Thread: Electrolysis using an old computer power supply

Originally Posted by BobL

What about extracting the carbon rods from 6V old lantern batteries. To get enough current one might need half a dozen but they come 4 to a pack.

BobL

The last time I cut open a "D" cell it had a carbon rod down the guts. I think the year was 1837. Do they still have this? If so, they are more plentiful today than lantern batteries unless you have acess to a good supply.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by mic-d

What about something like this from a lab supplier?

This mob are about the cheapest I could find, and much, much cheaper than an Australian supplier.

I'm with you Mic-d, I think that the smaller carbon rods from batteries might be difficult to connect whils keeping the electrical wiring out of the electrolyte, and generally too small, leading to uneven results. Also gouging electrodes need to have the copper stripped, and they too are lacking in surface area. Whilst you were typing your post I was looking for something similar to your find, and this is what I came up with.
Graphite Supplies items - Get great deals on items on eBay Stores!
I make no claims about them being the cheapest, I would need to look a bit more, as I have found scrap graphite deals before, and they were much cheaper, but these guys have the sized sheets I was thinking might work well, especially if more than one sheet was used, with the workpiece centred between them.
Rob

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

BobL

The last time I cut open a "D" cell it had a carbon rod down the guts. I think the year was 1837. Do they still have this? If so, they are more plentiful today than lantern batteries unless you have acess to a good supply.

Regards
Paul

They do have them but they are shorter than lantern battery rods. I still use lantern batteries for most of my torches - they are far more reliable than rechargeable which are always dead when I go to use them - I guess I go through about 2 a year. I will now start to keep them and see what they have inside them.

Hi all
if looking for carbon rods try "carbon ark rods"
Eg Screen Plate Maker - AC DC Carbon Arc Rods - Etching
I have used them when screen printing years ago.
Try screen printing supplies .
Tony

Only just stumbled across this blog. Very interesing reading! Thank you all.

Just an idea: would carbon fibre cloth be a suitable anode? One could stich it with copper wire around a copper or other conductor like a "hem",then shape the conductor to match the container and have it hang into the solution like a curtain.
The stuff is not expensive, quite strong (in a dense weave version) and would have a huge surface area.
Possible?

Joe