First, the wife is a phenominal cook, but mostly sauces, and such on top of the stove. She bakes up a storm every Christmas. Probably bakes cookies continuously for 2 weeks prior to Christmas eve. She made stuff peppers today (the whole house smells great) so she does use the oven. But normal fare during the week is a salad for me. If I ate everything she made in the quantities she makes it, my baggy swimming trunks would look like a thong come summer.
Back on topic, Hahnda, don't leave the solution in the bucket unless you are plating. Pour it back into an empty jug. I just use the vinegar jugs. My first set of zincs went fast, too. They are filling the solution with nice zinc ions. The second set has been going strong since. But I suspect if I left the solution in there with them all the time, they'd be gone by now, too.
regards,
Rob
For the home plating specialist
hey guys, just wanted to drop in and thank you all for a truly fascinating thread, i've been in front of the computer for hours reading up on this... had a go or two today with quite good results so far...
has anyone tried improving the zinc content of the solution by adding zinc pills? most chemists sell them as a diatry suppliment, i wonder... would crushing up a few and adding them to the solution improve things? i've not much understanding of the chemistry, but the pills contain zinc, so maybe it's a way forward also has everyone chosen plain vinegar (as in the stuff you shake on your fries) or gone for the white (used for pickling onions- it gets limescale off your taps very well too, i'm told) as for sources of zinc, i'm having no luck with roofing strips, scrap-yards look at me like i'm asking for pleutonium, and the boat-yard nearby charges £30 for something the size of a bottle cork, so i stripped and washed some "D" cells, it seems to be working well. once again, thanks! Skinvandal, what do you mean by "i stripped and washed some "D" cells". Zinc is pretty expensive here at the large hardware stores (you have to buy a lot of it) as it is mostly used in roofing applications to mitigate mold/fungus and other nasties on your roof.....
Can you get it from batteries? And if yes, how did you do that? CA78 - 3111XX - Frame
CA77E - 3161XX - Engine
hey b,
dunno if "D" cells are called that over in the states, they're just disposable batteries that you use in your torch/ flashlight, radio etc. i got some cheap packs from the local discount supermarket, i went for the big ones, think i paid about 50 pence per pack of two. aparently rechargeables are other technology/chermistry/science that i don't understand, so go for the disposable. there's a few cheap brands, and they usually have the word ZINC on the package. peel the wrapper of the battery off, it's usually a thick metal foil that can cut your fingers if you're not careful... under that i found a layer of plastic, which i had to cut with a blade to get started, but peeled it off ok, you're left with a dull metal cartridge, tease the top (positive side) out by picking out the crease along the top. you can pull the centre black rod out and just pull as much as you can of the black muck out as you can. rinse the rest and you're left with a cup shape of zinc- TA-DAAAA! like i say there's chemistry and stuff that i don't understand, so wear gloves, goggles, apron, breathing aparatus, steel toe-capped boots, high-visibility vest, hard-hat, fall-arrest equipment etc... I got the roofing strips from home depot or menards (do it yourself home fix it places). I put it in the mixed solution the night before and by the next day it all eaten up ( about a 16x4" strip). I lay another strip in and hook up my current (+) to it and - to the job. That solution is packed with zinc. Oh ya, save it and use it again and again. My current bath is over a month old and still works well.
we have loads of fix-up-your-home stores, i think B&Q is the same company as home-depot. i visited four big named stores, (i fix-up houses a lot, so i knew the stores) none of them could supply me with zinc roofing strips, the looks of puzzlement were amazing! i didn't go into depth about why i wanted it, i just asked for "zinc roofing strips" and consistently got offered flash-band insead.
(flash-band is mainly bittumen with a very thin foil holding it together, you use a blow-torch to make it grip- i'm sure the usa use it, but it may have another brand name) maybe there's climatic differences here, maybe the houses in england don't suffer from whatever it is that zinc protects against? someone mentioned roof-moss? dunno. i've just found a sheet of 99.9% pure zinc on ebay, it's the size of an A3 sheet (280X420) ish for £20 plus delivery, so i'm having it. also there's a guy selling 1kg of zinc shavings for a fiver, so i'm having that as well... also the problem getting hold of epsom salts here in the uk... nobody knows what it is!!!! considering "EPSOM" was a popular bathing town, and the very product is named after the quaint little village, no chemist or pharmacist helped me find it, they asked me if i was suffering from indigestion, and recommended andrews liver salts... damn it... i've googled till i'm sick of googling, however epsom salts is a chemical, i googled the name and found out it was supplied in bulk as a bath-soak and bath-bomb ingredient (ask your missus what a bath-bomb is!) so ten ebay minutes later, i had 1kg of pure epsom salts on it's way for a little over £5. bless you ebay... however, i shall let my zinc dissolve and continue my experiments i'll keep you posted! this is a thred that has amazed me already, so on with it!!! ZincI found zinc roofing strips online at Home Depot, but on closer inspection it was Home Depot in Canada and was only available in store. My local Home Depot could not get it shipped to them from a store in Canada. The brand name is Moss Boss. 50' strip about 4" wide. You put it on the crown of your roof and the zinc leaches out in rain water which runs down the roof and kills all the moss.
I did find it at Menard's on line. Kind of expensive but easy to find and buy and it is 99.4% pure zinc. D batteries as a source of zinc in intriguing. Anybody know what the purity is? Always available and cheap. As long as you don't mind the mess of disassembly this may be a really great source. Better start keeping all those old dead D-cell batteries. I can hear my wife now.......
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