Roger Gibbs wrote:
> jumpin'jan wrote:
> snip
> > Does anyone know the process and materials/equipment to use so one can
> > do this at home? I know that most of the labor is in the polishing, but
> > I can do that. We might want to research this stuff and see how feasible
> > it is to do at home. I have been to a plater's shop (like 25 years ago)
> > and they have various tanks to dipp the parts in. Any thoughts??
> > Jan
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>
> I researched the plating process many years ago, there are a couple of good books on the
> subject (I am sure that there are MANY good books, but I found one or two that were written
> for my level).
>
> It would be pretty tough to do this in a home shop for many reasons, here are the top
> reasons. All of this is from memory, and there may be a few errors, omissions, etc:
>
> 1. Health and safety. Most metals require acids for the plating baths, reasonably dangerous
> but not too bad. Most metals,at least nickle and chromium, to plate well, also require
> cyanide based plating bath solutions. Very, very dangerous. Hard to purchase, hard to
> dispose of. Plating process release gasses, cyanide gas is really nasty and leathal.
>
> 2. The plating process requires some nice dc power supplies. Different metals require
> different current densities/voltages, sometimes with varying parameters. Current densities
> are on the order of a few tenths of an amp per square inch (much higher for chrome). Add up
> the square inchs of resonable sized pieces and you find that you need a regulated dc power
> supply capable of provided upwards of 20 to 50 amps. Bumpers require more.
>
> 3. The sundries. Plastic bins (or the traditional lead basins) to hold the parts, exhaust
> fans, containers for the various chemicals. Not the biggest problem, but still a
> consideration. Also need some polishing equipment, but many of us already have a lot of
> that.
>
> I don't want to sound to discouraging, but I convinced myself years ago that it was
> somethings that was beyond what I was willing to do. If you are still interested in
> plating, there are some areas that are more easily achievable at home:
>
> 1. Zinc plating (Eastwood sells a kit and there are electrode less zinc plating solutions
> which will work if the electrochemical potential is right, ie: zinc over copper)
>
> 2. Copper plating. Easier to plate than nickel, chromium. Lowest current density; although
> commercial shops use a cyanide bath (I believe), there are less toxic alternatives.
>
> 3. There is an "electrodeless" nickel plating solution which is available which doesn't
> require a power supply. Limited to small parts and the cost per square inch is pretty high.
>
> 4. Silver plating might be the easiest of the home plating metals, I think that it is. I
> don't recall much about it because I was not interested in plating silver.
>
> I would like to hear from anybody else's experiences.
>
> -Roger
Roger:
I agree with all of the above, since I once did similar research to determine feasibility for a
school shop facility. The only things I would add is that even silver-plating uses a cyanide
solution as I recall, and many plating processes require heated solutions. The safety /
ventilation / disposal problems in this area are horrendous, in these days of greater awareness
of hazardous materials. It is sufficient to say that I wouldn't want someone doing this kind of
work near my back-yard!
Ron Tebo
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