question for chemst or platers on the boad

[popper]

Trying to find a relatively safe and available acid for Ecoating. Tried boric acid, didn't work. Process is to add acid & PC to water, boolits on a tray with electrodes attached. Supposed to give a nice even coating. Used a battery charger, don't want to go above 24VDC for safety. Didn't work. Conductivity of the fluid is too low, I need ~ 2 amps through the fluid - boolit resistivity is ~10 ohm so it's OK. Ascetic is supposed to be slightly better but I don't have any. Don't want to use a salt ( I will try NaCl). Lots of nasty stuff will work but I don't like playing with HCL or other expensive stuff. Any ideas?
Thanks.

[jimb16]

Try vinegar or you can try citric acid. Both are available in the grocery store.

[popper]

tried vinegar, nacl, both turn lead black but the + electrode had a tinge of white on it, I used the HF white for the test. It seems harder to scrape off from the + terminal. I did get 1/4 amp current @ 12 VDC.

[Ateam]

i use baking soda in solution as my electrolyte when I am electrolysis cleaning metal detector finds. Dont know if that applies to your process or not.

[popper]

The goal of this experiment is to be able to dump a bunch in the tank, turn on the juice and then rinse & dry before bake. Supposed to get a nice consistent coating thickness with really no mess, no over spray or powder loss. I tried the electrostatic fluid bed that worked sometimes but was just as messy as spraying.
I tried NaCl, vinegar, probably too acidic - lots of current when I got the charger clamp in the solution but not with just the boolits. May need ~100VDC to get it to work right but I would be concerned if others try it (shock hazard). It's a process used on wheels and most consumer (washer etc.) stuff now - the 'go to' process. I think lead is the problem, steel uses a Zn plating to get the conductance up.
Hopefully I can get it to work.

[Kosh75287]

Did it mention what strength of Acetic Acid was best?

[farmerjim]

Try a thin copper plate coat to get the conductance of the lead up.

[Bama]

In electrolitic rust removal Washing soda is used to make the solution more conductive it might be worth a try. Found next to washing powder in grocery store.

[10sandxs]

Am I understanding correctly that the OP is trying to use powder Paint in an electocoat bath application???

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[popper]

Yes, called ecoat used in commercial powder coating.Current through water charges the powder which then sticks to the electrode. Then dry and cook.

[10sandxs]

I think you may have a few technologies crossed here. powder coat uses electrostatic spray to increase transfer efficiency. This is sometimes called "ecoat", but not often. The most common use of "ecoat" is electrodeposition coating, in which a part is dipped in a "bath" of waterborne paint. A charge is passed through the bath and paint particles deposit onto the part. However, unless there has been a major technology breakthrough in the past few years, powder coat Paint will not work in an ecoat bath.

Ecoat works because the paint micells destabilize when the electicity flows threw the electrode (part) and the paint particle deposited on the part. If you don't design the paint from the resin up as a water reducible material, it won't work.

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[popper]

Like ESPC, the paint takes a charge from the fluid, for ESPC it's air, for ecoat it's water. If you have experience and know of a better (specialized) powder I'm listening.

[10sandxs]

Sorry, powder paint won't take any significant charge in water to be transported to the surface of the object to be painted Especially considering that espc guns operate at high hundreds to thousands of volts of potential to impart that charge. Water dissapates this charge very quickly, especially since your only going to tens of volts. That coupled with the high viscosity of water will make coating pretty much impossible.

Electodeposition Paint is NOT a powder based paint. The polymers in true ecoat are formulated from the ground up to form micells in water when properly neutralized with acid for cathodic ecoat, or base (usually amine) for anodic ecoat.

No amount or type of acid will result in powder coat being able to be deposited from a liquid bath.

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[popper]

Any suggestions on powder to use? Sherwin-Williams?