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How to plate nickel on lead

August 25, 2008

Hello there, does anybody know how to plate bright or electroless nickel on lead?
I tried a non cyanide copper strike and the parts came out looking good out of the copper but they started to blister out of the electroless nickel tank.Any help will be appreciated.
Thank You

Greg Benitez
Plater - Sacramento, California, USA

First clean in an alkaline cleaner. then dip in 50%/vol commercial fluoboric acid, then strike in a nickel fluoborate solution, now you can plate anything over the strike and it will adhere.

Robert H Probert
Robert H Probert Technical Services

Garner, North Carolina

August 26, 2008

You can also use copper fluoroborate in place of nickel fluoroborate - it may be easier to buy. Once you have a layer on top of the lead, you can plate almost anything onto it.

Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
September 7, 2008

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