Disclaimer: I have absolutely no experience with electroplating. The following may be full of very stupid questions.

I made my own wedding band with a sterling silver/shibuichi (an alloy of 25% silver, 75% copper) mokume gane center band with a 14k gold liner and rails. Unfortunately after a year or so of constant wear, I'm starting to see noticeable galvanic corrosion of the 75/25 alloy. I had hoped the silver content would be enough to prevent that, but it seems like it isn't.

You can see it in the attached picture if you zoom in; the darker grey areas are veeeeery slightly recessed from the sterling silver layers. That was unintentional: it is being slowly etched away as I wear the ring

It's not bad yet, and the look is kinda interesting, but at some point between now and when I die I suspect the corrosion will become a problem. I would like to arrest the corrosion soon if possible.

So here's my question: could I plate the entire ring with something and then very carefully polish it back off to remove the plating everywhere except the recessed areas? I included some John Madden whiteboard doodles of the cross section of the ring to illustrate what I have in mind. green=gold, blue=silver, red=shibuichi, and black=whatever plating I end up using. Obviously the thickness of the plating is wildly exaggerated, but you get the idea.

And if that is possible, what could I plate it with which a) will stick to a 75%/25% copper/silver alloy and sterling silver (it's fine if it doesn't stick to gold, since I'll be removing all of the plating from the gold anyway), b) has a contrasting color to both sterling and 14k yellow gold (although I'm not picky about what that color actually is), and c) isn't going to corrode or poison me. I was thinking something like palladium, rose gold, black rhodium or nickel, or maybe even something like tin (but like I said, I know nothing).

So I have a question regarding how to / what to read before starting a project. Jewelry or other items made from silver plate flatware, which is cut and soldered/brazed with silver solder. I need to repair plating and cover the brazing and cut areas with silver plate. I get that silver nitrate is low quality, silver chloride is better. But everything else is confused for me. Where do I look for education on how to do this, besides reading all of this subreddit? Will a pen/brush on plating work? Stopped doing as much when my studio location changed, and I am rebuilding. Never electroplated before, so learning is very good for me.

Hey everyone, I’m looking into using DC current to strip a copper coating from an MS (mild steel) base.

I have a few questions about using copper sulfate (CuSO₄) for this:

• What concentration of copper sulfate would be a good starting point?
• Do I need to add sulfuric acid? If so, why?
• How do current density and temperature affect the stripping process?
• How can I avoid damaging the steel once the copper is removed?
• Is there anything I should test before deciding on the electrolyte composition?

If anyone has experience with this kind of process, I’d really appreciate your advice. Thanks

I would like to brush plate this Dior necklace.

Do you have any idea on what the silver metal is? I’ve seen online that Dior uses brass. I’m assuming it’s brass-nickel-gold plated?

Hi, I have just finished my first batch of my gold plating experiment and the surface has these blemishes. I'm not sure if they are blisters or not and I don't know if they are the result of not cleaning the items properly or if it has something to do with wrong amps. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The photos probably aren't going to be the best, but they are the best I could manage with my phone.

Tengo entendido que los baños electroliticos se hacen con agua desionizada y que no deben exceder de 100 Micro Siemens porque luego ocasiona problemas.
¿Es correcto?

My GF has some older jewellery where the silver coating is worn. I'd like to refresh the coating and think that electroplating is the most promising approach.

I know that I have to thoroughly clean the jewellery. Then prepare the solution with an electrode for the positive side and the jewellery connected to the negative side of the power supply. The electrical side of things is clear to me. I have a lab power supply for this. I also have some unimportant jewellery as guinea pigs to hone my process before going on to the important ones.

For the chemical side I have two approaches:

1. A prepared electroplating solution (off AliExpress) with rudimentary and conflicting instructions and no specifications about the solution. Oh joy!
2. A small bag of silver nitrate, which looks like a salt, and some small silver bars (off Etsi). Here I have no instructions at all. But I've seen a video on YouTube about this, but with vague instructions. More joy!

Now to my questions:

1. For the prepared electroplating solution:
   1. Can I dilute this with distilled water?
   2. What temperature should the solution be?
   3. What voltage should I use?
   4. How long is the plating process?
2. For the silver nitrate:
   1. What concentration should I use for the silver nitrate?
   2. What temperature should the solution be?
   3. What voltage should I use?
   4. How long is the plating process?

I'm happy for even approximate answers. The correct answers probably depend on the detailed specifications of my solutions. But I'd be glad to have a useful starting point. The quantities of the items I have are small; the stuff is not cheap.

I’m working with automotive body parts. The parts are dipped into an e-coat bath. After coming out of the bath, there is about 1 minute of drain time before the parts go through an air blower, then curing.

I’m getting solvent popping mainly along the lower edge of the parts after curing.

My first thought was that, because of the vertical orientation, more e-coat may accumulate around the lower edge during draining. My supervisor suggested using a stronger air blower and specifically directing the air toward the lower edge to remove the excess coating.

However, I’m not completely convinced that the blower is addressing the root cause.

My understanding is that solvent popping can occur when solvent/volatiles become trapped in the coating. During curing, the outer layer can cure and become relatively hard first, while the material underneath is still releasing volatiles. This can create pressure and eventually cause bubbles/popping.

I started looking at the curing oven configuration. We have two distinct heating stages:

• IR zone: approximately 200°C for 10 minutes
• Hot-air zone: approximately 190°C for 40 minutes

The parts enter the IR zone relatively close to room temperature. So I'm wondering whether the rapid initial heating from room temperature to a high surface temperature in the IR zone could be contributing to the popping.

The problem is that I can't simply lower the oven temperature or extend the IR zone because of the existing production/curing requirements.

So I'm looking for advice from people who have experience with automotive e-coat:

Are there any tools or alternative solutions available to help increase the temperature gradually rather than rapidly?"

Any advice on how you would approach the root-cause investigation would be appreciated.

Stłukła mi się płyta indukcyjna, widać fragmencik tego mechanizmu co grzeje uszkodzoną ćwiartkę. Oczywiście że nie mam aktualnie pieniędzy na wymianę, mogę używać tej płyty uważając na to żeby woda nie wyciekła z garnka itp?

Eu queria aprender mais sobre banho de cromo porem tenho pouco conhecimento, alguem pode me ajudar? Estou com alguns pdf

My favorite necklace- I cleaned it too many times and the silver started to look orange. So I want to plate a few more layers of silver.

Since this will be a one time thing I didn’t want to spend too much money. Using a D battery and some silver nitrate solution (0.1N) from work. Would rather not buy a pure silver anode if I don’t have to so trying using a stainless steel spoon.

I tried a few times- It didn’t seem to work - first time made the grey stuff in solution. Second time - made some silver particles in the solution.

Any pointers? I also have thiosulfate and potassium carbonate if those would help make the solution better.

Si tenemos desengrases con sus respectivos enjuagues y activador ácido, como aseguramos que el niquel plateado no se desprenda?

La solución de niquel es noble o suele dar problemas?
El material base es cobre.

So I have tried two different pumps for my copper plating setup:

1. Caswell "filter" pump. Didn't even put it in the bath as it does not have the filter and says right on the box not to use with acid which this set up is. Extremely disappointed in Caswell for this and support has not even replied to my email.

2. Aquarium Pump off of Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TWD1P7X?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 - Failed after one week of use, not sure why just wont run anymore

I have a 3 gal tank setup and was planning on using a filter pump as I have seen mentioned on numerous posts but I must not be getting the right one. Anyone have any suggestions?

Hello fellas. I am a beginner at electroplating and I wonder how can I safely do electroplating at home with different metals. My plan for copper is to use a copper III sulfate solution with a copper anode. But for other metals, such as titanium, how can i do it at home? How safe would it be? Thanks for your answers.

I am trying to nickel plate some small parts and I'm trying to do the copper base coat. The parts are 3D resin printed then graphite painted, the 1st picture is next to a mm ruler to show size. The company that makes the graphite paint was trying to help but they threw in the towel and said they don't think it can be done as the current is too high. They actually gave me a refund for the paint (which was nice). I'm looking for any suggestions as clearly something is happening but it just looks like crap. Are they right and it can't be done?

I want to start a plating shop , what parts / industries did you start with?

I am wanting to get a valve cover chrome plated but have never had anything chrome plated before so i’m not sure how the process works. It is a used valve cover so obviously i will be cleaning it thoroughly to remove oil but do i need to do any prep work like sanding before sending it off. If so how smooth do i need the item to be and out of curiosity will they use something to block the inside or will it end up chrome as well once they are done? Sorry lots of questions but don’t really know where or who to ask them.

I found this video online, but I want to confirm the materials and craftsmanship used

Does anyone have tips for recovering silver from quadruple plate items? I had quite a few items, some of them large, I had ran through my bath. They looked like they had a bronzy and dark coating left in some areas. I filtered by bath and thought it looked odd. I ran them a second time in a fresh bath with higher voltage and recovered quite a bit of silver after that. It looks like there is still more left. The pieces are too big for a sulfuric / nitric treatment to strip them. I guess I could cut them up but it would be a chore.

Thoughts?

Anyone can help me how to solve this issue.

Because i think this surfactant, brightener and wetting agents contribute to the high lvl of cod and bod. Even already do oxidation/reduction treatment. Still not much reduction lvl of cod and bod. But the removal of heavy metal is excellent.

Beside my raw wastewater produced foam/ bubble due the electroplating process and the usage of the surfcnt, brightener and wetting agents.

Really need any experience operator or engineer that work in electroplating industry to help and guide me.

This is my sink.

I wonder how this drain hole filter was arranged in the rack...during chrome electroplating...

I mean why the brass from the top side itself is visible...where the thickest chrome layer is plated...it should wear and tear the last

Was the part arranged wrongly on the rack?

Running a mixed zinc-die-cast and steel hardware line (buckles, pulls, small brackets) and this comes up constantly, so here's how the decision actually plays out on our floor after a lot of trial and error.**The honest starting point: it's about parts-per-batch and finish tolerance, not "which is better."****Where barrel wins for us:**- **Volume.** Anything in the thousands-per-batch range goes in a barrel, full stop. A 300L drum does what would take a rack line 4-5x the floor space and a small army of loaders. Labor per part is brutal on racks for tiny parts.- **No rack marks.** Small parts on racks need contact points somewhere visible, and every contact tip is a touch-up. Barrel parts only touch each other and the drum.- **Cost per part.** Barrel loading is a scoop and a timer; rack loading is a skilled job. That difference compounds at volume.**Where rack wins for us:**- **Anything that tangles.** Flat stamped parts lock together into a "snowball" in a drum and come out with miss-plate shadows where they sat against each other. If two parts nest, they don't barrel — simple rule that's saved us a lot of grief.- **Flat and thin parts.** Below roughly 0.8mm steel, parts ride the drum wall and get dragged rather than tumbled. Rack them or they'll plate unevenly.- **Cosmetic spec.** When the customer calls out bright finish with no scratches, rack wins. Barrel burnishing leaves micro-scratches, and parts banging around for 45 minutes at 8 r/min shows marks on anything show-chrome or bright nickel.- **Tight thickness control.** Rack current density is per-position; we can engineer fixtures with thieving or auxiliary anodes where coverage is thin. Barrel is a statistical average — great coverage overall, weak at edges and recesses.- **Large or delicate.** Beyond hand-size, barrel loading becomes a two-person lift of a soggy, hot basket — or the parts come out bent.**The hybrid reality:** most shops we know run both and move product between them as specs change. We've re-quoted parts from rack to barrel when a customer relaxed the cosmetic spec and price became the driver — and barrel to rack when a tangle "snowballed" three batches in a row.**Process notes that matter in both:**- Barrel speed: 6-10 r/min. Too slow and parts slide instead of tumbling (local burn); too fast and thin parts stick to the wall.- Loading: 45-60% of drum volume. Above that, tumble quality dies and you get contact miss-plate.- Rack contact points: re-tin them. Oxidized tips = intermittent current = layered deposits that peel. Most "mystery adhesion" we've chased turned out to be contacts, not chemistry.- Current density: barrel runs lower (bright nickel ~0.5-1.5 A/dm² effective on parts) vs. rack 2-5 A/dm², and barrel needs the temperature held tighter because you can't throttle individual parts.**On data/logging:** biggest improvement in our shop wasn't chemistry — it was logging current, temp, and transfer times per batch, so when a defect shows up we can see whether it was a parameter drift or a loading mistake. Barrel defects correlate strongly with load size; rack defects with contact condition.What's everyone else's rule of thumb for the crossover point? Do you rack anything that's remotely cosmetic, or do you run bright-finish work in barrels with a burnish polish after? And for the tangle-prone flat parts — mixing media in the drum, or is racking the only reliable fix?

Hey all- I want to setup a 15 gallon bright nickel plating tank to provide good base and corrosion resistance before chrome plating. Can anyone knowledgeable about how to do this share their input-

These are my main points of concern I am trying to solve

1. How can I add agitation to the nickel plating 15 gallon drum without stirring up any sediment at the bottom of the tank

2. How to add heating to the drum- i understand most nickel plating setups operate around 120-140 fahrenheit or so

3. What anodes should be used and how should they be suspended into the tank- will they just hang from the side of the drum?

4. Is filtration needed with some type of pump? If so does adding a pump into the tank that filters the solution also provide agitation and solves that problem?

I believe this plating setup can be done very well. I have attached a photo here of another plater who does a Similar setup but larger with 55 gallon drums. I want to understand what is happening in his setup. Can you guys explain?