Copper plating question

[carts69]

Can anyone advise how an item should look once acid copper plated? im still new to plating, each time i remove the item it is coated in copper sluge which needs rinsing off,also the copper hanging wire gets a thick build up of this on it.
Is this normal,also once rinsed the plating is quite dull & requires a good buffing,does this sound normal or is something not right somewhere?

[CarWiz]

What is the base metal?

[carts69]

Hi... The base metal is steel, prior to plating its polished, de-greased in sd175,i don't activate the steel is the correct?

[carts69]

Originally Posted by carts69

Hi... The base metal is steel, prior to plating its polished, de-greased in sd175,i don't activate the steel is the correct?

forgot to mention i flash copper plated with brush plate copper prior to acid copper tank, although this has happened with plating onto nickel.What is this build up of copper sludge on part & hanging wire

[CarWiz]

Check to make sure your +/- are connected correctly. (-) on the part to be plated, (+) on your anode. You might have the amps too high causing a burning of the plate.

The plated color should be what is described as "salmon pink" but will buff or polish to a bright copper color. If you're going for a high build, don't try to build up high thickness all at once. Run for 15-20 minutes then pull the part and buff. Your tank should be between 70 and 90*F and include agitation. Volts should be 2-5 with amps at .07-.2A per square inch. I lean toward the low end of the scale.

If you're getting "growth", it could also be a contaminated tank too but I think you have the amps too high.

[carts69]

Ok thanks for the good advise, so what would happen if the amps were too low or is there no such thing. would the part just not take on copper? is there any such thing as too little amps as going too high causes loads of problems??

[CarWiz]

Yeah, there's a low point where plating appears to stop but actually it's still occurring as long as electrons are flowing. It just takes longer to get a build. You can plate copper with a AA battery. Your best bet is to do some trials on flat tabs of a known size. The upper limit varies by solution (content and PH) and can come on in a hurry. You can vary the amps through the test process and determine the best settings. Start low and work up. If the plate starts turning brown, that's too high. If you have a micrometer, you can also determine the thickness of the build over a given time.

What chemicals and setup are you using?

[carts69]

Great advise!! you certainly know your stuff (just wish i did)
The story is..... I purchased the tripple chrome plating kit which cost a fair bit, and to date i have not completed an item yet with any sucess, tried nickel & piece came out cloudy with black streaks in places copper is not playing ball either!!

Im yet to mix the chrome crystals as i cant even get the required finish on the first two,the main problem is the surface area,i find it extremely difficult to work out the sq inch of items even after advice from on here & in the manual,still can't crack it so everything i attempt is just guessing at amps - hence the poor results.

At this stage i feel like giving up and selling the lot but chemicals are mixed and i would lose too much money, i suppose its just a case of practice practice practice,but every failed attempt is a kick in the guts for me.

[CarWiz]

That sounds like the amps are too high. (cloudy/streaking) Also watch that you don't contaminate your chemicals with zinc. Using zinc coated wire (for hanging or connecting) or utensils can ruin a whole batch of chemicals.

It's important to accurately calculate the surface area of part(s) to be plated as the amps are given as per/square inch. Keep us posted on your tests.

[carts69]

Hi... Yet another failed attempt despite reducing the amps by 50%, please check this picture.... 2 attempts to nickel plate....First attempt the whole piece came out dull and required a lot of mopping to bring the shine up despite plating onto a mirror finis steel.
Second attempt as per picture the same dull finish but this time with a small area of bright mirror nickel,any ideas why its plated excellent in the areas where it has but left the rest dull again.
For reference the bright area was hung near the top of the tank as its being held in pictures.
Please can you confirm that a proper nickel plate should come out of the tank as shiny as it went in?