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Shop teacher wants to copper electroplate the cannon barrels

I teach metal shop to high school students! We pour a cannon barrel in our foundry and then turn it on a lathe. I am looking for a "simple" set-up that will allow my students to experience Electroplating. I hope that we can plate the cannon barrels with Copper.

I have looked at several different sources and it seems that the one thing everyone talks about is Sulfuric Acid in the plating tank with a Copper Cathode and the object to be plated connected to the Anode. I will try to use a battery charger ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] as my source for the DC electric current. Should I use 6 volts (High or Low) or 12 volts (High, Low, or START)?

Any help anyone can give me will be transferred directly to my students! Thank you

Al Hintzman
prairie school - Monticello, Indiana, USA
2004

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This is going to be a little more complicated than you think. You will have to adequately clean and deoxidize the surface prior to plating. If the surface is iron, you will need a copper strike from a cyanide solution, followed by heavier plate from a sulfuric acid solution. DC power from a battery charger will likely not work. You will need less than 6 volts, but much more amperage than a battery charger produces. Also a half wave rectifier, which is what a 115v battery charger is, is not very good. You need full wave rectification from 3 phase. Buy a good book on electroplating and do some serious reading.

Jeffrey Holmes, CEF
Spartanburg, South Carolina
2004

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First of two simultaneous responses -- 2004

You really don't want to try this in your metal shop; you'll probably not be able to get the result you want and you will have major headaches with disposal.

I'd recommend getting in touch with an electroplater in your area and maybe arranging a plant tour or something like that for your class instead.

James Totter, CEF
- Tallahassee, Florida

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Second of two simultaneous responses --

What size length, OD,ID,and weight is the cannon and what material is it made of? It is not nickel and dime.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2004

As stated by the others you do not want to do this in the classroom. You will be dealing with hazardous materials which will require disposal. Twenty years ago I consulted for a large school district in Va which wanted to remove the electroplating demonstration kits from their shop classes due to the hazards inherent in their use and disposal.

Gene Packman
process supplier - Great Neck, New York
2004

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Although I agree with Mssrs. Totter and Packman that plating can be hazardous and it isn't a great hobby, I also rail against the chemical paranoia that has spelled the end of proper science education for American students. Look at the hundreds of letters on this site from Indian and Asian students, and the genuine chemistry education they are receiving, and compare it to the hundreds of letters from our high school students who are trying to learn chemistry while restricted to using Dr. Pepper, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and other kindergarten reagents. It's ludicrous.

So, if under the direction of the metal shop teacher, who is already dealing with molten metals and high horsepower lathes (and probably welding, and lasers, and a lot else), they wish to copper plate the cannon, I think they should. It can be sandblasted and copper plated from a proprietary copper pyrophosphate bath without involving cyanide or strong acids.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

Ted Mooney - I could not have said it better myself!

Jason Klee
- Dyer, Indiana, USA
January 30, 2008