As someone who worked in electro-plating, part geometry and how you hang the part is really important for a good finish. Avoid any features that could trap air bubbles. Also avoid shelves, where you can get extra solution trapped when you transfer the part, which either contaminates your rinse baths or spills.
Also professionally plate hexchrome, trichrome, nickel, gold and special alloys onto yellow or red brass for over 12 years. 1.) Absolute cleaning as you indicated is key. Bath agitation helps scrub contaminants. Mechanically moving the cleaner with a plastic spatula, without waves, will help. 2.) A copper strike coat, very thin for your parts, will help uniform conductivity especially for the fine details and large dimension changes. Be careful, Cu is easy to apply too thick. Electroless (chemical Cu deposition - no electricity) is probably recommended if you encounter difficult geometries. 3.) Ni is preferred for our business for its hardness, thus scratch resistance. You appear to be using bright Ni which is great, but has problems with stress which usually is resolved by adjusting the plating speed and chemistry. The secret to good Ni plating is to agitate the bath, 5-8 tank turns / hour as a good target, filter the solution, and minimize or eliminate air bubbles when returned to the tank. Just need pure flow to scrub bubbles from the surface and assure fresh Ni solution in contact with part. but a small number of bubbles in solution will not hurt. Ni plating also creates fine particles which easily slough off the anode and deposit on the plated part. You must be using ultrapure Ni anode otherwise you would have previously observed star field like patterns. As previously stated, filtering is always a good idea. Special shaped anodes are common. Also consider shields (plastic barriers) to reduce current to areas plating too fast (geometry too close to anode but still need plate deep crevices). 4.) Can't help on Au. We only use cyanide containing baths for Au plating. Unfortunately, the smallest system I have set-up or improved is about 20L; way to much for your needs.
@@charleshettrick2408 Would using a sonic/agitating/ultrasonic cleaning bath help with some of that? More expensive but I'd think that'd make it more consistent and probably faster. I know sonic mixing can make funny things like oil and water mix where it otherwise wouldn't should help with the cleaning I imagine.
I grew up in plating and electroforming workshops. Was my family business. If you find issues plating oddly shaped parts feel free to get in touch! We had tons of tricks to solve issues of plating inside voids or on sharp tips. For example if you find burrs growing on edges or points (high current density areas) you can use rings of wire as auxiliary cathodes (we called them "robbers") to reduce the surface area to current density ratio and smooth the finish on the edges. You can also use various small anodes held in strategic places with wire and a small stirrer or pump to agitate/circulate the solution and help reduce patchy plating. Used to have great fun with the cleaning baths. They kick out a fair bit of hydrogen gas. So the foam is quite flammable. If you "accidentally" make a small spark (touch part to anode while still connected when removing parts) the little bang you get can be quite a surprise! 😂 Even more fun in a huge warehouse sized plating shop with a car sized tank of hydrogen foam! Looks you're using an acid gold solution instead of a cyanide one. If ever you go to do silver, keep an eye on the cyanide. It's pretty concentrated and can be surprisingly hard to rinse. Known plenty of people (my dad included, on two occasions) hospitalised or worse as the result of a splash of silver or gold solution on the lips or unwashed hands. Health and Safety had no place in UK plating workshops in the 80s and 90s. Using acidic cleaners on spills or splashes can also evolve cyanide gas with some dangerous consequences. I love all your videos and this one woke up a ton of knowledge I'd almost forgotten I had! Thanks so much for that! 😁
I have a reasonably sized plating plant. I do Nickle - Cobalt and Copper Plating. My tubs are 25 Litres. Two things I do extra, might help. 1. I use industrial liquid soap & hot water to degrease before electro cleaning. 2. When you are actually plating and you want to check the part. Never completely remove the part from the electrolyte. It will leave a "shadow" created by the breaking and reconnecting the current in the solution. (also a different layer of plating) . Enjoy.
I am fascinated by how all your setups look extremely neat and clean and uncluttered. I have a small workshop and I fight with extreme clutter all the time.
My solution is to clean / organise after every use of a tool, say I need a file and a piece of emery cloth and use it for maybe 5 minutes, I know I'll use it again tomorrow, but I still put it back in its place after use. Really helps with clutter, since it makes sure that my work tops are always free to use instead of being covered in some random tools I might or might not be using at the moment.
@@patrik_k04 I found that method works well for me too. Initially I commented to myself I was being ridiculously obsessive, but by having lots of labelled storage around the specific work areas where those tools were most used, it saved lots of "searching time". My labels are often VERBS rather than NOUNS. So pliers aren't labelled "PLIERS", they are stored in my "GRIP" drawer, along with other similar tools such as multigrips and locking pliers Similary, scissors, knives, blades, PVC pipe cutters, etc are stored in a drawer called "CUT". I'm a bit inconsistent about it, but to define every tool with a noun label is too tedious, so I just think about the major *task they perform* and use a verb instead. Weird I know, but it saves space and works well for me.
simple addition to this excellent video from the view of a jeweler: it is recommended to use the general rule of lower voltage and longer exposure time. A higher voltage can easily burn the surface. Slow makes the best results ( talking about 5-10 minutes ) and 0.5-1V lower than max. recommended V from the supplier of the plating solution.
A century ago I worked for a precious metals plating process supply company. My job was to use the products to test the finish on customers samples. Rarely the same job twice, my boss insisted I work by current density not volts, this meant spending a while calculating the area, but I paid off in not ruining valuable samples where you don’t get a second try. If you do mess up, there are cookerybooks of methods to remove coatings, nickel on brass? Try dilute sulphuric acid with some thiourea added as an inhibitor. Should form a brown copper sulphide film when you get to the brass, that in turn should come off in the electro cleaner.
Great Video! Electroplating is quite an adventure, one which I enjoy. I found your video very accurate especially dealing with nickel :). I would recommend changing your plating rinses from baths to sprays. I have observed that drag out from rinse baths is an enormous problem, sometimes it's visable sometimes not so much. Spraying ensures fresh water every time to comprehensively remove the previous bath to be more consistent. I bet you will like Rhodium when you try it, it's a beautiful thing to plate with. Best to you on your plating journey I look forward to seeing more and learning as you share!
I grew up around Hard Chrome Plating, which has much of the same components, only much, MUCH, larger. Many little tips and tricks that can be learned through just about any electroplating process for better results, solution loss and even reverse plating to strip parts of previous electro plating materials. Enjoy the learning, its a fascinating process.
Really enjoy your videos. I too have a Sherline lathe and a Hegner scrollsaw. I have the saw connected to a simple foot switch - helps no end as both hands are free and you can stop and start at will.
This takes me back to when i got a chemistry set for Christmas and i electroplated anything i could find! I was hassling my science teacher for copper sulphate and he had to tell my parents at the parent teacher meeting that he couldn't supply me with it anymore. 🤣 Ah the 80s
I’ve used a similar setup with a single bath for rust removal and, since the process works by line of sight, found a circular anode, ringing the bucket works best. For your quality you may want to add multiple connection points so the current runs smoothly thru the extra large anode. Say at 3 at 120 degrees from each other.
As a kid, I was exposed to many people who could plate just about anything and any size! In those cases, they had screen anodes rather than solid plate anodes, and you could do the same with your tanks using the right type of screen around the wall of the tank, the screen could be spot welded to a solid anode quite easy. Plus it can be shaped to fit any shape tank, round or square. The chemistry of plating is also quite interesting as well!
You've inspired many of us to try things we otherwise wouldn't. This has me thinking of my need to anodize aluminum parts. Is there any chance you'll be doing one on that?
The fishis of the card-press was so absurdly gorgeous that I can certainly see why you went through the headache of figuring all this out. Using jewelers equipment makes a lot of sense for a small parts shop and seems like a good place to start. Can't wait to see the update on palladium.
Second! Its really nice to see how amazingly precise you can be even with something so mysterious as plating. At least i think its mysterious. Thank you as always for such a beautiful and in-depth look at electroplating
The deposition rate is proportional to current (divided by surface area of the workpiece); and current a rough function of voltage (as well as a bunch of other variables). Much like cruise control monitors the speedometer rather than the gas pedal position. With many power supplies, turn the current all the way down, turn voltage all the way up, and then adjust the current knob as desired; the power supply will then output whatever voltage is necessary to maintain the desired current (whatever throttle is necessary to maintain the desired speed).
Nice idea, but fundamentally wrong for galvanization/e-plating/etc. It is true that the deposition rate is proportional to the current (current, which actually means how many electrons pass a known diameter in a specified time, which again is the reason for the transport of metal ions, and as you stated: proportional). When you would knew the exact surface dimensions, the current control would be appropriate. Oh and you have to change that with every part you put into the process. Now ... how convenient would it be if the current that flows is also proportional to the surface area of the work piece (bigger area = lesser resistance = more current flow) ... when using a constant voltage regulation. In fact that is so convenient that everybody in the industry does it that way. You only have the variable of how long you have to put the workpiece in the bath, or 100 pieces, or 1000 different pieces (of course you have to provide the needed resources for that:) ) and you get absolutely repeatable results. Oh and that is the only thing that counts: Good production parts without having to "guess" or to fiddle knobs!
Unreal, man. You’re really setting yourself up for retirement success. I could see you eventually making twenty thousand dollar parts every couple weeks, for some luxury brand. My next BRABUS G-Wagon will have full Clickspring dial plates on the instrument cluster and passenger window buttons. 😁
Glad this came out, i have a kit to do metal plating for 3d prints. so this was a good visual on how others go about it. The kit i have uses graphite paint to coat the part. after paint and polish, i am to coat the part(s) with copper for a couple of hours, and from there, i would do the steps you are doing. I got a DIY mix kit, where you prep the solutions from a dry powder and mix in some acids for the copper and silver. and uses buckets you can get from a hardware store. One piece i have that i want to coat is essentially a cylinder so i hope it will coat the inside as good, or if i'll have to do some kind of mod to bring some of the copper into the center. One trick i saw from another person who does metal plating, is that he made a device that uses a slow motor to rotate the part during copper plating. seeing you do this video helped give me a bit more knowledge and confidence.
Awesome Video Chris. Although i will never have a need to do this, i suddenly want to electroplate stuff.. Your video style is both interesting and informative. Thanks.
The described plating process is correct. But in the home shop it is better to regulate current than it is to regulate voltage during the plating process. The plating process is effectively a galvanic cell. It requires a certain minimum voltage to get going. But from that point on it is all about the circuit resistance to regulate the flow of charge carriers. Why is charge carriers important? The metal in solution is effectively an oxide, the charge carriers (electrons) will strip away the oxide and the now "free" metal ion is going to plate itself onto the part. To do this we need to trade with the molecule of metal oxide, the metal atom likes its oxides. But if we have enough voltage on our side we can have it give up its oxides in exchange for a charge carrier or two. (sometimes more than just 1 or 2, this depends on the oxidation state of the metal.) Each of these transactions however only gives us 1 atom of metal, for every x electrons flowing through our circuit. And to plate a large part we need a lot of atoms of metal. But thankfully charge carriers are cheap, 1 amp gives us about 6.242x10^18 of them per second. How many we need to plate a random object with a certain thickness of some metal can be calculated, or simply estimated through experience. The plating thickness is directly proportional to the surface area of the object being plated, and the amount of charge carriers we have transacted. And the charge carriers can be summarized as "amp seconds", as in 0.1 amps over 10 seconds = 1 Amp second, while 0.2 amps over 20 seconds is = 4 amp seconds. Figuring out the surface area of an object is however something we can estimate, small errors don't strictly matter in decorative pieces, and here experience helps. But one can likewise observe the early stages of plating and look for how quickly a color change happens and through experience adjust the total plating time according to our observations. Now, why isn't a lot of plating literature focusing on current? Well, because that isn't how one does it on the industrial scale. On the industrial scale it is frankly impractical to regulate current for each piece being plated. That requires a lot of tedious setup, and that takes time and money. On large scales it is simply easier to keep all other parameters under control and instead focus on voltage. Since the reaction itself has some resistance to limit current. This resistance is proportional to a few factors, like solution concentration, temperature, and to a slight degree the geometry of the vat. Keeping these in check is simply easier when one has thousands of parts being plated all at once. But like a lot of things on the industrial scale, it is effective at large scale. When doing just a few pieces, other approaches are typically more efficient/easier. However, solution concentration still matters, same for temperature. But at home one don't need it anywhere near as accurate if one keeps an eye on current instead of focusing one's attention on voltage. One can simply relax one's anxiety over the other parameters. But keeping an eye on current is also informative for the industrial scale as well. Since plating one piece and regulating current will inherently give a decent indication for what voltage one will need to get similar plating speeds for thousands of pieces in parallel. (but one will have to fine tune it a bit... But at least one is in the right ball park.)
The surface area is a function of the resistance (or vice versa), which makes it (resistance=inversely) proportional to the current flow (and therefore the electrochemical deposition of metallic deposits). You are fundamentally wrong and shooting yourself into the foot, because mother nature gives us exactly that principle, providing repeatable and consistent results with galvanization by only providing a constant voltage regulation. [1] WTH are you talking about up there? Should that be a physics course, that got slightly out of hand? And what are these allusions to large scale industry applications? First they do not matter here, second: the same physics and chemistry principles apply here and third: As someone who sees several hundred tons of materials going in and out our galvanic plant, I am not aware of your strange claims. Not even remotely (meaning your current-limiting strawman, etc.). For the **facepalms** Even the hobbyist "Jewel Master Pro HD Plating Kit" shown in the video uses constant voltage regulation. I don't know who you are. You cited basic physics and some of that is correct. But also the whole comment is a mess of an inconsistent amalgamation of (half?-) knowledge and you focus on irrelevant topics more often than my mother-in-law goes on a tangent:) Anyways, I wish you good luck with electroplating ... it seems like you need many of that! :P [1] I really don't get that. I can't understand it. I do not want to understand it. I do not want to think that my fellow humans are that ignorant or stupid. What we are talking about here is a SIMPLE MATHEMATICAL RELATION, a effing proportionality (y=m·x), a multiplication. I refuse to accept that anyone cannot grasp this!!!
fwiw i do some homemade plating for tools. i use 9218 stick welding rods as anode for nickel plating and a solution made from the same rods and vinegar, isopropyl for cleaning. at 6v 750ma for small parts it's like 2-3 mins. great setup you have.
could add a small speaker to the side of the rods playing a sound wave at around 15hz ( or 28khz. both way out of human hearing range so its not gonna annoy the operater over time ( kinda like diy perks did with the magnet that was to whin for the acrelic tube ) or so to shake/vibrate the part so any kind of interfearing bobbles gets shaken off
for consistency between metals here is how we do it ..np2 cleaner electro .water then muriatic dip then water to a copper plate to water to a sulfuric acid to clean the cyanide off from the copper water then into the Nickle bath with a mix of 3 brighteners everything ran around 2.5 amps and volts to 3 ..use less for smaller.. each water dip was 2 tanks timing eas around 2.5- 3 minutes
A lot of us are going to have a first go at electroplating with not so good equipment. I would say that a regulated power supply will affect the result the most. Being able to set a (low) constant voltage will give a slower deposit, and in my experience, that will tend to greatly improve surface evenness in thickness and apearance. And please - be careful! Some of the chemicals used are very harmful! (Varying depending on different processes for varying base metals and coating surfaces.)
Chris, as i understand it, it's the current that controls the metal deposits on the parts, more specifically current flux (current per area) not the voltage
That is my understanding also. The power supply control on this plating system is voltage, so inevitably that becomes the primary parameter to discuss - Cheers :)
@@Clickspring By controlling the voltage you will simultaneously control the current. As the applied voltage rises or falls, the current also rises and falls along with the voltage.
I use a current-limited power supply with a set maximum voltage for plating, and keep the current density on the low side to get the most conductive finish possible. Appearance isn't important for my applications, it's about the RF skin effect and reducing losses at microwave and mmWave frequencies, but usually the best-looking finishes have the best RF performance.
@@ClickspringTLDR; Because the flowing current (and therefore the electrochemical deposition of metallic deposits) is a proportional function of the surface area, we provide a stable voltage to utilize exactly that effect for repeatable and consistent work piece results! In detail: Nice idea(the constant current thought), but fundamentally wrong for galvanization/e-plating/etc. It is true that the deposition rate is proportional to the current (current, which actually means how many electrons pass a known diameter in a specified time, which again is the reason for the transport of metal ions, and: therefore proportional to the electro-chemical process). When you would knew the exact surface dimensions, the current control would be appropriate. Oh and you have to change that with every part you put into the process. Now ... how convenient would it be if the current that flows is also proportional to the surface area of the work piece (bigger area = lesser resistance = more current flow) ... when using a constant voltage regulation. In fact that is so convenient that everybody in the industry does it that way. You only have the variable(and the others I do not discuss here and are assumed to be known/well adjusted/controlled, like temperature, chemistry, etc.), of how long you have to put the workpiece in the bath or 100 pieces, or 1000 different pieces (of course you have to provide the needed resources for that:) ) and you get absolutely repeatable results. Oh and that is the only thing that counts: Good production parts without having to "guess" or to fiddle knobs! Thought experiment: Lets say one part A gets perfect results with 1A and 1 minute in the bath (The voltage meter shows 1V, which means our circuit has an overall resistance of 1 Ohm). Now we put two parts of the kind A[1] in the bath. The surface area is doubled, so we need 2A to get a repeatable result (The resistance is halved, the voltage meter shows 1V). Did you notice something?:) Put the PSU into current voltage mode and you don't have to think about surface areas and currents anymore (This will only complicate the procedure ... without any gain or reason). It is nice gift by mother nature and physics that it turns out that way. [1] Imagine having something like 1.32983 factors and to calculate that for every new piece. Or a geometry that is horrible to calculate?! (A nice trick would be to put the part into a saltwater bath and measure the resistance, by applying a constant voltage and measuring the flowing current ... OH WAIT! Hehehe, see what I did here? That is exactly what the "situation", meaning our wonderful reality, already does for us. Have fun! Great video and thank you for sharing your wonderful projects.Thank you! P.S.: This is the principle. In large-industrial-scale application there are hundreds of different chemicals, materials, process engineering, and and and a plethora of things that need to be considered. There may be ramped up initial current limiting, or concerns with the temperature when a massive amount of parts is galvanized. Or temperature ramps and voltage ramps, you get it. But even that does not allow to shoot yourself into the foot by making this absolutely simple principle (from above) into a high-tech joke with multiple control loops (current AND voltage ... of course timely distinct) = a very unstable monster in reality. We for example simply use COLD WATER running trough plastic pipes in industrial plants:) Also: That doesn't apply at home where you can make parts with love and with time (the resources that are nearly impossible to pay for in a business application, hehe).
The crazy part is that this process is how the space shuttles main engines were made. Since it's impossible to mill them NASA had to go with a different option. They build a mold where they then plated and removed the mold to allow the intricate internal chambers
Having a bit of plating experience, you're best bet is nickel for the barrier coat. It's used in almost all industrial applications, and every plater I've ever visited states the nickel is the best. Palladium works, but they usually only use it for non-industrial applications and it carries a big up-charge. I'm interested in your gold solution, is it a cyanide solution? That's what was being primarily used back when I was involved in this. They were just starting to get into non-cyanide solutions and were still having consistency issues. Considering most of these places had full on waste water reclimation systems (separates the residual metals and toxins from the process waters), they were still staying away from the non-cyanide based solutions because of the consistency issues they were facing. Good stuff here Chris!
For banana plugs and the like, I read that the gold-plated connectors are nickle plated underneath, and that nickle is very hard but has the same corrosion resistance as gold. Thus, scratches in the gold, which accumulate easily because gold is very soft and you are scraping it with each insertion or removal of the plated plug, are no worry. And, the gold is more for show and nickle plating alone would work just as well. I don't know how true that is, in terms of making a good electrical connection. But it's interesting to see a partial confirmation on the existence of nickle plating between copper and gold, as a fairly universal thing.
You have the anode, cathode, and power supply correct in your diagram, but the electron flow is from the anode to cathode through the electolite. This frees up particles from the anode, those particles are then attracted to the cathode. You loose material where you loose current i.e. electron flow. This can be calculated by knowing the metal loss per year per amp per hour and measuring the amount of current flow and time.
I've learned from youtube videos that for better results, the part you're plating needs to be constantly moving. That's why some people attach their parts to slowly rotating electric motors
Chris, have you considered experimenting with multiple different plating on a single part, masking off as needed? For example, in the engraving, plating the sun with gold and the rest leaving bare nickel?
For larger setups, I can see wanting to prepare the container with slots for the busbar to rest in, or better yet, a through hole on one side of the container and a slot on the side that the wiring hangs from, with a pair of stops soldered onto the slot side of the busbar. I don't have the steadiest hands in the world.
I know this probably won’t change anything but maybe you could try plating the nickel with a galvanic pen, it might give you better control over the surface finish
The artifact the so-called "Baghdad battery" is theorized to have been used to gold plate figures and jewelry made of silver or another less valuable metal. The jar is fired terra cotta clay with a copper tube with an iron rod suspended inside with asphaltum as an insulator. An acidic liquid like fermented grape juice or vinegar might have been used to create a weak electrolytic effect.
Great video! I'll drop it here since I can see many people with experience. What if I wanted to electroplate a brass watch dial with the target of achieving a very smooth and high end dark surface, and by dark I mean black. What kind of anode would I need, and what kind of solution?
Would an air bubbler like a fish tank pump under the part help clean and plate more evenly? It might help break any uneven surface tension preventing ion transfer. If the plating was uneven I suspect the cleaning and activating could have been as well, hampering the process at every stage.
Awesome! i didn't know a setup like this was available. I do have one question, tho. what do you do with your waste product? here, there's massive (probably reasonable) restrictions.
What was your thought process choosing nickel instead of chrome, and what kind of considerations would we have to take into account when choosing metals besides cost?
Do not use Chrome at home unless you want to turn your property into a Superfund site. Most chrome solutions are very toxic, and Hexavalent Chrome is carcinogenic and toxic.
i did ribbon plating by putting 1/2 of it in poster blutack then solution and i used my nickle anode as a wand and manualy moved it around my peace just was playing around.... Q and A why are u dunking it in the nickle and hooking it to the buz bar with out a quick swirl to dilute the water do you think u have a barrier stopping the nick in the beginning
Hi Chris, I have been wondering since I first watched your large wheel skeleton series if you ever coated the finished article in any way. I ask, because when you made the the pillars and pendulum you coated them with a diluted mix of clear varnish. I suspect to plate the clocks moving parts would compromise working clearances. In short did you decide on a natural patina for the entire assembly?
I don't want to take away from your video but Geoffrey Crocker's electroplating video is really good and it's hilarious to watch. I think you're a bit more high end than him.
Hi Chris, did you find any issues with bubbles causing pitting in the plate layer? Or, did you use any agitation in the solution when plating? I’ve seen fish tank pumps used as well as magnetic stir bars.
What is a typical thickness of the plating? Could it be done to something as small as gears in a watch? Or will the extra thickness mess with the gears meshing together
Breaking Taps channel recently did a video about making miniature rocket engine nozzles where he used a conductive wax to anodize over channels that cooled the nozzles by pumping fuel through them. I thought anodizing wax was cool.
I did wonder that when he mentioned its being difficult to remove. Would the process automatically stop when the nickel is removed or do you need to keep a close eye on it to prevent damage to the brass surface?
As someone who worked in electro-plating, part geometry and how you hang the part is really important for a good finish. Avoid any features that could trap air bubbles. Also avoid shelves, where you can get extra solution trapped when you transfer the part, which either contaminates your rinse baths or spills.
If you must plate odd objects with difficult contours, would agitation help here?
Also professionally plate hexchrome, trichrome, nickel, gold and special alloys onto yellow or red brass for over 12 years.
1.) Absolute cleaning as you indicated is key. Bath agitation helps scrub contaminants. Mechanically moving the cleaner with a plastic spatula, without waves, will help. 2.) A copper strike coat, very thin for your parts, will help uniform conductivity especially for the fine details and large dimension changes. Be careful, Cu is easy to apply too thick. Electroless (chemical Cu deposition - no electricity) is probably recommended if you encounter difficult geometries.
3.) Ni is preferred for our business for its hardness, thus scratch resistance. You appear to be using bright Ni which is great, but has problems with stress which usually is resolved by adjusting the plating speed and chemistry. The secret to good Ni plating is to agitate the bath, 5-8 tank turns / hour as a good target, filter the solution, and minimize or eliminate air bubbles when returned to the tank. Just need pure flow to scrub bubbles from the surface and assure fresh Ni solution in contact with part. but a small number of bubbles in solution will not hurt. Ni plating also creates fine particles which easily slough off the anode and deposit on the plated part. You must be using ultrapure Ni anode otherwise you would have previously observed star field like patterns. As previously stated, filtering is always a good idea. Special shaped anodes are common. Also consider shields (plastic barriers) to reduce current to areas plating too fast (geometry too close to anode but still need plate deep crevices).
4.) Can't help on Au. We only use cyanide containing baths for Au plating.
Unfortunately, the smallest system I have set-up or improved is about 20L; way to much for your needs.
@@charleshettrick2408 Would using a sonic/agitating/ultrasonic cleaning bath help with some of that? More expensive but I'd think that'd make it more consistent and probably faster. I know sonic mixing can make funny things like oil and water mix where it otherwise wouldn't should help with the cleaning I imagine.
I grew up in plating and electroforming workshops. Was my family business. If you find issues plating oddly shaped parts feel free to get in touch! We had tons of tricks to solve issues of plating inside voids or on sharp tips.
For example if you find burrs growing on edges or points (high current density areas) you can use rings of wire as auxiliary cathodes (we called them "robbers") to reduce the surface area to current density ratio and smooth the finish on the edges.
You can also use various small anodes held in strategic places with wire and a small stirrer or pump to agitate/circulate the solution and help reduce patchy plating.
Used to have great fun with the cleaning baths. They kick out a fair bit of hydrogen gas. So the foam is quite flammable. If you "accidentally" make a small spark (touch part to anode while still connected when removing parts) the little bang you get can be quite a surprise! 😂
Even more fun in a huge warehouse sized plating shop with a car sized tank of hydrogen foam!
Looks you're using an acid gold solution instead of a cyanide one. If ever you go to do silver, keep an eye on the cyanide. It's pretty concentrated and can be surprisingly hard to rinse.
Known plenty of people (my dad included, on two occasions) hospitalised or worse as the result of a splash of silver or gold solution on the lips or unwashed hands. Health and Safety had no place in UK plating workshops in the 80s and 90s.
Using acidic cleaners on spills or splashes can also evolve cyanide gas with some dangerous consequences.
I love all your videos and this one woke up a ton of knowledge I'd almost forgotten I had! Thanks so much for that! 😁
What sort of stuff did you guys plate? Or what didn’t you if that’s shorter
I have a reasonably sized plating plant. I do Nickle - Cobalt and Copper Plating. My tubs are 25 Litres. Two things I do extra, might help. 1. I use industrial liquid soap & hot water to degrease before electro cleaning.
2. When you are actually plating and you want to check the part. Never completely remove the part from the electrolyte. It will leave a "shadow" created by the breaking and reconnecting the current in the solution. (also a different layer of plating) . Enjoy.
I do Nickelplating for living, i have nothing to add here, very nice and easy explained.
Watch over hangs, air bubbles traps, and maybe switch to water spray instead of water bath.
@@wobblysauce He knows, he does it for a living..
@@65cj55 😁😁😁
I am fascinated by how all your setups look extremely neat and clean and uncluttered. I have a small workshop and I fight with extreme clutter all the time.
I feel your pain, I have a large workshop and I still fight with clutter😂
My solution is to clean / organise after every use of a tool, say I need a file and a piece of emery cloth and use it for maybe 5 minutes, I know I'll use it again tomorrow, but I still put it back in its place after use. Really helps with clutter, since it makes sure that my work tops are always free to use instead of being covered in some random tools I might or might not be using at the moment.
@@patrik_k04 I found that method works well for me too. Initially I commented to myself I was being ridiculously obsessive, but by having lots of labelled storage around the specific work areas where those tools were most used, it saved lots of "searching time".
My labels are often VERBS rather than NOUNS. So pliers aren't labelled "PLIERS", they are stored in my "GRIP" drawer, along with other similar tools such as multigrips and locking pliers
Similary, scissors, knives, blades, PVC pipe cutters, etc are stored in a drawer called "CUT".
I'm a bit inconsistent about it, but to define every tool with a noun label is too tedious, so I just think about the major *task they perform* and use a verb instead.
Weird I know, but it saves space and works well for me.
@@BrassLockThat's a great idea.
simple addition to this excellent video from the view of a jeweler: it is recommended to use the general rule of lower voltage and longer exposure time. A higher voltage can easily burn the surface. Slow makes the best results ( talking about 5-10 minutes ) and 0.5-1V lower than max. recommended V from the supplier of the plating solution.
What does "burn" mean in this context?
A century ago I worked for a precious metals plating process supply company. My job was to use the products to test the finish on customers samples. Rarely the same job twice, my boss insisted I work by current density not volts, this meant spending a while calculating the area, but I paid off in not ruining valuable samples where you don’t get a second try.
If you do mess up, there are cookerybooks of methods to remove coatings, nickel on brass? Try dilute sulphuric acid with some thiourea added as an inhibitor. Should form a brown copper sulphide film when you get to the brass, that in turn should come off in the electro cleaner.
Man, your videos really make me want to get into machining! Your way of working is enchanting!
And it doesn’t have be this high end. With a basic setup and skills, a thousand and one things can be fixed and made.
Great Video! Electroplating is quite an adventure, one which I enjoy. I found your video very accurate especially dealing with nickel :). I would recommend changing your plating rinses from baths to sprays. I have observed that drag out from rinse baths is an enormous problem, sometimes it's visable sometimes not so much. Spraying ensures fresh water every time to comprehensively remove the previous bath to be more consistent. I bet you will like Rhodium when you try it, it's a beautiful thing to plate with. Best to you on your plating journey I look forward to seeing more and learning as you share!
I love the perfection and standards you hold yourself too. It’s so cathartic
I grew up around Hard Chrome Plating, which has much of the same components, only much, MUCH, larger. Many little tips and tricks that can be learned through just about any electroplating process for better results, solution loss and even reverse plating to strip parts of previous electro plating materials. Enjoy the learning, its a fascinating process.
I was a hard chrome electroplater at Ford Geelong in the 80s, and yes, much, much larger.
The best videos and the best voice-over I've run across
Really enjoy your videos. I too have a Sherline lathe and a Hegner scrollsaw. I have the saw connected to a simple foot switch - helps no end as both hands are free and you can stop and start at will.
This takes me back to when i got a chemistry set for Christmas and i electroplated anything i could find!
I was hassling my science teacher for copper sulphate and he had to tell my parents at the parent teacher meeting that he couldn't supply me with it anymore. 🤣
Ah the 80s
Brilliant. Your attention to detail and explaining the 'obvious' really appreciated
I’ve used a similar setup with a single bath for rust removal and, since the process works by line of sight, found a circular anode, ringing the bucket works best. For your quality you may want to add multiple connection points so the current runs smoothly thru the extra large anode. Say at 3 at 120 degrees from each other.
Thank you for sharing your process, and thank you for your humility in everything you endeavor. You are a fine craftsman and a philomath to boot.
As a kid, I was exposed to many people who could plate just about anything and any size!
In those cases, they had screen anodes rather than solid plate anodes, and you could do the same with your tanks using the right type of screen around the wall of the tank, the screen could be spot welded to a solid anode quite easy. Plus it can be shaped to fit any shape tank, round or square.
The chemistry of plating is also quite interesting as well!
Love the Clickspring logo stamp Chris, next level stuff 👌
Thanks for another great video!
You've inspired many of us to try things we otherwise wouldn't. This has me thinking of my need to anodize aluminum parts. Is there any chance you'll be doing one on that?
Thanks for watching Robert - Mark Pressling has a top notch video on aluminium anodising: th-cam.com/video/Z1zT8p7d9Z0/w-d-xo.html
@@Clickspring Thanks for the tip. I've subscribed to his channel as a result of this video. Still like your presentation better..
Chris, thanks for this video. You have described this process well enough that electroplating appears to be approachable, even by me.
Second-hand shops seem to always have some tall square flower vases that work great for plating long parts. And they only cost a couple dollars
The fishis of the card-press was so absurdly gorgeous that I can certainly see why you went through the headache of figuring all this out. Using jewelers equipment makes a lot of sense for a small parts shop and seems like a good place to start. Can't wait to see the update on palladium.
Second!
Its really nice to see how amazingly precise you can be even with something so mysterious as plating. At least i think its mysterious.
Thank you as always for such a beautiful and in-depth look at electroplating
No trial and error..imagine
The deposition rate is proportional to current (divided by surface area of the workpiece); and current a rough function of voltage (as well as a bunch of other variables). Much like cruise control monitors the speedometer rather than the gas pedal position. With many power supplies, turn the current all the way down, turn voltage all the way up, and then adjust the current knob as desired; the power supply will then output whatever voltage is necessary to maintain the desired current (whatever throttle is necessary to maintain the desired speed).
Nice idea, but fundamentally wrong for galvanization/e-plating/etc. It is true that the deposition rate is proportional to the current (current, which actually means how many electrons pass a known diameter in a specified time, which again is the reason for the transport of metal ions, and as you stated: proportional). When you would knew the exact surface dimensions, the current control would be appropriate. Oh and you have to change that with every part you put into the process. Now ... how convenient would it be if the current that flows is also proportional to the surface area of the work piece (bigger area = lesser resistance = more current flow) ... when using a constant voltage regulation. In fact that is so convenient that everybody in the industry does it that way. You only have the variable of how long you have to put the workpiece in the bath, or 100 pieces, or 1000 different pieces (of course you have to provide the needed resources for that:) ) and you get absolutely repeatable results. Oh and that is the only thing that counts: Good production parts without having to "guess" or to fiddle knobs!
Unreal, man. You’re really setting yourself up for retirement success. I could see you eventually making twenty thousand dollar parts every couple weeks, for some luxury brand.
My next BRABUS G-Wagon will have full Clickspring dial plates on the instrument cluster and passenger window buttons. 😁
Thank you Chris.
Excellent video! Can you please go into more detail about the surface activator stage, like solution, concentration and electrical charge used?
Always a search for perfection! Thanks Chris. Les in UK
Thanks Chris, helps a lot!
Glad this came out, i have a kit to do metal plating for 3d prints. so this was a good visual on how others go about it.
The kit i have uses graphite paint to coat the part. after paint and polish, i am to coat the part(s) with copper for a couple of hours, and from there, i would do the steps you are doing. I got a DIY mix kit, where you prep the solutions from a dry powder and mix in some acids for the copper and silver. and uses buckets you can get from a hardware store. One piece i have that i want to coat is essentially a cylinder so i hope it will coat the inside as good, or if i'll have to do some kind of mod to bring some of the copper into the center.
One trick i saw from another person who does metal plating, is that he made a device that uses a slow motor to rotate the part during copper plating.
seeing you do this video helped give me a bit more knowledge and confidence.
Awesome Video Chris. Although i will never have a need to do this, i suddenly want to electroplate stuff.. Your video style is both interesting and informative. Thanks.
Thanks for watching mate :)
Very nice as usual. I wonder if before starting the baths, it might be good to do an initial cleaning in an Ultrasonic cleaner.
That's a nice clean looking plating line. I'm wondering how similar the gold plate is to polished brass in terms of colour?
Fairly close, 24k appears to me to be a slightly darker yellow
Amazing as always.
The described plating process is correct. But in the home shop it is better to regulate current than it is to regulate voltage during the plating process.
The plating process is effectively a galvanic cell. It requires a certain minimum voltage to get going. But from that point on it is all about the circuit resistance to regulate the flow of charge carriers.
Why is charge carriers important?
The metal in solution is effectively an oxide, the charge carriers (electrons) will strip away the oxide and the now "free" metal ion is going to plate itself onto the part. To do this we need to trade with the molecule of metal oxide, the metal atom likes its oxides. But if we have enough voltage on our side we can have it give up its oxides in exchange for a charge carrier or two. (sometimes more than just 1 or 2, this depends on the oxidation state of the metal.)
Each of these transactions however only gives us 1 atom of metal, for every x electrons flowing through our circuit. And to plate a large part we need a lot of atoms of metal. But thankfully charge carriers are cheap, 1 amp gives us about 6.242x10^18 of them per second. How many we need to plate a random object with a certain thickness of some metal can be calculated, or simply estimated through experience.
The plating thickness is directly proportional to the surface area of the object being plated, and the amount of charge carriers we have transacted. And the charge carriers can be summarized as "amp seconds", as in 0.1 amps over 10 seconds = 1 Amp second, while 0.2 amps over 20 seconds is = 4 amp seconds.
Figuring out the surface area of an object is however something we can estimate, small errors don't strictly matter in decorative pieces, and here experience helps. But one can likewise observe the early stages of plating and look for how quickly a color change happens and through experience adjust the total plating time according to our observations.
Now, why isn't a lot of plating literature focusing on current?
Well, because that isn't how one does it on the industrial scale.
On the industrial scale it is frankly impractical to regulate current for each piece being plated. That requires a lot of tedious setup, and that takes time and money.
On large scales it is simply easier to keep all other parameters under control and instead focus on voltage. Since the reaction itself has some resistance to limit current. This resistance is proportional to a few factors, like solution concentration, temperature, and to a slight degree the geometry of the vat. Keeping these in check is simply easier when one has thousands of parts being plated all at once.
But like a lot of things on the industrial scale, it is effective at large scale.
When doing just a few pieces, other approaches are typically more efficient/easier.
However, solution concentration still matters, same for temperature. But at home one don't need it anywhere near as accurate if one keeps an eye on current instead of focusing one's attention on voltage. One can simply relax one's anxiety over the other parameters.
But keeping an eye on current is also informative for the industrial scale as well. Since plating one piece and regulating current will inherently give a decent indication for what voltage one will need to get similar plating speeds for thousands of pieces in parallel. (but one will have to fine tune it a bit... But at least one is in the right ball park.)
The surface area is a function of the resistance (or vice versa), which makes it (resistance=inversely) proportional to the current flow (and therefore the electrochemical deposition of metallic deposits). You are fundamentally wrong and shooting yourself into the foot, because mother nature gives us exactly that principle, providing repeatable and consistent results with galvanization by only providing a constant voltage regulation. [1]
WTH are you talking about up there? Should that be a physics course, that got slightly out of hand? And what are these allusions to large scale industry applications? First they do not matter here, second: the same physics and chemistry principles apply here and third: As someone who sees several hundred tons of materials going in and out our galvanic plant, I am not aware of your strange claims. Not even remotely (meaning your current-limiting strawman, etc.).
For the **facepalms** Even the hobbyist "Jewel Master Pro HD Plating Kit" shown in the video uses constant voltage regulation. I don't know who you are. You cited basic physics and some of that is correct. But also the whole comment is a mess of an inconsistent amalgamation of (half?-) knowledge and you focus on irrelevant topics more often than my mother-in-law goes on a tangent:)
Anyways, I wish you good luck with electroplating ... it seems like you need many of that! :P
[1] I really don't get that. I can't understand it. I do not want to understand it. I do not want to think that my fellow humans are that ignorant or stupid. What we are talking about here is a SIMPLE MATHEMATICAL RELATION, a effing proportionality (y=m·x), a multiplication. I refuse to accept that anyone cannot grasp this!!!
Also have a look at electropolishing, I have had good results switching forth and back between them
Great video Chris, thanks for sharing what you have learned.
I never knew that that's why gilding was used so often in the past. So it is not just for making it look expensive (although that helps, of course).
fwiw i do some homemade plating for tools. i use 9218 stick welding rods as anode for nickel plating and a solution made from the same rods and vinegar, isopropyl for cleaning. at 6v 750ma for small parts it's like 2-3 mins. great setup you have.
I hear "G'Day! Chris here!" and it is indeed a G'Day. Thanks for the great content
could add a small speaker to the side of the rods playing a sound wave at around 15hz ( or 28khz. both way out of human hearing range so its not gonna annoy the operater over time ( kinda like diy perks did with the magnet that was to whin for the acrelic tube ) or so to shake/vibrate the part so any kind of interfearing bobbles gets shaken off
for consistency between metals here is how we do it ..np2 cleaner electro .water then muriatic dip then water to a copper plate to water to a sulfuric acid to clean the cyanide off from the copper water then into the Nickle bath with a mix of 3 brighteners everything ran around 2.5 amps and volts to 3 ..use less for smaller.. each water dip was 2 tanks timing eas around 2.5- 3 minutes
A lot of us are going to have a first go at electroplating with not so good equipment. I would say that a regulated power supply will affect the result the most. Being able to set a (low) constant voltage will give a slower deposit, and in my experience, that will tend to greatly improve surface evenness in thickness and apearance. And please - be careful! Some of the chemicals used are very harmful! (Varying depending on different processes for varying base metals and coating surfaces.)
Chris, as i understand it, it's the current that controls the metal deposits on the parts, more specifically current flux (current per area) not the voltage
That is my understanding also. The power supply control on this plating system is voltage, so inevitably that becomes the primary parameter to discuss - Cheers :)
@@Clickspring in my setup (for zinc and car parts) I use a constant voltage PSU and have rheostats to control the current
@@Clickspring By controlling the voltage you will simultaneously control the current. As the applied voltage rises or falls, the current also rises and falls along with the voltage.
I use a current-limited power supply with a set maximum voltage for plating, and keep the current density on the low side to get the most conductive finish possible. Appearance isn't important for my applications, it's about the RF skin effect and reducing losses at microwave and mmWave frequencies, but usually the best-looking finishes have the best RF performance.
@@ClickspringTLDR; Because the flowing current (and therefore the electrochemical deposition of metallic deposits) is a proportional function of the surface area, we provide a stable voltage to utilize exactly that effect for repeatable and consistent work piece results!
In detail: Nice idea(the constant current thought), but fundamentally wrong for galvanization/e-plating/etc. It is true that the deposition rate is proportional to the current (current, which actually means how many electrons pass a known diameter in a specified time, which again is the reason for the transport of metal ions, and: therefore proportional to the electro-chemical process). When you would knew the exact surface dimensions, the current control would be appropriate. Oh and you have to change that with every part you put into the process. Now ... how convenient would it be if the current that flows is also proportional to the surface area of the work piece (bigger area = lesser resistance = more current flow) ... when using a constant voltage regulation. In fact that is so convenient that everybody in the industry does it that way. You only have the variable(and the others I do not discuss here and are assumed to be known/well adjusted/controlled, like temperature, chemistry, etc.), of how long you have to put the workpiece in the bath or 100 pieces, or 1000 different pieces (of course you have to provide the needed resources for that:) ) and you get absolutely repeatable results. Oh and that is the only thing that counts: Good production parts without having to "guess" or to fiddle knobs!
Thought experiment: Lets say one part A gets perfect results with 1A and 1 minute in the bath (The voltage meter shows 1V, which means our circuit has an overall resistance of 1 Ohm). Now we put two parts of the kind A[1] in the bath. The surface area is doubled, so we need 2A to get a repeatable result (The resistance is halved, the voltage meter shows 1V). Did you notice something?:) Put the PSU into current voltage mode and you don't have to think about surface areas and currents anymore (This will only complicate the procedure ... without any gain or reason). It is nice gift by mother nature and physics that it turns out that way.
[1] Imagine having something like 1.32983 factors and to calculate that for every new piece. Or a geometry that is horrible to calculate?! (A nice trick would be to put the part into a saltwater bath and measure the resistance, by applying a constant voltage and measuring the flowing current ... OH WAIT! Hehehe, see what I did here? That is exactly what the "situation", meaning our wonderful reality, already does for us.
Have fun! Great video and thank you for sharing your wonderful projects.Thank you!
P.S.: This is the principle. In large-industrial-scale application there are hundreds of different chemicals, materials, process engineering, and and and a plethora of things that need to be considered. There may be ramped up initial current limiting, or concerns with the temperature when a massive amount of parts is galvanized. Or temperature ramps and voltage ramps, you get it. But even that does not allow to shoot yourself into the foot by making this absolutely simple principle (from above) into a high-tech joke with multiple control loops (current AND voltage ... of course timely distinct) = a very unstable monster in reality. We for example simply use COLD WATER running trough plastic pipes in industrial plants:) Also: That doesn't apply at home where you can make parts with love and with time (the resources that are nearly impossible to pay for in a business application, hehe).
The crazy part is that this process is how the space shuttles main engines were made. Since it's impossible to mill them NASA had to go with a different option. They build a mold where they then plated and removed the mold to allow the intricate internal chambers
The videos interesting. This comment seems even more!
Really interesting Chris.👍👍
those thermometer holders are awesome
Making your own plating solutions is fun too. ✌
Having a bit of plating experience, you're best bet is nickel for the barrier coat. It's used in almost all industrial applications, and every plater I've ever visited states the nickel is the best. Palladium works, but they usually only use it for non-industrial applications and it carries a big up-charge.
I'm interested in your gold solution, is it a cyanide solution? That's what was being primarily used back when I was involved in this. They were just starting to get into non-cyanide solutions and were still having consistency issues. Considering most of these places had full on waste water reclimation systems (separates the residual metals and toxins from the process waters), they were still staying away from the non-cyanide based solutions because of the consistency issues they were facing.
Good stuff here Chris!
For banana plugs and the like, I read that the gold-plated connectors are nickle plated underneath, and that nickle is very hard but has the same corrosion resistance as gold. Thus, scratches in the gold, which accumulate easily because gold is very soft and you are scraping it with each insertion or removal of the plated plug, are no worry. And, the gold is more for show and nickle plating alone would work just as well.
I don't know how true that is, in terms of making a good electrical connection. But it's interesting to see a partial confirmation on the existence of nickle plating between copper and gold, as a fairly universal thing.
Precious as always.
😚
Excellent video, thanks!
A windup clock machine to rotate the part . Will balance the plating.
Those parts were beautiful before, now they are spectacular
Nickel plated aluminum parts have really nice look and feel. Perhaps you could try this in future. Cheers!
Great video very detailed Thanks
Great stuff as always Chris!
You have the anode, cathode, and power supply correct in your diagram, but the electron flow is from the anode to cathode through the electolite. This frees up particles from the anode, those particles are then attracted to the cathode. You loose material where you loose current i.e. electron flow. This can be calculated by knowing the metal loss per year per amp per hour and measuring the amount of current flow and time.
I've learned from youtube videos that for better results, the part you're plating needs to be constantly moving. That's why some people attach their parts to slowly rotating electric motors
Chris, have you considered experimenting with multiple different plating on a single part, masking off as needed? For example, in the engraving, plating the sun with gold and the rest leaving bare nickel?
For larger setups, I can see wanting to prepare the container with slots for the busbar to rest in, or better yet, a through hole on one side of the container and a slot on the side that the wiring hangs from, with a pair of stops soldered onto the slot side of the busbar. I don't have the steadiest hands in the world.
You can get a really good looking gold plate by plating over copper
I know this probably won’t change anything but maybe you could try plating the nickel with a galvanic pen, it might give you better control over the surface finish
The artifact the so-called "Baghdad battery" is theorized to have been used to gold plate figures and jewelry made of silver or another less valuable metal. The jar is fired terra cotta clay with a copper tube with an iron rod suspended inside with asphaltum as an insulator. An acidic liquid like fermented grape juice or vinegar might have been used to create a weak electrolytic effect.
Beautiful
Thats a damn fine setup! (no surprise!)
Great video!
I'll drop it here since I can see many people with experience. What if I wanted to electroplate a brass watch dial with the target of achieving a very smooth and high end dark surface, and by dark I mean black. What kind of anode would I need, and what kind of solution?
I love your videos and especially the Antikythera mechanism.. will there be more of the mechanism shown?
Yes, certainly. Much more to come in due course - Cheers :)
Would an air bubbler like a fish tank pump under the part help clean and plate more evenly? It might help break any uneven surface tension preventing ion transfer. If the plating was uneven I suspect the cleaning and activating could have been as well, hampering the process at every stage.
Hey Chris. Love the abundance of uploads lately but whats happening with the Antykithera machine? Hope to see an update soon!
excellent content
Awesome! i didn't know a setup like this was available. I do have one question, tho. what do you do with your waste product? here, there's massive (probably reasonable) restrictions.
I wonder if convection in the fluid will improve consistency in the nickel deposition process as well.
Hey Chris, what is happening with your antikythera?
What was your thought process choosing nickel instead of chrome, and what kind of considerations would we have to take into account when choosing metals besides cost?
Do not use Chrome at home unless you want to turn your property into a Superfund site. Most chrome solutions are very toxic, and Hexavalent Chrome is carcinogenic and toxic.
Just chrome Six is really toxic, chrome three processes have yet to reach the diy level of usable
Sorry to write off topic, but when can we expect progress on the Antikythera mechanism? Thanks for the video!
More to come in due course - Cheers :)
It would be great to see your lure making process. 🎣
i did ribbon plating by putting 1/2 of it in poster blutack then solution and i used my nickle anode as a wand and manualy moved it around my peace
just was playing around.... Q and A why are u dunking it in the nickle and hooking it to the buz bar with out a quick swirl to dilute the water do you think u have a barrier stopping the nick in the beginning
Hi Chris,
I have been wondering since I first watched your large wheel skeleton series if you ever coated the finished article in any way. I ask, because when you made the the pillars and pendulum you coated them with a diluted mix of clear varnish. I suspect to plate the clocks moving parts would compromise working clearances. In short did you decide on a natural patina for the entire assembly?
I don't want to take away from your video but Geoffrey Crocker's electroplating video is really good and it's hilarious to watch. I think you're a bit more high end than him.
Colorado Spinner blade...Do you make your own fishing gear?
I can only imagine what this dude's tackle box looks like 😂
Silver! We want SILVER plating!))
Never seen your touch mark before.
How did you manage such a clean, sharp mark?
beautiful
I used to gold plate car rims with a brush system.
What happened to the antikathera series did you finish it in the end ?
Work continues - Cheers :)
Hi Chris, did you find any issues with bubbles causing pitting in the plate layer? Or, did you use any agitation in the solution when plating? I’ve seen fish tank pumps used as well as magnetic stir bars.
What is a typical thickness of the plating? Could it be done to something as small as gears in a watch? Or will the extra thickness mess with the gears meshing together
Breaking Taps channel recently did a video about making miniature rocket engine nozzles where he used a conductive wax to anodize over channels that cooled the nozzles by pumping fuel through them. I thought anodizing wax was cool.
So you need four bus-bar extenders for the cathodes....
I wonder who could machine those for you. ;-)
Another solution to the nickel deposition issue is using a stirrer. Or at least it helps a lot.
How do you go about plating the bit that's touching the dip wire? Just subsequent baths?
Good vid
would a cylindrical anode be ideal then? that would mean an even anode exposure from every angle
For non-planar parts it would work better.
I've got the first ad and I paused 5 times to digest the big words. It's interesting as hell but I don't know the terminology. Yet! 🤔👍
do you have a link for those containers
Yesssss
Do you know of a paint or coating you can put on plastic that will take an electrocoating?
Is there a small spot that isn't plated where the piece is held in the solution? Is that an issue?
You can reverse plate the nickel off, by basically reversing the current flow.
I did wonder that when he mentioned its being difficult to remove. Would the process automatically stop when the nickel is removed or do you need to keep a close eye on it to prevent damage to the brass surface?
Got to watch it
do you also gold plate the steel parts?