After looking for a local shop to put a yellow zinc finish on some parts I have, and coming up empty, I did some research and found out that many people do it themselves. That got me reading about it and ultimately I decided to try it for myself.

The problem is the plating process is not working for me like it should. For an electrolyte solution, I'm just using tap water, white distilled vinegar, and some cleaning soda. From everything I've read and watched online, there seem to be lots of variations on this and they all work pretty well. I hooked up a D battery between my part and my zinc anode, and while I got a little bubbling, nothing happened. Then I thought maybe I didn't have enough current, so I rigged up two D batteries in sequence, but the result didn't change.

Admittedly, this isn't something I know a lot about and figured I could save some $ and learn something in the process. Can anyone out there who has a better understanding of the process give me advice on what I'm doing wrong?