I've been shopping around for a nickel plating system that I can use at home. Eastwood sells a kit that uses an electroplating system and sells for about $70. I've also found an electroless system for the same price off some place on ebay.

Anyone ever tried these? I'm thinking it would be great for small parts like hood bolts, wiper shafts, and window regulator shafts. Parts that might be visible that you don't want to paint for fear of scratching them but also too small and costly to send out to be done professionally.

Thanks - Brad

 

I do plating regularly at my business, including nickle on occasion. The critical part is the plating rectifier or power supply. You need a source of clean DC controllable variable voltage (0-6V for small items) power to do any plating other than for your own amusement and novelty. The brush platers are toys. Nickle will not stick to steel very well, so you will need to underplate with copper first. The bath's for copper and nickle plating are not expensive but you do need enough volume to fill a container to cover whatever you are plating. Cyanide containing baths are no longer used, but the non-cyanide baths are pretty acidic and can be moderately dangerous and/or corrosive to work with if carelessly handled.
Any plating will only look as good as the surface underneath, so the piece to be plated needs to be finished to a high polish first, which is a whole 'nuther discussion. Then it needs to be electrocleaned in a hot cleaning bath, rinsed with a spray of distilled water, then plated with copper, rinsed with distilled water and nickle plated, and then given a final rinse all without handling the piece directly. It's not a process that you'll want to drag out and set up for just an occasional couple items. A serious plating setup for small items could be done for 3-400.00. Powder coating would be a more cost effective alternative.

 

yeah, but that all sounds like too much fun!

what exactly do you mean by "not handled directly"?

 

Skin oil will contaminate the surface, so you must handle the item by the conductor wire attached to it.
It's fun as long as you respect the materials you are working with. The plating happens in a matter of seconds, all the work (and cost if you send pieces out to be plated) is in preparing the piece prior to plating.

 

I've been through the chemistry fundamentals and organic chem classes in college. I'm down with respectin chem's. I'm such a safety freak, I wear eye protection when I change my own oil. Take a few of those oily dirt crumbs in the eye and you learn. PPE's are our friends.

 

I can help anyone who is really interested in setting up a plating station, where and what to buy, how to do it. No chrome tho, that bath is too dangerous.

 

AX,

What makes chrome so dangerous?

 

The bath contains chromic acid, highly corrosive and deadly.
Actually a crome plating consists of a thick copper plated layer for bonding, thick nickle layer for color and wear, thin chrome layer for shine and oxidation resistance. Much of the early car trim (model A radiator shells for example) were nickle plated without a chrome top coat, it's a softer looking finish than chrome but wear resistant. A lot of professional tools are nickle plated to prevent rusting but not chromed because chrome is slippery.

 

yeah, that chromic acid is some mean momma jamma.

I work for mechanical engineering firm and previously for a mech contractor. I was with the contractor when we put in a chrome shop at Tinker AFB here in Midwest City, OK. The firm I work for now designed the facility. I never got to go to the site, but heard just how nasty the conditions were initially and the irony of the govt people having a cow if you poured your soft drink down a storm sewer but that chrome shop was death incarnate. talk about a double standard. We (the contractor) had some guys doing some welding on a misc job out there once (shortly after 9/11 and the anthrax stuff) they had a 5 gal bucket of water for squelching. they poured it out on the black top or something and within 15 minutes the enviro guys were chewin them up one side and down the other. 10% of the cars out there dropped motor oil, atf, and coolant every day of the week! (stepping off soap box)

Where am I? what was I talking about..? Oh, yeah. I like shiny chromed stuff.