Brass plating and making brass (kind of)! I Dr. Hut's Lab

#hutofhandcraft #brass #brassplating

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In this video I did some brass plating like I already did on the lamp I restored on the main channel. I wanted to do a little more detailed video about it while also explaining some basics of lab work and electroplating.
Here are some more info, which I couldn't fit into the subtitles:

1. Difference between distilled and demineralized water:
Demineralized water: Deionized. Ions got removed, so there is no more Na+, K+, Ca2+, Cl-, etc. in the water. Not charged particles like proteins, bacteria, viruses etc are still in.

Distilled water: This is what you use in labs, medicine, etc.
The water got distilled, which means it got heated to vapor and then condensed back into liquid form. It removes the ions but also non charged particles like proteins, viruses, bacteria etc. It's more "pure" and that's why we use it, since we don't want to contaminate the electrolytes or whatever.
If you need VERY pure water, once distilled water isn't enough. You can distill water multiple times and you get bi distilled water, tri distilled water, etc. But that is for mostly used for pharmaceutical purposes, labs and stuff like that, we don't need that for electroplating.
Aq. dest. stands for Aqua destillata btw.

2. Why not dip into distilled water?
The reason we use distilled water is like mentioned before to clean the workpiece before it goes into the next solution so we don't contaminate it.
If dipping the piece in distilled water it's not distilled water anymore and is contaminated - you can throw it away then because it has lost is purpose and is just waste.
The right way to clean the parts is to sprinkle the parts with distilled water. It saves money, resources and just makes more sense.

3. Why brass plating like this?
There are two ways of brass plating (which I know at least).
The one is with heat and a brass wire brush, where you apply brass from the wire brush onto your workpiece. It works, but you need to make sure that you have a full brass wire brush and not one with plated steel wire.
Already used that on my projects on the main channel, for some cases it's a good method to go for.

The in my opinion more cooler and interesting way is to do it the way in the video. Since brass is an alloy and not an element there is no such thing as a brass electrolyte. So you have to plate the part with the different compounds of the alloy and then heat them up till the desired alloy appears. In case of brass it's copper and zinc of course.
Theoretically you could first zinc plate and then copper plate, but then you can't use the acidic copper electrolyte, because that would harm the zinc plating. Since I never did it that way I wouldn't recommend it.
It is really important, that the top layer (in my case zinc) and heating are done as evenly as possible. If the layer is not even or the heating isn't done right on some spots brass will appear before the others. While further heating to get the other spots to become brass the plating will get cracks and all the work will be for nothing.
Also it is important that there are as less bubbles as possible while plating. For both copper and zinc you don't need more than 1,5-2,5 V, depending on the container and size of the workpiece.
For small parts this way is a very cool and with a little practice easy way to for a durable brass plating. For bigger parts it needs more practice, but as you've seen on the lamp it is possible too.

4. Plating in general:
The part you want to plate needs to be perfectly clean. Clean the parts first and then degrease them in an extra step in for example acetone.
The more work you put into preparing the part the better the result will be. You can also polish parts before plating them and that is also recommended. But it depends on your desired finish.

Also it's important that all the tools you use like the anode, container etc are absolutely clean and also cleaned with distilled water.


If you are willing to support me leave a comment, subscribe and share my work, I really appreciate and it helps me a lot!
If you have further questions write them in the comments!


Disclaimer:

The experiments are only for educational purposes and serve as entertainment.
I am experienced in handling the used substances and I advise everyone who is not a trained professional not to imitate the experiments I show you.
I am not responsible for personal injury or property damage if any actions shown in the video will be imitated.
I hope you understand.

Until next time :)

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Brass plating and making brass! I Dr. Hut's Lab