Nickel Plate Kit

[promodvette]

I just got my electroless nickel plate kit and wondering if any of you pros have some tips that may help me out some. Will nickel cover solder? Can you solder to nickel? I am plating slot car chassis that some may be soldered together first but eventually will have to get soldered on. Any help would be appriciated. Thanks a lot in advance!

[walker56]

try brazing instead of solder for nickle plating........

[promodvette]

So it wont stick or it will just is better with brazing?

[jimcarry]

Originally Posted by promodvette

So it wont stick or it will just is better with brazing?

It will stick as long as you are using a good silver solder

[promodvette]

alright thanks! So I can plate over a good silver solder (prebuilt chassis) can I solder the plated parts togehter though? Use same solder or will any solder work?

[dadkar2]

I have had pretty good luck with the nickel kit even with lead-tin solder as long as it is squeaky clean and oxide free. That's hard to achieve. You almost have to abrade the solder with Scotchbrite (followed by rinse) right before you put it in the tank. And acid pickling just oxidizes the solder, so I generally avoid that.

Silver solder is a safer bet, but you still have to keep it completely clean. Be sure to clean very thoroughly to remove every trace of flux. I recommend a pre-clean in 1:1 solution of Simple Green, cleaned ultrasonically, before proceeding to the final cleaning stage. This will clean up the flux substantially.

Ken