Volts vs Amps

[BryanD]

Perfect. Thanks!

[48Buick]

Bryan:
Think of amps as water in a hose....
Think of volts as the pressure that it takes to move that water out the end of the hose.
If you have a part that needs 10 amps to plate correctly in one of the baths and it takes 2 volts to push that 10 amps into the part.......then....
even if you have a 800 volt power supply, it will still only take 2 volts to push the 10 amps.
If you start getting up in the area of 6 volts and more that is needed to push the amperage you need (whatever it is) then you need to start looking at why its taking so much.
Bad connections, not enough anode, bath is out of balance, bath not up to the right temp. things like that.
Hope this clears the mud?
and...........yes..........hobbyplating.com SUCKS! ....your one of the lucky ones that got thier money back.
48 Buick

[BryanD]

I am looking at purchasing the 4 gallon triple chrome kit and a rectifier. Eventually I will want to go with a bigger setup, but the 4 gallon kit looks like a good start. I understand that I will need 1 amp per square inch for the chrome plate. My question is:

Does this 1 to 1 ratio apply to a 12 volt rectifier? Or, if I only run 6 volts, will it still be 1 amp per square inch?

If not, is there a way to determine what the proper amperage would be at 6 volts?

I don't know very much about electricity so any help would be appreciated.

On another note:

I have seen other postings warning against hobbyplating.com. The other posters said that they don't like to throw stones, but I will.

I placed an order with hobbyplating.com a while back. To make a long story short, 3 months, over 100 phone calls to hobbyplating.com (also known as Bell Comm Finishing), phone calls to the BBB, phone calls to the Attorney General, and filing 2 claims with my credit card company, I was finally refunded the $1500 to my account (no thanks to hobbyplating.com. My credit card company couldn't get a hold of them directly) I just want to say that I am glad Caswell does not conduct business this way and will receive a loyal customer once I am up and running.

Thanks Caswell!