OLD NICKEL

[WDANIELBERN]

HELLO EVERYONE I WAS WONDERING I HAVE A SET OF OLD(63) TAIL LIGHT HOUSINGS IS IT OK TO PLATE COPY CHROME DIRECTLY OVER THE ORIGINAL NICKEL?ALSO I KNOW YOU CAN NICKEL OVER COPPER BUT CAN YOU COPPER OVER NICKELIF NEED BE? THANKS EVERBODY THE INFO IIS APPRECIATED

[dadkar2]

Sure you can plate nickel or copper over nickel but first you must:

1. THOROUGHLY clean the nickel
2. Activate the nickel with Pickle #3 which is the sulfuric acid mix.

Don't under-estimate the difficulty of cleaning the old nickel. It might be advisable to give it a light sandblasting to remove all traces of oxidation and pitting, scour flat with Britex wheel or SOS pad, then continue on with the restoration.

If the nickel is freshly plated, then of course you'll want to focus on cleaning to successful water break, then activating it.

Kind regards,
Ken

[dadkar2]

One more thing: Often I am faced with the task of replating complicated parts over old nickel in my clock restoration work. Keys, setters, and other small complicated parts respond well to an ultrasonic cleaning, an overnight workout in the tumbler, through degreasing and cleaning after tumbling, then activation and plating. If the parts are in reasonable condition, this is a good alternative to stripping and starting over.

Ken