Plug n Plate

[lphurley]

Hi ! I want to purchase the plug and plate to do some nickel plating and gold plating.
How much area can i plate with the 4oz gold plating solution?
How much surface area can I get with the 8oz. nickel plating solution?
Can I use the same plug n plate wand to do both nickel and gold with a bandage change?
My intention is to plate copper traces on a circuit board with nickel first and then plate with gold on top of the nickel.
Can I plate immediately after plating with nickel.
Do I have to prepare the nickel surface before I plate with gold ?
I am not looking for a super fine finished look-but am concerned that if I have to treat the nickel before plating with gold that the treatment chemical will affect the glass epoxy board that I will be using and effect the copper traces etc..
Also will the plug and plate transformer that comes with the nickel kit be sufficient for gold plating or is there a different transformer(voltage and current requirement) Thank you for your time and answers--Phil

[bhhodges]

phil,

i use the fast gold brush plating solution and i have done probably 100 new state quarters and several diffrent other parts with the 4 oz. bottle and i still have just under 1/2 of the bottle left,so it goes much further than you think and it all depends on how thick you plate an item so since its gold you really only should use only enough to get the look you want.

from my experiance from the nickel to the gold all you really need is a good cleaning. i use hydrogen pyroxide on a rag and get perfect results evertime.

i dont use the power supply that comes with the plug and plate kits so i dont have any recomendation there,but you can use the same stainless steel wand with both the nickel and gold but make sure you change the bandage for each process. i use a 12 volt 25 amp digital rectifier and set it to 2 volts for the gold and im very happy with the results. everything else i do is done by tank plating.

take a look at my web site all the gold items are brush plated using the same 4oz. bottle of fast gold.

http://home.comcast.net/~jhodges87/wsb/index.html

[mcaswell]

At an average thickness the kits will plate approximately:
4oz Gold - 0.5 - 1 sq ft
4oz Silver - 1 sq ft
8oz Nickel - 2 sq ft
8oz Copper - 2 sq ft
8oz Copy Chrome™ - 2 sq ft

Yes, you can use the same wand, but should change the bandage to avoid contaminating your solutions.

You can plate gold directly onto nickel.

[lphurley]

Thanks for the quick replies on my questions. I have just ordered the kit and can't wait to get started. Should be fun!!!