Nickel Plating Brass

This is how I DIY Nicket Plate Brass, a quick and quite simple method. Always wear disposable gloves.

Edited By Jim Dobson on 15/05/2019 02:02:24

Jim,

I like the disposable gloves!

Much more important if chromium plating.

Thanks for that, Jim ... Your plating tank looks rather classy

Have you tried electroforming with Nickel ?

If so ... I would be grateful for any advice you can give.

MichaelG.

There's an interesting book available on line published by the Nickel Institute with all the information you need, including plating solutions:

Nickel Plating Handbook

https://www.nickelinstitute.org/media/2323/nph_141015.pdf

Russell

I've had recent success using home made Nickel Acetate following Geoff Crokers method on Youtube

**LINK**

Rod

.

Thanks a lot for that, Russell

MichaelG.

Can you reverse this process?

Thanks Michael, needless to say my wife was very unimpressed!

Nickel welding rods are the easiest source of procuring virtually pure (99%) nickel.

You just take a hammer and knock the flux off on some scrap steel with newspaper underneath and when the rods are pretty much clean just finish up with some steel wool and then wrap up the newspaper.

Would old nickel silver cutlery be a good source of nickel for plating?

I'm fancying giving this a go, got to find the you tube video of how to make the basic solution.

Mick

.

That was my assumption ... which is why I've been stockpiling it.

and de-plating EPNS should also provide a modest source of Silver

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 16/05/2019 14:12:21

Not so sure I'd want to risk Ni plated stuff.
When I was Ni plating old motorcycle parts (of steel) using a Dynic Sales kit, I purchased a pure Ni crucible.
They're cheap enough when purchased singly and "you know what you're getting".
For example a Ni crucible lid here is GBP7.26p:-
**LINK**

.

Not sure that I understand ^^^

EPNS is solid 'Nickel Silver' electroplated with Silver

... I had assumed that if NS was used as the electrode; the Copper and Zinc would just get deposited as sludge.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

MichaelG.

.

**LINK**

https://www.smithmetal.com/nickel-silver.htm

My understanding is that if Cu and Zn are present in either the electrolyte or anode they will also get deposited on the item to be Ni plated.
However that understanding is not based on practical experience.
On some of those aforementioned m/cycle parts, I first Cu plated the item as it was said to produce a better base for the later Ni plate. This was definately not the case with my amatuerish methodology. The subsequent Ni plating was patchy & discoloured. In contrast, using a pure Ni anode and plating onto scrupulously cleaned steel, adhesion & finish was excellent.
My comment " Not so sure I'd want to risk Ni plated stuff " (as an anode) was to imply a risk of poor adhesion of the Ni in presence of any Zn and Cu ions. The low cost of a pure Ni anode didn't seem worth the risk.

The book cited by Russell is an interesting & comprehensive read. Therein the only statements relevant to anode purity I found on a quick scan were:-
"Primary nickel for plating has high purity of 99.95% Ni + Co."
".....could lead to contamination by anodic dissolution of copper ions into the solution".
"Copper, cadmium, lead, tin and zinc: These metals tend to preferentially deposit in low current density areas, causing haze and dark or black deposits."

Thanks for that

Looks like my stash of cheap NS cutlery will simply be raw material.

MichaelG.

I don't think it would be worth the bother. If you popped into a welding fabrication workshop and ask nicely they should sell you a couple of pure nickel welding rods.

These are easy to use, 99% pure nickel and you can bend them easily to the shape(s) that you need.

Nickel strip is easy to get hold of on the two very popular on-line buy anything sites. Just search "nickel strip 18650". It is very popular for building LiPo 18650 battery packs. Not expensive at all. After watching the videos referenced on this thread that is the route I will be going rather than buying a plating kit.

Paul

Hi Paul

Those strips are pretty thin material, you're going to eat through a helluva lot of that to make the nickel acetate solution.

Again, the easiest way to procure pure nickel in thick round round material is by purchasing some nickel welding rods.

Also just a heads up to all, be careful of nickel acetate in regards to your person. Make sure you don't spill any anywhere and contaminate your work area and disposal of it should be down the sink or via normal home waste removal methods.

Youplate looks promising, as a source of materials: **LINK**

http://www.youplate.co.uk/anodes.html

MichaelG.

Mike, thanks for the link it's very promising. I'll have to look into delivery costs from UK.

Jim, point taken. Welding rods here can be rather expensive, so the anode route may be better for me. Fleabay fr has quite a lot, though not as thick as on Mike's link.

Paul