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Letter 1298 Nickel Plating Solution Recipe Needed!--- Can anyone give me a recipe for a nickel plating solution that gives a smooth finish? Rachel White
--- Recipes are proprietary, complicated, and I don't know of anyone who would give this to you. You can buy or get samples from the major supply houses. It also depends on what you mean by "smooth", bright? leveled? reflective? A Watts nickel formulation will give you a smooth matte plate. 40-8-6 ounces per gallon of nickel sulfate, nickel chloride, boric acid, pH 4.0.
and posted as a new letter that crossed in the email, but added to this thread. --- There has to be an easier way to plate nickel! Does anyone one know an easier/faster/smoother way to electroplate nickel onto copper than using a nickel sulfate plating solution????? Rachel White
--- The person that invents a way will be in the same good position as in finding a genie in a lamp. But the lamp was probably plated with sulfate nickel (how would you release the genie if you didn't have to polish once in a while?).
--- Any ideas on what current density would be required for the above mentioned plating solution? Rachel White
--- About 20-30 amperes per square foot, average.
--- This conversation bothers me, Ms. White, although perhaps I'm misreading it. The reason it concerns me is that from here it looks like you haven't consulted any plating books nor received hands-on guidance from experienced people, and are sort of winging it. If that is the case, the first step before trying to mix up a plating solution is to build a library. Please get your hands on some "must-have" books. I hope I haven't read things wrong and offended you, but while a forum like this can be a useful tool for peers to answer highly specific well-formed questions, it really is not a good way to introduce people to the art and science of electroplating. Tom, you know this topic far better than me, but I thought 40 ASF was the average for Watts Nickel.
--- If you were trying to talk a new pilot safely down to the ground, and you knew that the plane can safely descend at 40 degrees from horizontal, what reading would you give to the pilot?
--- Thanks for the vague idea of a recipe; as for "winging it" I've managed to improve that recipe and it now gives the brightest and finest finish I've ever seen in nickel plating. As for building a library - there seems little point as most books are not specific enough with respect to recipes. Also you might want to reassess your ideas on who uses this site; quite a number of the letters I've read on this site seem to be written from an inexperienced point of view - and I doubt any of these "peers" would mind sharing their girth of information amongst those who find that texts are sometimes inadequate. Rachel White
I am happy that you are plating better. Sorry you don't like the service.
--- Dear Ms. White: I've been reading and responding to tens of thousands of letters here for almost 9 years, so I do know what our audience is like. Sharing information is the very purpose of what we've been doing for all these years. But sometimes the information that I need to share is that people need to read books and receive hands-on training before they start experimenting, and apparently that particular piece of advice isn't always well received. One problem is that electroplating involves the use of very hazardous chemicals. Some, like chromium plating solution and formaldehyde addition agents for nickel plating, are known carcinogens. Others, like the cyanide required in many plating solutions, are among the most powerful and fastest-acting poisons known. There are numerous compounds which if added to acid or vice versa will release deadly and fast-acting poison gas. It is easy to release deadly quantities of chlorine gas with just a power supply and nickel salts. One drop of the caustic soda used in cleaning solutions can blind you. It is imperative that people NEVER work alone in the plating industry because once they have been impaired by the accident, they may be powerless to help themselves. Does each writer have a Scot Airpak, and a buddy standing by, trained in its use? Then there is the issue of disposal. What will be done with the waste products? Ecologically-oriented hobbyists quickly lose their idealism when they find that the going price to properly dispose of a small shelf of chemicals runs into 5 figures. What of secondary containment? One beaker of chromic acid dropped onto the garage floor can poison the water supply for blocks around. It is for these reasons that Tom and I (and Jim Watts) have said so many times that plating is a really lousy hobby. It is horrifying how many untrained people want to do electroplating in their garage. And this is one reason why, when people ask for recipes, I refer them to books and suggest that they attend AESF meetings--to increase the likelihood that they have been exposed to what the hazards are. ps. to Tom: I try to keep that new pilot on the ground until he has sufficient training, rather than trying to train him by radio.
. I am interested in starting up a small anodizing business. What are your comments? Thanks, rb R. Brown
+ Hi: I am a retired Mech Eng. and want to gold plate, on the inside, a silver wine goblet. From what I have read on these pages it seems like I should surrender to someone who does this professionally. Seems to me I would have to clean the inside of the goblet with ??, then use an electrolyte ??? in the goblet as I hook up the battery to the gold coin and the goblet. The amperage/voltage must be important. If this involves costly, hazardous chemicals I could back off but I'd like to know what would be involved Thank you so much, Greg Eyolfson
+ Gold can only be chemically dissolved in cyanide or aqua regia, so they would be needed to dissolve your gold coin, so it does involve hazardous chemicals.
+++++ Electroplating is very hazardous and I hope that morons do not try to attempt it, as for the pilot I don't agree with Tom. The person should be given full training before trying to electroplate anything. Mack Tonhg
August 14, 2008 [Company name deleted by editor] offers training videos,
complete reasonably priced kits, new processes, electroless Plating,
safer chemicals. A very good site for those interested in plating on
a small scale at home. Joseph Lincoln
August 14, 2008 Hi, Joseph. For several reasons we had to delete the company name you quoted, but people can easily enough do a search for companies marketing to hobby platers. Thanks! Still, your "old time platers" visit Capitol Hill every year to meet with Congress (NASF Washington Forum) to try to get laws like the "Categorical Standards" modified, which state that every drop of water associated with plating is regulated as hazardous even if you can drink it. Your "old time platers" are the people who travel the country to attend all the expositions/conferences (Sur/Fin, Coatings 2008, Southern Metal Finishing) on new technology which might ease the regulatory burden. They are the ones who meet monthly (AESF Branch meetings, NAMF Chapter meetings) to insure that they hear every presentation on new technologies like trivalent chrome, white bronze as a replacement for nickel, zinc alloys as a replacement for cadmium, and cyanide-free silver. Your "old time platers" are the people who sponsor research every year (AESF Research Sponsors program), paying for the university programs which study and improve plating processes. Your "old time platers" write the topical peer-reviewed journal articles (Plating & Surface Finishing, Metal Finishing, Journal of Applied Surface Finishing) which keep us up to date with the very latest developments every month. Your "old time platers" have training and certification programs to determine whether a plater knows his stuff (Certified Electro-Finisher). Your "old time platers" are the people sponsoring the high school science fairs you talk about (Milwaukee Science Fair, Chicago Science Fair), as well as contests for auto designers (The Bright Design Challenge). Meanwhile the people selling plating out of their garage are in violation of numerous laws including failure to have a NPDES permit, failure to follow DOT registration requirements in transporting their waste to the dump, failure to register the start date for their hazardous waste accumulation, and failure to file the forms alerting their neighbors of the chemicals they have on hand ("Community Right to Know"). Everyone is in favor of "newer, safer, environmentally responsible ways"; your "old time platers" are the ones who prove their environmental responsibility by maintaining all of the required permits, which in turn means they are regularly inspected by the regulatory authorities, while the garage platers who don't register remain ignorant of the law and hide below the radar, remaining free to pollute. The worst incident of pollution by a plating shop that I am aware in a 40-year career was from a chrome shop in a 2-car garage (albeit a large one). The legal fees (let alone the actual clean up cost) was in the millions. Your turn. Regards,
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