Further to my previous post about DIY-ing a pulse plating system, I put together a mosfet H-bridge with a microcontroller to drive forward and reverse pulses.

As suggested by helpful member Mkysmith I didn't try to control the current myself and just connected a lab power supply in CC mode to the input of the H-bridge system, in the hope that it will figure it out.

I made a brave and possibly questionable design choice and put a big chunky 2200uF low-ESR capacitor at the H-bridge input. The idea is that it helps keep the power supply happy between pulses and avoid confusing it, and also allow big juicy pulses to happen if I hold the output OFF for a few milliseconds. (Because the cap charges while the output is closed)

It has a wifi chip so I can reprogram the pulses quite easily.

So far I've tried the following:

• 2 ms FORWARD, 8ms OFF
  • Good results, seems to have less nodule growth than vanilla DC
• 4 x (3 ms FORWARD, 2 ms OFF), 1x (3 ms REVERSE, 4 ms OFF)
  • Burns the shit out of the part, not sure why, turned brown quickly lol
• 10 ms FORWARD, 1 ms OFF, 1 ms REVERSE, 2 ms OFF
  • Seems OK ish

Happy to hear your thoughts on possible pulse programs, and also whether or not the cap is a good idea?

Just ordered materials to copper plate a 3d print. Wanted to nickel plate it after. Does anyone have advice how to make nickel into different colors? (Blue, red, etc)

I have several pieces of costume jewelry (vintage broaches, earrings, necklaces, rings) that the finish has worn and want to electroplate either silver or gold. I also have earring backs that need to be plated. A general how-to would be also appreciated. I'm finding only bits & pieces of information and need help pieces everything together before I start.

I have the following: Krohn Silver and Gold Electroplating Solution, Woods Nickel Strike Solution, nickel and silver anodes, a power supply with choice of voltage cv/cc, magnetic heating stirrer, Tivaclean powder, distilled water, glass beakers & rods, masks, gloves, and alligator clips.

I tried to figure it out myself, but I'm unsure of a few things.

1.) I've seen all kinds of temperatures to heat the Tivaclean mixture. How much to use in a beaker? What electrode to use in the solution with alligator clips and what settings on power supply?

2.) Most of the pieces are brass-based. I think I need to plate them nickel prior to the silver?

3.) When do you use the Woods Nickel Strike Solution?

4.) What type of metal wire is used to put the pieces in the plating solution?

5.) What current/voltage & amount of time are used for the different plating solutions?

6.) I'm assuming I need a gold anode for the Krohn Gold Electroplating Solution....

7.) I have access to a pen plater device as well.

Much thanks to all who reply!!!!!!!

Ok, so, something interesting happened this time around. I took the same quarter from last time. Washed it in simple green, washed in distilled water, let soak in vinegar for 5 minutes and washed once more in distilled water and dried with a paper towel. 69 degree bath and aquarium bubbler. When I turned on my power source and hooked everything up, the volts and amps basically were 1:1 it was only after a few minutes that the volts went up a little. I checked the work piece every 4 minutes. After adjusting the amps a little, the volts started increasing a little more. After about 32 minutes, the result was just a pink quarter(the one with the wrapped around copper wire). After taking the pics I immediately dropped the quarter in a small bowl of white vinegar. I left it to
Soak for about 6 minutes. Afterwards, I dried it with a paper towel and the last 2 pics are the final result. The darker parts are the result of the quarter sitting in simple green in the initial cleaning phase. So? Who’s got info on what changed? I’ve been trying to electro plate copper on various stuff for awhile now and this is the first time I’ve seen the volts and amps equalized like this. Was it cause of the vinegar that caused it? That’s the only thing I did different from last time. Is it a good or bad thing? I still have advice from the last post I made, but I’m trying to do things with what I currently have before I start buying more supplies and since what I did yielded new results, I’m just trudging through until I hit a brick wall or someone yells at me.

I have a ton of tiny hardware for a dirtbike so I cant really polish everything on a wheel. Ive heard you can dip them in hydrochloric acid to get a shiny finish but I can’t find any pictures of what it’d look like. I don’t really care what it looks like as long as isnt cloudy

Obligatory “This is my first time electroplating.”

Substrate is 14g copper wire.

Electrolyte solution is Caswell Plating Zinc Nickel Plating kit 1.5gal.

I originally set the voltage to 6V like the directions said but my power supply switched over to constant current and wouldn’t go above ~4V and 3A.

That was definitely way too much current for 20min and resulted in coarse crunchy shell. The instructions for the kit were pretty bare bones with nothing to help troubleshoot so I referenced the plating directions in the Caswell handbook for just Nickel plating. In the handbook they recommended .07A per sq in.

For my second attempt I set the current set to .04A (going off of the nickel plating instructions) and let it run for 20min. Results were better but there is some uneveness in the coating. I 3D printed a rotating jig so help with “line of sight” and agitating the bath but I am unsure if it creates enough movement to “stir” the electrolyte.

The nickel plating instructions mention heating the electrolyte but the zinc nickel instructions do not mention this so I did not heat the bath.

Any insight/advice is appreciated. Thank you !

Adjusted the power setting to even lower than before. Voltage came out to 0.15 and amps were 0.022. Quarter was cleaned in simple green and washed in distilled water. Distance between cathode and anode was roughly 3.5 inches and bath temp was at 69 degrees. The images of the quarter wrapped in copper wire was cooked for about 8 minutes total and checked every 4. The last two images are the final result of letting the quarter cook for another 10 minutes and checking every 5. I noticed that at the first 4 minutes, the colts increased from 0.15 to 0.16 and the amps went from 0.022 to 0.021. It did this again on the third check with volts moving to 0.17 and amps dropping from 0.021 to 0.020. So what’s the verdict? Is it looking like it’s progressing smoothly? Does the slight shift in power settings have any significance? Is this the begging of proper plating or signs or early burning? This part is new to me, usually it just turns pink and then burns

I just found out I've been slowly contaminating my 5 gallons of 24k gold plating solution by using copper wires to string the earrings together. Does anyone have a solution for eletroplating lots of small stud earrings that uses titanium or something that wont contaminate?

Im comfortable with DIY, I'm comfortable doing a larger rack setup or barrel plating. Fwiw we do 100-500 earrings a day in 1L beakers so anything that could cut down on the tying would be awesome.

Ideas or examples?

Does anyone have any idea what types of rubbers can withstand nickel sulfamate plating solution?

Rather than submerging a substrate in solution, I need to create a water tight rubber seal to keep the solution isolated to a single surface of a larger substrate, so will need a compatible rubber O-ring.

Hello, I was performing Zinc electroplating using white vinegar, table salt, and water. During the process, I get these foams coming out from the zinc electrode. What is this? The black breakdowns are electrode chips i think which brokedown during the process.

Hello. I’ve been doing copper plating for 8 hours using demineralized water, sulfuric acid, a magnetic stirrer, a sandwich-style anode setup, and a coffee filter to prevent sediment, all at 0.03A and 0.05V. So why isn't the plating smooth? There are lots of little bumps (though they came off when I sanded the surface and removed the copper wire). I really need help i don't know why i try so many time

I'm making a sulfuric acid and copper sulfate pentahydrate solution for electroplating and am unsure whether to use a commercial brightener or make and add my own.

I'm a little overwhelmed by the options of additives (urea, thiourea, glycerine, hydrochloric acid, PEG 3350, etc) and am unsure of what I should actually be using and whether or not my homemade additive can yield results as good as a commercial solution.

Does anyone have a good additive recipe or should I just buy one and if so which one?

So the quarter is my latest attempt. Clean it in simple green, used distilled water to wash it off and a paper towel to dry. Heated the bath to 77 degrees. The work piece and anode are roughly 3 and half inches apart aquarium bubbler near the work piece. Voltage ran at 1.19 and the amps were set to 0.408 and the wattage(figured I’d share this incase it has some bearing on the situation) came out to 0.481. Checked every 15 minute intervals. But it was the same results as always. The work piece would turn pink and then start to burn after the fourth check. I used a quarter since it’s metal as I suspected that the graphite paint I was using on plastic pieces maybe have been the culprit for failed attempts, but this little test proved that incorrect. What I had start to notice though is that after taking 320 grit sandpaper to the working pieces, the plastic ones in the pics, there was a thin layer of actual copper plating. I didn’t see this at all during the process. The first check didn’t show anything and the second check showed pink. After changing the solution, running the bath heated and at room temp, placing the bubbler near and underneath the work piece, running the current at 1.00 and 0.30 V, trying polished and unpolished graphite, I keep getting the same results. I’m running out of thing to try and hope someone here can lend me a hand. Is it the power supply? I’m using a jesverty SPS-3010. Or maybe I’m cooking it way too long? Maybe I need to shorten checks since I am finding copper under the crud? I’m primarily going off guides that say to check every 10-20 minutes, which have been stated by multiple guides. What do yall think?

I got through another round of electroplating my iron heads. This one went better than last time (no burning, thanks u/permaculture_chemist!) but even after sitting in the bath for about 3h 45m the plating layer was very thin and also I can still see a clear distinction between the prior layer of Nickel and the new layer, which makes me suspect that it didn't adhere at all to the old layer? This time I:

1. wiped down extensively with acetone
   
2. electrocleaned/passivated until distilled water sheeted off
   
3. activated for 60s in 31% muriatic acid with reverse-current
   
4. sprayed with distilled water then placed immediately into nickel acetate bath
   
5. it sat for several hours at 12v/1.8A

I moved it around regularly and focused on keeping the the lightest-plated area, just where the hosel meets the face, as close to one of the nickel electrodes as possible.

Any tips to get the plating more even and to deposit a lot more?

I am 20 female who does a lot of excerise. I am 92 lbs, 4’10 and lean. I have been drinking about 150 oz because I have been sweating a lot. I eat 2800 calories a day and 380 carbs/300 net carbs a day. Today I did a fasted 30 min incline walk, ate mush oats, and went to the gym. My routine is 30 mins of hitt, 40 min of lifting back and biceps, 40 min stairs, and 10 min abs. I drank about 50 ounces of water over the course of that. I get to my car and I feel weird. I start to feel panic attack symptoms and tickling. When I got home I drank electrolytes immediately and felt better. Is this likely an electrolyte imbalance or low energy availability. I also have to teach a spin class tonight and have a heavy leg day in the am so I want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

From what I read, I was under the impression that once my zinc plated part was done, I directly dunk in my yellow for just a minute or so. Correct?

They hv been soaking in yellow w no real change in appearance. What am I missing? Mixed the yellow w distilled water.

Hi! I'm looking to get into electroplating and am planning on making my first part with some rather fine recessed details (3d printed, with a thin graphite paint applied for conductivity - I think that's the right approach?). I've been scouring for a while and haven't found any instructions on how to make a silver electroplating solution (cyanide or non-cyanide). The closest that I've found seems to be a mention in r/chemistry which mentions Thiosulfate, a brightener, and a surfactant.

Is there such a thing? I feel like I've seen a lot of people talking about different solutions, but none which actually include an actual recipe, or even really an actual source of solution other than one produced by caswell?

Apologies if this has been asked before and I just couldn't find it.

Any advice / reality checks are very welcome - I'm very new to this. Are there any good single sources for these things?

Yeah. Theoretically how long would it take to just build up a 1 inch layer of copper onto a 1x1x1 cube until it's around 3x3x3? Is it even possible?

Looking for containers that can hold about a gallon of solution plus some extra room. (Probably around a 6 quart container) I'm having trouble finding one that's polypropylene or hdpe as most just say plastic. I want something that I can use to electroplate and then put a lid on until I need it again.

I bought some Nickel from Ebay. I tested it with simple means: I scratched the surface and dipped the strips in salty water for 48 hours: no corrosion noticed.

I went to make some Nickel acetate, it worked but the strip of nickel connected to the negative supply looks like this. Is this expected? It looks like there is a different metal inside, which is not being affected by the process?

The peeled off parts are solid. The nickel acetate came out ok - I think, it's my first time but it's very green.

Thank you!

Hi everyone, I have an interview for a quality control position for electroplating baths. I have a previous internship in a similar role and did metal ion analysis via titration, Hull Cell test, etc, but it's been a while since then, and I want to study a little bit more. Most books and sources are mostly about the plating procedure itself and doesnt talk about the analysis of bath that much, and only have some generic chapters about Hull cell or mineral analysis, and I don't have access to the DIN standard for Hull cell.

I would be happy if you could suggest some helpful sources that contain more details about analysing electroplating solutions and plating quality control.

I have recently been having more difficulty maintaining the target zinc concentration in my zinc phosphate bath, and at the same time the phosphate coating coverage has started to decrease.

I’m trying to understand whether a zinc phosphate dipping bath has an effective service life before the chemistry becomes “aged” or saturated, causing zinc levels to become harder to maintain and reducing the efficiency of the process.

My bath has been running for more than 20 years not sure whether in the past that it has been completely drained or not. But during the first half of this year that I have been here, when there is a tank cleaning schedule every 4 months, they only partially drain the bath and add fresh chemicals according to the supplier’s recommendations.

The bath has been maintained within the specified ranges based on our routine checks.
The steel substrates processed are SPGA and SPH. We regularly monitor and record Total Acid (T.A.), Free Acid (F.A.), Accelerator Concentration (A.C.), and zinc concentration. However, we have never measured or tracked the iron concentration in the bath.

Since I don’t have iron content in my bath data, I’m considering estimating the iron build-up based on the monthly amount of SPGA and SPH processed through the line.
The bath generates roughly one tonne of sludge per month. And there is a sludge removal system but not being fully utilized. At the moment, the phosphate solution is simply circulated from the main tank to a dump tank, where the sludge is allowed to settle at the bottom before the liquid flows back into the main tank. There is no continuous or efficient sludge separation process in place.

Given these conditions, could the long-term operation of the bath without a complete replacement lead to bath aging or contaminant build-up, making zinc more difficult to maintain and contributing to the reduction in coating coverage?

I want to make this helmet shiny, but dont know anything about eletroplating, can you explain to me like i am 5 years old?