Whilst looking for something else, I came across this gadget: Brush On Zinc plating kit
Has anyone on here seen them before, or whether they work? I am a cynical sod at the best of times and this looks like a bit of a gimmick (although in principle it should work), which was the same reaction that my colleagues had when I showed them. Could be useful on the Landy though if it does work!
Home galvanizing anyone?
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Skye Stage 1
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- Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 2:23 pm
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This is something I know a little bit about, so a few thoughts...
In order to get galvanising (which is zinc) to 'stick', you need do to one of two things - plate it electro-chemically, or dip it in molten zinc
i - to do so electrochemically (which is what the advert seems to suggest) you'd have to submerge the Landy chassis in a zinc ion solution; while this works in a laboratory (I've done it, as I'm sure many of us have who studied chem. at school), I'm not sure it would work practically: Landrover chassis bought ready galvanised are done so by the molten metal process. Obviously, a Landy sized container is not provided in the kit, so I don't see how it could be done by this process anyway...
ii - if you paint anything metal with any sort of paint, you give it corrosion protection, as a physical barrier is formed which prevents the metal oxidising; the reason zinc is used is that if the zinc plating is chipped, the zinc sacrifices its own electrons to prevent the steel rusting (zinc is more reactive than steels, so loses its electrons more readily). Hence you gte a physical barrier, and sacrifical protection.
The advert seems to imply one is somehow 'painting' zinc on, and I must say I do not see how this could be achieved. My view - a gimmick, but it would be interesting, perhaps, to write to the company who makes the product, and ask for a more detailed explanation of how it works.
In order to get galvanising (which is zinc) to 'stick', you need do to one of two things - plate it electro-chemically, or dip it in molten zinc
i - to do so electrochemically (which is what the advert seems to suggest) you'd have to submerge the Landy chassis in a zinc ion solution; while this works in a laboratory (I've done it, as I'm sure many of us have who studied chem. at school), I'm not sure it would work practically: Landrover chassis bought ready galvanised are done so by the molten metal process. Obviously, a Landy sized container is not provided in the kit, so I don't see how it could be done by this process anyway...
ii - if you paint anything metal with any sort of paint, you give it corrosion protection, as a physical barrier is formed which prevents the metal oxidising; the reason zinc is used is that if the zinc plating is chipped, the zinc sacrifices its own electrons to prevent the steel rusting (zinc is more reactive than steels, so loses its electrons more readily). Hence you gte a physical barrier, and sacrifical protection.
The advert seems to imply one is somehow 'painting' zinc on, and I must say I do not see how this could be achieved. My view - a gimmick, but it would be interesting, perhaps, to write to the company who makes the product, and ask for a more detailed explanation of how it works.
One way originally that I could see it working was by electrostatically charging the zinc in the paint to make it stick, a bit like powder coating (but wet) which may produce a good "galvanized effect". Then I decided that the way it looked like it worked was to be a mini electroplating dip tank with the work piece as cathode and brush as anode and the paint/salts on the brush as the electrolyte plating solution.
Since I've posted the thread I've done a tinternet trawl and found a few things:
I found this on Wikepedia Brush Electroplating and Brush plating Services. Apparently it was invented by a French Scientist in 1938. There even appears to be a Military Standard for it (MIL-STD 865) as well!
Well, you live and learn.
Maybe the question now is; Is the bit of kit from Frosts any good?
Since I've posted the thread I've done a tinternet trawl and found a few things:
I found this on Wikepedia Brush Electroplating and Brush plating Services. Apparently it was invented by a French Scientist in 1938. There even appears to be a Military Standard for it (MIL-STD 865) as well!
Well, you live and learn.
Maybe the question now is; Is the bit of kit from Frosts any good?-
Skye Stage 1
- Posts: 74
- Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 2:23 pm
- Location: Isle of Skye
Interesting to hear what you managed to dredge from the wild blue yonder, Larry, but there are a couple of points I'm not clear on.
I'm not sure one can electrostatically charge the zinc. If it exists as a metal, rather than in ion form, then it won't be charged, and so in consequence can't be stuck to anything simply by being charged (unless my understanding of how the whole atom/ion thing works is very wrong). If the 'paint' is in fact a zinc-ion solution, as you suggest (which would make a bit of sense) then I guess in theory it might work, but I can't see it performing on a practical level. This is because I don't think the volume/concentration aspect stands up - it's been too long since I did this to offer any kind of numerical values, but I would have thought for something the size of a chassiss, you'd need a heck of a lot of solution, simply to provide enough zinc ions to coat the chassis. I think when you galvanise a chassis you're adding kilos, rather than grams, of weight, so these kilos of zinc would need to be in a solution that was of the right concentration for the process to work, and I think one would be off by a sheer order of magnitude (anyone who is really interested could work out how much solution in litres you'd need, if we could find a rough figure in kilos for the zinc plating).
I'm still skeptical, I must admit.
I'm not sure one can electrostatically charge the zinc. If it exists as a metal, rather than in ion form, then it won't be charged, and so in consequence can't be stuck to anything simply by being charged (unless my understanding of how the whole atom/ion thing works is very wrong). If the 'paint' is in fact a zinc-ion solution, as you suggest (which would make a bit of sense) then I guess in theory it might work, but I can't see it performing on a practical level. This is because I don't think the volume/concentration aspect stands up - it's been too long since I did this to offer any kind of numerical values, but I would have thought for something the size of a chassiss, you'd need a heck of a lot of solution, simply to provide enough zinc ions to coat the chassis. I think when you galvanise a chassis you're adding kilos, rather than grams, of weight, so these kilos of zinc would need to be in a solution that was of the right concentration for the process to work, and I think one would be off by a sheer order of magnitude (anyone who is really interested could work out how much solution in litres you'd need, if we could find a rough figure in kilos for the zinc plating).
I'm still skeptical, I must admit.