u/Mkysmith

5 days, ~3mm (0.12") thick deposit. I forgot to weigh the corn before, but it is now a hefty 943g (2.1lb).

I want to leave this one as-is out of the tank for now, but I might do a brass finish on it in the future after I burn out the corn.

And before you ask why... I would say you just aren't thinking of the nearly unlimited technical uses around the home-shop for an ear of copper corn.

In response to u/NandorandGizmo (relevant comment) here is a quick video of a DIY active filtration setup I used to use a while back in a 5 gallon bucket. It's based on a simple airlift pump. It's benefits within the electrochemistry context are:

• Super simple in design (literally two tubes and a box with a filter) - no special tools needed to make it, just hardware store parts.
• No moving parts in the solution - nothing to wear out, get jammed due to particulate, get eaten by acid, or contaminate anything. It can last indefinitely and since the air-pump is not being misused the whole setup is extremely reliable.
• Completely scalable and customizable to any chemistry type - just choose the right plastic.
• low pressure & contained within the solution tank, if anything does leak, it can't spray liquid or pour acid on your shop floor
• No electrical inside the solution - zero risk of shock or electrocution to anything else connected by proxy (like anodes)

I don't have the laser cut files anymore, but as you can see the design itself is very simple and forgiving. Literally anyone could make this and I recommend it over submerging and AC powered device.

If you use PVC for sulfuric acid based chemistry: I would recommend using CPVC (the grey stuff used for electrical conduit) and clear weld-on brand cement. Those hold up to sulfuric acid better. Just a reminder that many plastics don't hold up to sulfuric acid long term very well. Even famously acid resistant ones like nylon and silicone.

Be safe! Would love to see if anyone else makes something similar.

Original goal was 7 days, but had to stop short at 3 days & 20 hours.

I really wanted the full week to be completely uninterrupted, really just set it & forget it and not touch anything. Just to have a big blob of copper as the cathode. But I stupidly underestimated the quantity of anode I needed and it started to break off and cause some issues the last ~12 hours. Just decided to call it as is for now.

Also not an ideal setup overall due to trying to get a good camera setup, for example the anodes are way to close (to the lego arms specifically) and various other small things.

I normally don't use agitation or anode bags for projects less than 12hrs. For multi-day projects agitation is helpful to prevent convection lines. And if you use agitation, then anode bags are needed too.

61.5 grams of copper added.
Copper is 0.095" (2.4mm) thick in the center of the chest, 0.115" (2.9mm) thick on the forehead.

Let me know if you have questions, happy to answer them.

First hour of electroforming a lego minifig. It will stay in much longer so I don't have an after picture yet but will update when I do.

Just thought this was cool and wanted to share.

Just found out the main scrubber I use for my leaded soldering iron (yes, I have two irons, one for leaded and one for lead-free. I'm not a barbarian) is magnetic.

Totally makes sense why my iron tips were wearing down so fast now. Going to replace the scrubber and resume operation as normal.

Be safe people!