Upset and confused, what am I doing wrong?

[ringblingbelts]

Ok, so I figured out waht I was doing wrong, NOT. Although it did fix the copper flash and the copper is very nice adnd very shiny. my nickle just blows.

Im at 110 degrees, I got my pumps going, got my Ph right, did the water bead test, and went from the copper flash(taht turned out perfect) to the nickle bath and what I get out looks like an old 5 cent piece I pull out of my pocket. I dont get it.

The plate on the left is when I do the nickle, the plate on the right is the plate I just had my plater do. They simply tanked and out it came all shiny and pretty. Why am I getting the dull, old coin look from my nickle

I have been trying to do this for a solid month now and I am ready to just give up. I have been doing my own gold plating since 04 so it isnt like I dont understand the processes. I just dont know if this is worth it anymore.

[KCV6]

What sort of current densities are you running?

Have you tried plating a test piece first?

I had to muck around with a piece of polished copper pipe for a while and muck around with the current settings. I also found my setup improved after plating a few pieces. Then hey presto, it suddenly came good.

I suggest you get some 1/2" copper pipe and muck around with that until you get a good shiny finish.

Hope the New Year brings more luck, cheers Mark

[ringblingbelts]

I am using copper wire as a test. i did a whole roll of it and I got the exact same results. The nickle is very smooth, their is jsut NO shine.

[lcaswell]

Please read this, then post what we need to help: Before Asking For Plating Help, Please Read This

[ringblingbelts]

1. Base metal of your part: Zinc
2. Surface area of your part: 65 Sq Inches
3. Which plating kit you are using: 3 gal flash copper/nickle (NFC2)
4. Amperage used: 4
5. Voltage used: 2
6. Temperature of your plating bath: 110
7. Duration of plating: 30 minutes
8. What you are using as a power supply (ie. car battery, charger, rectifier) and the supply's specifications. :Variac. 1-16 volts dc output, .5-10 amp output.
9. What your surface prep was (and remember...90% of all failed jobs can be traced back to bad prep): Caswell supplied degreaser, water bead tested with and rinced with distilled water.
10. What exactly went wrong: No issues with copper plating. Nickle plating is very smooth but lacks the high sheen, slight yellow finish and looks more liked a hand polished 5 cent piece.

Also having slight issues cleaning off the polishing compound.

Test plating of polished copper tubing gives me the same results. Was told I may need to polish the nickle after plated. The plating did give a much better shine, but still was more of a industrial quality(meant more for longevity perhaps) then the nice, mirror like show quality I was looking for.

I have used the same variac and the Caswell gold solution to plate over nickle that was done by a different company and had great result. Very bright beautiful gold. I am getting good copper flash too and after testing some copper flash on zinc in a 15 minute bath it took a polishing with white compound with no issues or wear visible. it took brown(or red maybe, i am color blind) compound and some healthy pressure to wear the copper off so I know the copper is holding well. I am just not getting the bright nickle.

[harris11]

the only thing you didn't mention was the ph of the nickel bath.

[lcaswell]

How does your power supply measure current? All signs point to too much.

Try lowering your current and see what happens.

[ringblingbelts]

I dont follow the question exactly. The variac adjusts the volts depending on amp draw. Using the book specs, it says I should be plating at 4 amps for that size of a piece(16 Sq " for every amp and it is 65 Sq " which would calculate to 64 SQ " for 4 amps so I should be slightly low, correct). When I put it to 4 amps, it naturally(if you can call it that) goes to 2 volts.


My Ph is 4 for the nickel bath and 10 for the copper.

Originally Posted by lcaswell

How does your power supply measure current? All signs point to too much.

Try lowering your current and see what happens.

[cbrooks]

With zinc you need to plate in the flash copper first before attempting to plate with the nickel. The acidity if the nickel is plated directly to the zinc will cause it to blacken.

[ringblingbelts]

From one reply I said.....

3. Which plating kit you are using: 3 gal flash copper/nickle (NFC2)

from another I said.......

My Ph is 4 for the nickel bath and 10 for the copper.

And still from another reply i said..........

I am getting good copper flash too and after testing some copper flash on zinc in a 15 minute bath it took a polishing with white compound with no issues or wear visible. it took brown(or red maybe, i am color blind) compound and some healthy pressure to wear the copper off so I know the copper is holding well.





As said many places, i am using flash copper and getting a good shiny copper, the nickle just is not shiney even after polishing. To be perfectly honest, without knowing of the differences, it would appear that I have an industrial type nickle finish(brushed nickle look) rather than the shiney "show quality" nickle I am trying to get.

Is there two different types of nickle that Caswell sells? Did I perhaps get a commercial type nickle finish instead of the show quality finish?

Originally Posted by cbrooks

With zinc you need to plate in the flash copper first before attempting to plate with the nickel. The acidity if the nickel is plated directly to the zinc will cause it to blacken.