Starting a small barrel plating operation

Hi, Alejandro.

Other people have asked a similar question, so we wrote a 'Frequently Asked Question' on this topic, You may also wish to view our on-line article about barrel plating. Best of luck.

Regards,

If that is your ultimatum to yourself, then indeed you are going to fail, Michael. We have numerous threads about nickel plating, and a bunch of FAQs about electroplating, and I'm willing to help when I can, and many our other readers are too -- but your project is your responsibility. What dead ends did you run into in your search at your school library and your town library, so we know the next step?

Hi Richard,

The covers of a book are not made of the same thin paper as the pages of the book; the cover of a baseball is not made of yarn like the body of the ball; the gripping surface of a pencil is not made of graphite; and the skin of a football is not made of air. Similarly the surface of things may be electroplated for the same general reason, so that the properties of the surface can be different than the bulk of the item: a better conductor or a better insulator, more corrosion resistant, or shinier, or harder or softer, or more wear resistant, or slipperier, or darker or lighter, or easier to clean, or more reflective or less reflective, or whatever. That's why things are electroplated.

I think your teacher may be doing you no favor in letting you use the Internet as a reference source instead of requiring book sources for your report because it allows you to hunt for your answers all neatly laid out so you can just just cut & paste them into a report.

You would be better off with books than web pages, but if you can't get access to books, you are at the best site in the world for electroplating information. Now your job is to spend some time here reading and thinking. Thinking is the real purpose of your assignment, and nobody else can do that part for you :-)

Please see our FAQs; they will definitely answer many of your questions. Good luck!