RedneckFabrication.com ... rebuilding the world with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire.
Link to Project: TrenchBuster, my 4x4 build project topic
Link to the BSA Skunkworks HHO Generator for Offroad Vehicles (plans with pics)
brass will get a pretty heavy coating of patina on it from exposure to KOH but seems to hold up reasonably well ... not as well as stainless though ...
keep in mind that in the old days, they kind of liked sulfuric acid ... my understanding is that this was not particularly easy on the brass either ...
From what I've read Platinum is the way to go, but I highly doubt anyone reading this has the budget for that. I've used graphite with some susses, but there are many draw backs for construction with such briddle stuff. I have found it to be very non-reactive, but think stainless is a step up for practical use with multi stage cells. Copper gets crusty very fast, I've never use copper as an electrode, but had copper wire connections on a graphite probe, and they turned into crusty green shorts in under a min.
I've hear of good susses with nickle plated screen. I don't know much about nickle plating... ...sounds like i have some research to do.
Just wondering if you tin the copper with solder, would that help cut down the problem
Copper will just not work. If the solder is lead based the electrolite will eat the lead for lunch quickly and if it is silver solder it will corrode fast. I also looked into electroplating a copper plate with platinum. To have .5 micron's platinum electroplating on a 6X6 copper plate both sides was $265.00. Plus you had to provide the copper and pay for freight. In researching electroplating any metal I was told that using any type of electroplated metal in the cell would not work. I am not sure if it is true but was told by the electroplating company that the plating would stay on one side and come off the other side quickly. I ran some tests with solid lead plates but in just a few minutes they get eaten up and shorted out. Brass is supposed to work fairly well but when I checked on the price it was more than 316L stainless. I wish someone would find a better more conductive alternative to stainless but I am just not sure one is available.
Larry
Larry
I would like to built a dry cell using 316 stainless steel foil, and glue it to a plastic sheet, I can glue it to both sides and not use neutral plates but real ones
What would this buy me:
A easy to built dry cell generator
No hard drilling holes
No neutral plates
Light weight
Low cost
Gary Diamond
I've thought about use of stainless foil. I think it would defitly be worth expementing with if you can find a supplier. I've never heard of a 316 foil before, and don't know if it could be made the same way soft meatles are used to make foil.
One complication that may come up, with a foil cell, is flatness. It would be hard to keep the foil completely flat, but 316 is quite stiff compared to any metal foils I've ever worked with, so this may not be much of a problem.
Nickel foil is another option, which may or may not be cheaper than SS in foil form.
try a titanium tube with a carbon rod going down the center ... make your gap so its about 1/4 inch ... use plain old distilled water with NO electrolyte ... stir gently with about 20k-30k vDC with the carbon as the negative pole ... wear flack jacket and full face shield just in case ...
the interesting thing is that you should ge NO reaction at all ... water is an insulator not a conductor ... the other interesting thing is that the gas you will get is not HHO ... its a long chain hydrocarbon more closely related to natural gas ... and it will not go boom unless it has outside air to act as the oxidizer ... so it can be captured, compressed and stored ...
imagine that ... hmmmm ...
the carbon rod is consumed in this reaction and needs to be replaced regularly ... the titanium tube will corode and get a layer of TiO on it that will need to be brushed off with a wire brush during periodic maintenance ... but this is one of many ways you can make a gas for yourself that is safe to store for use later ... could put maybe 20psi in a propane can ... burns like natural gas so if you can fire up your grill, hot water heater or whatever on natural gas, it should be able to burn this stuff without modification ...