What else do I need to gold plate

[apricotscrub]

I Got the gold solution, a stainless steel anode, and a rectifier. Im assuming I need an alligator wire clip to put in the rectifier. Where do I get this metal bar on the top, I think I found the tank on the caswell site, whats the best way to plate small rings, but I need to have thousands done and I dont have a garage, (I heard of the clothes hangar idea) i'd be doing this in a room in my apartment. How long will the anode last that I have, Ive read bad things about steel. I was also wondering if I could do it over the stove in a pot with the heat on to maintain the heat of the solution. Is this dangerous to do with the 3amps?

Thanks.
Chris

[bhhodges]

if your going to be plating thousands of rings you would be better off buying some gold anodes to replenish the gold in the plating tank. yes you need two connections from the rectifier one positive connected to the anode/anodes and one negative to the buss bar the part/parts hang from. any hardware store would have the copper pipe to use for this. . im not sure what you mean buy ---is this dangerous with 3 amps---?? if you are only gonna plate a few rings at a time i doubt you will ever have to use 3 amps . im also a firm believer in electrocleaning parts prior to plating which is hooking up the part positive and the anode negative in an electrocleaner bath and its ---to keep it simple--"reverse" plates sorta similar to placing an alkaseltser in water. the electrocleaner removes all junk that shouldnt be on a item before plating. when i first started plating a year ago i thought i could clean with soap and water and then plate but it didnt work to well,i only thought i was getting a water break test. also what is the base metal of the rings your gold plating?


bill

[apricotscrub]

OK,
exactly what do I need to get from the store.
Copper wire? Copper Bar? What exactly do I need to connect the anode/ bar with to the rectifier? How to connect anode to the wire? can I use alligator clips? I am totally confused about what exactly I need to buy to make this work.