Upset and confused, what am I doing wrong?

[tbreaden]

Have you solved your problem? Todd

[KCV6]

Right there are a few things to try and many traps for the beginner.

1. It is a reasonable sized piece. try running higher current (so you end out with about 2.5Vdc to 3Vdc and only do it on a highly polished test piece of copper pipe. I run close to 3Vdc with a loaded tank.

2. Have you added additional brightener, by the sounds of things you have plated a lot of stuff and tried a lot of different settings. You may be surprised at how fast the brightener will get used up initially doing this. PH is not a measure of how much brightner there is either(merely a guide for a working tank, your's is not working.... yet). If you add a lot of brightner the PH will go up, get an eydropper with pool acid in it and add a few drops to bring it back to 2-3.

3. In your pic the part you plated looks like the underlying flash copper is not mirror polished? fine scratches and texture are evident. this just may be your after polishing but too me says it has not plated enough.

4. try the copper pipe again highly polished first and up the ASI (so voltage is over 2.5Vdc plate for 10 seconds and lift the item just enough to see if the hanging copper wire is bright. This is a good cheats way of anticipating what the finish will come out like.

5. May seem a dumb question, but you are leaving the item undisturbed for 30 mins? i.e. you are not lifting it out and inspecting during this time? The temptation when things are not going to plan for most is to have a squizz at the item regularly, Avoid doing this, only lift it enough to inspect the wire.

So, Brightner and PH adjust with a few drops of acid. Up the ASI. Do the wire cheat test and adjust the voltage untill you get a shiny hang wire that is attached to the test piece. Finally, only ever setup a tank using a controlled size and textured piece of copper pipe. Until you get this piece working, you will only frustrate yourself and waste anodes and brightner.

Cheers Mark

[kxkraze]

What he said.

[ringblingbelts]

I have one other question, and it is something listed in the book from Caswell, as well as a question I have been asked by other platers I talked to about my issues.

The book says "Add 1 unit Brightner per bag of crystals" I have no brightner, and the packing slip lists the crystals as "Crystals(with brightners)"

Do I still need the actual bottle of brightner to add to the nickle bath? Everyone I showed the pictures too asked me how much brighter I added to the crystals. I had none to add. Is that normal/correct?

[KCV6]

It always pays to have extra brightner on hand to add as required.

Yes the crystals come with the brightner in them to start with I believe.

Cheers Mark