger tank filled with hot water. All that aside, these are my questions:
1. Zinc brightener, do I need to add a teaspoon BEFORE EACH plating batch, how long does it last? I've added two teaspoons (4 gal kit) initially, plated a dummy, then 6 batches of parts (20 mins each), the third batch was much brighter then all the rest. Conditions were identical for all batches, they are all the same parts, same current, temp, everything.
2. Do plastic objects immersed in the zinc plating solution contaminate the solution?
3. When filtering the solution through a coffee filter, should the solution be hot or cold?

[mcaswell]

1. Simply add brightener when the parts start coming out more dull. The results should be instantaneous.

2. Plastic in the bath doesn't cause any problems.

3. If the bath is very cold, sometimes crystals of plating chemicals will form because the bath is super saturated. Make sure it's warm enough that these crystals are dissolved.

[aermakov@rogers.com]

Thanks Mike (I am not sure, but i think that is your name). The kit is kicking the hell out of expectations by exceeding them. It has been only a couple of day, but I get AWESOME results. I will upload many pictures very shortly. With some experimenting I managed to EXACTLY duplicate Mercedes factory finish on my parts, this kit just kicks some serious butt. Thanks.

[mcaswell]

Glad you like it. Make sure to send lots of pictures.