I went with the Nickel Plug 'N Plate Kit. It seems to be working well, after a few false starts.
Here is what I am doing: I am immersion plating steel bolt heads, which appear to me to have about 2 cm square surface area. I am warminng the 8 oz nickel solution in the microwave for 30 seconds in a clean glass jar.
Microwaving to warm the solution is a good idea, I've got a bright nickel tank, and it's best to maintain at around 110 degrees, just make sure your solution is staying around that number, that may prove hard. You may want to build a little box, put a 100 watt lightbulb in it, and use the heat from the lightbulb to maintain temp, just a thought. I've seen people do it with hide glue before, should be able to make it work for yourself.
I prepped the steel bolt heads by sanding with 240, 400, and 800 grit sandpaper, then cleaning with soft scrub thoroughly.
That'll work just fine, just make sure that it passes the water break test, or don't figure on any plate remaining bonded after powder coat temps, you may want to test that. Also, a dip in battery acid, then rinsed before plating will help a lot.
I tried immersing the bolts for 5 minutes, but when they came out of the solution, they appeared to be not completely plated. There were crescent shapes of surface area where it appeared that the plating didn't start to adhere to the surface.
Most importantly...
If you have everything, temp, surface area, correct connection (you must go into nickel live); you will have full coverage in seconds, not minutes. The plate should be as bright as it went in. If you are talking minutes, something can be better.
I started leaving the bolt heads in for 10 minutes, and I think that solved the problem. (I rigged it up so I don't have to stand there for 10 minutes)
Being creative is a big part of what makes plating work well.
The bolts come out with a consistent muted light gray color. Then, after they come out and I dry them off, I polish them with a little mag and aluminum wheel polish and they look very good.
Cool, just be careful, you've got a thin plate to begin with.
The appearance of the bolt after plating looks very similar to the original steel color, but just a touch darker and warmer in color.
Kind of. Here's a test. Find something really white, like a paper towel of piece of paper. Set the piece down on it. Look at the POLISHED piece, the paper reflected will be almost "pee" yellow, if that makes sense.
Does this sound like I've gotten a good coat of nickel on the bolt heads?
See above.
Also, after about 8 bolt heads, the solution is starting to really foam up in the top 1/8th of the bath. Is this okay? Should I spoon this foamy solution out? Is that a sign of contamination or that I am plating too much metal in the solution too quickly?
hmm...not sure here. I've got a tank that's 5 gallons. The parts should bubble a little, maybe it just collecting at the top. You are rinsing off well after the cleaning step right
Not to sure on this one, It may be perfectly acceptable. The plating will tell you the most, if there's junk in your solution, it will show in plating as pits, or rough spots. You definetly aren't plating too quickly from what you described as far as coverage, etc. It may be that you are burning the parts a little. It would explain the color, and would cause a lot more hydrogen released at the cathode which may look like foam when it's released from the solution.
My own thoughts here after reading your posts... $.02
You will have the same rust through problem if the nickel plate is too thin. Do this, measure a spot on the bolt head. After plating, if you expect it to hold up outside, it will be .002 bigger. .001 on one side, .001 on the other. Much less and it will just rust through, especially when you throw acid rain and salt and everything else you may run into outside. Back to the powder coat...it everything was done correctly, they shouldn't have rusted. You should be able to bury a part that is done correctly, and not have it rust. Powder does not stick well to a sharp corner, it flows away from it, where-as plate usually builds a little higher there. There are a lot of sharp corners on a bolt head...
Send me a pm if you want help getting these plated to where they will hold up.
Thanks for your time!!
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