filling small pits with acid copper

[danderson]

first time on forum, hope this works.
I am plating two stainless steel legs for a bike. Did the etch and activator and flash copper. so far so good. The parts have some very small pits which are only about 1/32" wide and deep. When I go to the acid copper it covers well but doesn't seem to want to go into the pits. I have now built up a heavy layer of copper but still have the pits. Ain't that the pits. I find the copper really hard to sand now that it's heavy. I have a 20 gallon set up with a 25 and a 100 amp rectifier and also 12" X 18" anodes.
I am having the same results as everybody with pot metal. Anybody know a foolproof way to do this stuff or what.

thanks
Danny boy...

[Gabourie]

I have a 15 gallon set up and I have been plating steel with small pin holes as well as scratches . I had "expectations" of filling in the pits and scratches , but soon realized that I must remove the material around the pits and scratches to make them disappear after platting. If I plate for 2 hours and get 0.002" the pits are filled in 0.002" too. Then you must remove the material around and hopefully it will be gone. Or you can fill in the pits with solder then plate. I hope this helps.
I have a question for you. What power supply are you using and do you need to use a resistor to get the unit to start?

[danderson]

Thanks for the reply. Since I posted the question I have built it up with copper and then sanded down. Seems like it's going to work. I am using the 25 amp rectifier for this with just the on switch and dial for the amps. Unless it has it's own resistor inside I don't use one. The 100 amp rectifier I use for the chrome where you need bigger amperages.