Fill the beaker with vinegar to the halfway mark. Place your zinc strip inside the beaker and let it sit for several hours so that it starts to dissolve. Sources of pure zinc include anodes from boating stores or the cleaned casings of zinc-carbon batteries. You could also sand off the copper coating of a U.S. penny made in 1983 or later.
Prepare the item to be plated by putting on rubber gloves and scrubbing it with a toothbrush and toothpaste. Rinse thoroughly. Do not touch it with your bare hands from this point on as oils in your skin will disrupt the plating process.
Remove the zinc strip and attach it to a crocodile clip. Wrap a few strands of copper wire around the item to be plated so that it can hang freely, and attach it to the other crocodile clip. Dangle both items into the beaker so they are fully submerged in the vinegar.
Attach the lead from the zinc strip to the positive terminal of the battery. Attach the lead from the item to be plated to the negative terminal. Within minutes a slivery zinc coating should begin to form on the item being plated.