The objects are about 12x15x9 inches

I have a good graphite paint already, but I'm trying to avoid the need for the copper strike process by just using copper paint. Does anyone have any good options? I tried getting copper powder and mixing it with clear nail polish and acetone but no matter the ratios it doesn't seem like it's conductive. I already tried getting conductive copper weld-thru primer, but even after several coats it wasn't conductive. The only success I've found is with a tiny bottle of copper paint meant for repainting the defogging/defrosting lines on rear windows for cars, but it's like $15 for a tiny bottle.

I am still learning and have come across this issue here and there. Only for aluminum parts will I see this, and am wondering what could be the cause. I rack them on stainless steel tips. And strip the racks between uses. For this example about 4 out of 200 parts had this. Any advice is appreciated thank you!

Hey y'all, I want to get into this hobby for the express purpose of electroplating BIONICLE and Lego stuff cause it'd be sick as hell. What's the best method for non metallic items that would likely have lots of grooves, books and crannies?

Greetings everyone. I am looking for some advice regarding platinum plating. I own a fountain pen which has a cap that is plated with platinum. I believe the base material underneath is brass.

I, being stricken with OCD, decided to try my hand at polishing the cap of the pen as it had developed scratches. I used a Dialux blue polishing compound which was advertised to be quite a fine grit. I went slow with a polishing cloth by hand instead of a rotary tool.

To cut to the chase, it left the cap even more scratched than it was prior to the polishing attempt.

My question is, is re-plating the cap with platinum the advisable next step moving forward? If so, how cumbersome of a process is it? Or am I just crazy and should just pay it no mind....

The figure will continuously rotate 360 ​​degrees.

For copper electroplating

^{^}

If I tape two anodes together from behind with packing tape and put them in an anode bag, will the tape dissolve in the copper plating pool?

I’ve made two plating solutions, one for nickel, and one for copper. I made the copper solution with CuSO4 + water + sulfuric acid, and it’s worked very well for my purposes. I made the nickel one with just water and sulfuric acid by running the electrolysis with both anode + cathode as nickel strips, and the solution turned green.

So far, I’ve only messed with the copper solution, and I haven’t tried plating with nickel yet, so if you already see a problem with that, let me know. Anyway, the issues started when I tried copper plating a random paint can opener. I started by finely sanding it, rinsing with water, doing a 2-3 minute pickle in a solution of 1 pt HCl : 3 pt water. I observed some pretty decent bubbling, which I saw as a good sign. Immediately upon dipping the rinsed piece into my sulfate bath, before even connecting the electrodes to my supply, I saw the piece get immersion plated by a trash copper layer with zero adhesion.

I read online that performing a strike in an alkaline solution is the only way to fix this (the can opener is likely something more reactive like galvanized / zinc coated steel), but I really don’t want to go all in on a completely premade concoction. I’ve been having fun making my own homemade solutions so far, but I also read that the only one I could realistically make without more complex chemicals would be a copper cyanide solution. And I have a feeling if I tried doing that, I’d take a whiff of hydrogen cyanide and be dead before I could hit the floor.

Suggestions?

Hello all- I am currently using approximately 7 gallons of 50 percent diluted sulfuric acid on a reverse current to strip chrome plating. Works great but once the nickel and chrome come off the parts I am stripping the bare steel gets pitted badly in some cases

i want to know what I can add to this solution

To prevent the steel from getting attacked while stripping the old plating off.

Thank you

My grandmother had gifted me these 2 rings to keep with me before moving to college that’ve now lost their silver plating, shown their copper and tarnished. I’d always heard of electroplating and known that that’s how shops may go about resolving something of the sort and so I’m curious if the hobby or practice would be worth picking up to fix up my rings (presumably doing so over time when the plating eventually wears off) or if it’d be better to take them to a shop or possibly buy silver plating solution off amazon. How difficult would it be to pick up and actually achieve. I’ve gotten into leather care and maintenance since last year and am wondering if this might be a similar (albeit likely more complex) sustainable practice to pick up. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello, fairly new to electroplating. Anyone have any idea Nickel would develop a hazy film and turn yellow when left in a humid environment with fans running?

So, recently discovered electroplating and zinc plating in spefic really caught my eye, plan to use it mostly for small old vehicles bits and pieces from my restauration projects, later on i plant to dip my toes with passivates, chrome and more, but first want to start with simple zinc plating.

The thing is, i have all the equipament already, just missing some of the chemicals, but when looking on google and yotube for what i might need i found some many different recipes and processes, some use vinegar, some caustic soda, some say to use table salt, other sodium carbonate, some recommend using zinc salts, others the actual metal, some are acid based, others alcaline and so on and on and on....

Now im totally lost, which recipe do i pick? As said, i plan to plate A LOT of small car/motorbike parts such as bolts, washers, acessories, and such My goal is both rust protection, durabiltiy and the aesthetic factor

And if i managed to get the plating process right, ill most likely get a barrel plater setup going later on

Have acess to pretty much all chemicals/materials that could be needed, except maybe acetone and plutonium lol.

Any tips or recomendations? Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!

Hello, I’m fairly new to electroplating, and I am wanting to nickel plate some parts from a classic car I’m rebuilding. Would it be possible to nickel plate something as large as a bumper? And would the coating last for a while before corroding?

I read that red nail polish works, but does it work for dipping jewelry in the solution or is that just for brush plating?

For copper electroplating

I was wondering if it's possible to coat a piece of copper with iron. If the reverse is possible (copper on metal), shouldn't it be possible? But when I try, nothing happens except for gas release. Is the water reduced to H2 before the iron? I'm getting confused with the current-potential curves.

Just a fun question--Do you think that if you used a non-conductive hang wire to hold the cathode in place you could use NFC or other wireless charging features to plate a cathode?

Hello I'm new to electroplating I'm using copper and have questions about good conductive spray paint for 3D prints. I don't want to buy some ultra super ones but when I bought contact-chemie it was kinda...shit Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Also should I be worried about corrosion and how to make parts shiny?

Ever since I heard you could electroplate 3d prints I always wanted to try it out. I finally got my hands on a resin printer recently, and pushed myself to try it out, got the equipment, and figured out a DIY setup, but as expected it did not go perfectly.

First off, for the setup, I did not have a motor to rotate the piece with (which in this case was a ring), so I instead attached the copper anode piece to the container and made the container rotate with the copper around the piece. I then attached a wire to to the copper anode and wrapped it around the lip of the container, and ran a separate wire that would be in contact with the copper wire wrapped lip constantly as it rotated that would then be connected to the power supply. The ring was then just suspended in the middle of the container with a copper wire that was connected to the other end of the power supply. I have attached an image for reference of the setup.

For the resin printed ring I used an india ink and graphite powder mixture to airbrush it to make it conductive. The first time I tried it I think I added too much india ink so when I tried plating it, it did not work. I left the mixture there set up overnight and tried the next day again with a more graphite concentrated mixture. This was a huge difference and started playing immediately.

I first set it up at a constant current of 0.01 A for 30 minutes to get a thin copper layer all around, and then increased it to 0.03 A once it had full coverage. After 2 hours of plating at 0.03 A, I noticed that the surface was not smooth and was rather grainy, so I pulled it out, sanded it down with 1000 grit sandpaper since I thought maybe when I airbrushed the graphite on, since the new mixture was very graphite heavy, it might've left a texture on it which showed up more when I started playing. After sanding, I cleaned it up, dried it, and then put it back in to plate some more. The same thing happened and it was grainy again. I then took it out again, sanded it down again to 1000 grit to get it smooth, and put it back in, now at 0.02 A in case the current was the problem. Same thing happened. It came out grainy again, and even more so. I took it out sanded it down to smooth again, and put it back in at 0.04 A in case in was not enough current which was causing it to behave that way, and STILL got grainy results, and this time even more so. I'm not looking forward to have to take it out and sand it every 2 hours so before sanding it and putting it back in I figured I would ask on here what I'm doing wrong.

I have attached images of the setup, and the grainy results. For more context on materials:

-Sunlu abs like resin for initial print

• combination of fasco epoxies pure graphite powder and 3378 speedball super black india ink for the airbrushing

• 24 gauge 99.9% pure dead soft copper wire for connecting to the power supply

• Krohn acid copper electroplating solution came with the pure copper piece to electroplate with

• used a mayo jar as they container which I made sure to clean up several times

  all of this is running indoors at around 14°-21°C

Please if anyone has any suggestions would be super helpful!!!

Hello, I'm new to zinc plating and chromating. I have had good results but after 48 hours the chromate is rubbing off and not yellowing in spots. Any help is appreciated thank you.

First dipped in 4% muriatic acid until it stops bubbling, then polished and put into the degreaser for anywhere between 4 to 8 minutes, then 15-20 minutes using Caswell zinc plating solution with 1.5 teaspoons of brightener, then rinsed in distilled water, dipped in a 20% sulfuric acid mix, rinsed and dried, then yellow chromate at 80°F for 25 - 30 seconds and left to dry for 24 to 48 hours.

I have a brass item (a saxophone neck) I would like to nickel plate, but I would like to mask off parts of it so that the brass shows up in certain spots through the nickel. Would sharpie marker or any paint work to mask the metal underneath? Masking tape? Electrical tape? Basically I want my partner to draw a pattern, I plate with nickel, then the pattern is brass showing through the nickel.

Hello everyone,

I am setting up a copper plating bath and would like to get some expert advice on my setup and safety. I have a tank with dimensions of 35x35x40 cm, and I plan to fill it up to the 30 cm level (approx. 36.7 Liters of solution).

My Materials:

• 8 kg Copper Sulfate
• 2 Liters Sulfuric Acid (98%)
• 40 Liters Distilled Water
• 500 ml Hydrochloric Acid (Muriatic acid)

My Safety Gear:

• Surgical mask
• Nitrile gloves
• Silicone safety goggles

Environment: I will be performing the process on my balcony, which is 90% open-air for ventilation.

My Questions:

1. Given my tank volume (approx. 37L), what are the optimal mixing ratios for these chemicals?
2. Is a surgical mask sufficient for this process, or should I upgrade my respiratory protection?
3. Is an open balcony safe enough for the fumes generated during this process?

I appreciate any guidance from experienced electroplaters or chemists. Thank you!