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Tom Pullizzi |
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
- Australia
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?).
Tom Pullizzi
platronica.com
Falls Township, PA
Any ideas on what current density would be required for the above mentioned plating solution?
Rachel White
- Australia
About 20-30 amperes per square foot, average.
Tom Pullizzi
platronica.com
Falls Township, PA
This conversation bothers me, Ms. White (perhaps I'm misreading it) because it looks like you haven't consulted plating books or received hands-on guidance and are winging it. If that is the case, the first step before trying to mix up a plating solution is to build a small library. Please try to get your hands on some "must-have" books.
I hope I haven't read things wrong and offended you personally, but while a forum like this can be a useful tool for answering highly specific questions, it really is not a great way to introduce people to the art and science of electroplating because other readers may wrongly assume there are no significant safety hazards and environmental hazards, since they go completely unmentioned in a thread like this.
Tom, you know this topic better than me, but I thought 40 ASF was right for Watts Nickel.
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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?
Tom Pullizzi
platronica.com
Falls Township, PA
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
- Australia
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I am happy that you are plating better. Sorry you don't like the service.
Tom Pullizzi
platronica.com
Falls Township, PA
Dear Ms. White:
I've been reading and responding to tens of thousands of letters here for 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 with plating chemicals, and that piece of advice isn't always well received.
Electroplating involves the use of haz-mat 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 plating salts.
It is imperative that people NEVER work alone in the plating industry because once they have been impaired by an accident, they may be powerless to help themselves. Does each hobbyist 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 that plating is probably not a really good hobby. It is scary how many untrained people want to do electroplating in their garage. In my town not too long ago a hobbyist killed himself at his kitchen table with a copper plating solution, and put the first-responder police officer in the hospital. 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 and the appropriate safety protocol. Good luck.
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 Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
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
- Rainier, Washington
Gold can only be chemically dissolved in cyanide or aqua regia, or specialized proprietary chelates, so they would be needed to dissolve your gold coin, Greg, so that process would involve hazardous chemicals.
But if you only need a very thin and not particularly abrasion resistant coating, you can purchase a "liquid gold" immersion plating solution which requires nothing beyond wiping the inside of the goblet with the solution. Please see our FAQ "Silver Plating at Home" for more information on immersion plating. Good luck!
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Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
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
- Sydney, N.S.W, Australia
[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.
IMHO Old time platers would like us to believe that plating is some
sort of "Magic." The fact of the matter is that many High Schools of
Science and Technology teach basic plating practices in chemistry
class. The "Old Timers" need to realize that satisfactory results can
be obtained at home or in the shop with newer, safer, environmentally
responsible ways.
Joseph Lincoln
- Springfield, Massachusetts
Hi, Joseph. We had to delete the company name you quoted, but people can easily do a search for companies marketing to hobby platers. Thanks!
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 200x, Coatings 200x, 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 each new technology 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" 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 peer-reviewed journal articles (Plating & Surface Finishing, Metal Finishing, Journal of Applied Surface Finishing) which keep us up to date with the latest developments every month. Your "old time platers" have training and certification programs to test whether a plater knows his stuff (Certified Electro-Finisher, Master Surface Finisher) or is just talking out his axx. Your "old time platers" are the people who sponsor the high school science fairs you talk about (Milwaukee Science Fair, Chicago Science Fair), as well as contests for aspiring auto designers (The Bright Design Challenge).
Meanwhile people selling plating out of their garage are in violation of countless 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, failure to test that anything landing in the drain is in the required ppm range, failure to register for the MACT program, and failure to file the forms alerting their neighbors of the chemicals they have on hand ("Community Right to Know").
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Everyone is in favor of "newer, safer, environmentally responsible ways"; but talk is cheap and it is your "old time platers" 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 don't register, remain ignorant of the law, hide below the radar, and guess that they are not doing much damage, while 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 large 2-car garage. It became a superfund site, and the legal fees (before the actual clean up costs even began) was in the millions. Your turn. Regards,
February 8, 2009 Gold Plating the inside of a Silver chalice does not
require dissolving gold into any solution whatsoever. Russell Crow
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