Anyone Tried Nickel Plating at Home ?

Pauliewog · Post by **Pauliewog** » Tue. Apr. 14, 2015 4:51 pm

Has anyone attempted their own copper and nickel plating? If so would you share your experiences and results?

Paulie

joeq · Post by **joeq** » Tue. Apr. 28, 2015 8:38 pm

Guess that's a big fat "NO" Paulie. I'ld be curious, because a buddy of mine just took my G111 trim pieces to clean up on a buffing wheel he's got at home. I told him to go easy, cause I've heard that nickel plating is a bit costly.

Post by **coaledsweat** » Tue. Apr. 28, 2015 10:36 pm

The polishing is the big cost because it is a lot of labor. The plating is tank time and materials.

Pauliewog · Post by **Pauliewog** » Wed. Apr. 29, 2015 1:17 am

joeq wrote:Guess that's a big fat "NO" Paulie. I'ld be curious, because a buddy of mine just took my G111 trim pieces to clean up on a buffing wheel he's got at home. I told him to go easy, cause I've heard that nickel plating is a bit costly.

I guess time will tell. Its just about the end of the heating season and the fourm is not as active as it is in the dead of the winter.

We move,modify , relocate and install major powder coating and e- coating equipment thruout the US, Canada and Mexico but only worked on three plating lines. Proper preparation in all three operations the most time consuming part of the job and the most important for a quality finish.

The nickel is very thin, so stress again to your buddy to take it light and slow with the right rouge.

I think Randy or possibly William posted a really nice You Tube video on nickel polishing.

Im working close with a plater who specializes in Church restorations. Most of his work is in gold and silver but he also does nickel, copper and brass.

He is getting intrigued with the old stoves and has me prepping my parts, some at home and some in his shop. This reduces my plating costs by 2/3

Other than the rectifier and the knowledge, I have everything else required. So over the next few months Ill be spending a day or so a week helping him plate. I went out to Long Island NY today and picked up a base burner that we will both share the time and expense to restore.

Bottom line ........ I teach him stoves .....He teaches me plating.

Paulie

Pauliewog · Post by **Pauliewog** » Wed. Apr. 29, 2015 2:01 am

coaledsweat wrote:The polishing is the big cost because it is a lot of labor. The plating is tank time and materials.

Exactly coaledsweat !

I would send parts out, wait 3 or 4 months to get them back, and get a quote or a bill anywhere from $500 to $1000

Every plater I dealt with asked me not to touch the parts just send them as is. I can appreciate it now, because they were really looking out for my best interests. Different methods of cleaning and stripping based on the overall part condition. I would sandblast a part thinking I would save money only to find out it added time because it had to be buffed , copper plated , buffed, and copper plated again before it was nickeled .

After a while I would just think to myself ....... if it was really respectable it was $30 per piece If painted and rusty $40 per piece and the parts that were pitted I figured $50 each. And on the average stove I had 15 to 20 pieces to send out.

Wow ...... Thats high I would think. ..... Well .........There were very few pieces I prepped for him that took me less than 2 hours Thats my time not his time, equipment, and mmaterials.Looking back ............ $30 a part was a pretty good price. Granted, Im sure I was slower and he has a system plus larger wheels and more of them . If it took half the time, it still is worth the money.

But I enjoy doing it and its a hobby and not a job, so the way I look at it ........... If I can save $300 by doing the prep .........I Can Buy More Stoves !!

Paulie

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Wed. Apr. 29, 2015 5:42 am

I don't believe that this method requires electricity or polishing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroless_nickel_plating

Pauliewog · Post by **Pauliewog** » Wed. Apr. 29, 2015 12:23 pm

lsayre wrote:I don't believe that this method requires electricity or polishing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroless_nickel_plating

Larry

That method is what sparked my interest and the reason I posted. I set up a meeting next week with one of my customers who does large scale industrial plating and powder coating.

They were pioneers in electroless plating. From what I gathered so far :

1 Very small space is required.
2 Chemicals are household safe and can be dumped down the drain without treating.
3 For stove parts it looks like all you need is the chemicals, water, container and a hotplate
4 Proper part preparation.

Possible drawbacks:

I read some reviews that it was not as bright as tank plating. Could that have been due to improperly prepared parts?

Chemical cost per square inch coverage was much higher than electroplating.

I hope to find out more this week

Paulie

joeq · Post by **joeq** » Wed. Apr. 29, 2015 4:10 pm

Sounds way too complicated for my noggen. Too many chemicals. I'ld probably end up blowing up the neighborhood.
Speaking of "blowing up", (off topic), anyone seen this yet? Very funny.

just peter · Post by **just peter** » Wed. Apr. 29, 2015 6:09 pm

Peter

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Wed. Apr. 29, 2015 6:11 pm

35 years or so ago (give or take) I worked for a chemical company (which no longer exists) that made electroless nickel plating solutions.

Pauliewog · Post by **Pauliewog** » Wed. Apr. 29, 2015 9:28 pm

lsayre wrote:35 years or so ago (give or take) I worked for a chemical company (which no longer exists) that made electroless nickel plating solutions.

I wonder how much the technology changed since then? Did you get to see any products plated with their solution ?

Do you recall who or what type industry they sold their product to?

Paulie

joeq · Post by **joeq** » Wed. Apr. 29, 2015 10:10 pm

Krylon?

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Thu. Apr. 30, 2015 5:45 am

lsayre wrote:35 years or so ago (give or take) I worked for a chemical company (which no longer exists) that made electroless nickel plating solutions.

I was on the hydrofluoric acid manufacturing side of the street. The electroless nickel department was on the other side of the street, and it was like we were in two different worlds.

Pauliewog · Post by **Pauliewog** » Thu. Apr. 30, 2015 10:24 pm

joeq wrote:Krylon?

I really wish there was a high heat paint on the market that looked anything like the Cap

Paulie

Pauliewog · Post by **Pauliewog** » Thu. Apr. 30, 2015 10:34 pm

lsayre wrote:
lsayre wrote:35 years or so ago (give or take) I worked for a chemical company (which no longer exists) that made electroless nickel plating solutions.
I was on the hydrofluoric acid manufacturing side of the street. The electroless nickel department was on the other side of the street, and it was like we were in two different worlds.

It sounds like a good thing you got out of there when you did. Hydroflouric is pretty nasty. I read where they used it as a step before plating back in the early 1900s

I had a small bottle years ago I used for etching glass. You don't want a drop of that on your skin !!

Paulie