Electroplating. Ooh, shiny!

I am always looking for fun ways to make my products unique and fun. One way is to make things look realistic and metallic! This is why I want to get into electroplating some of the custom masks and parts that I make. Not only to make them really neat looking, but also possibly have some good applications for micro electronics and other fun such things.

I have done a few tests so far, and things are promising, and getting better! These tests have been with simple ingredients, and simple methods, but will soon hopefully get some good results soon!

So, the two basic plating baths you will need are for copper and nickel. Copper is much easier to plate onto conductive plate, but nickel can be very shiny and useful in getting some good finishes.

I was able to make a good copper plating solution that gave a fairly even matte coating using just these ingredients. This youtube video is what I started with. https://youtu.be/5k6x3OzYwDk

1. copper sulfate (root killer in most stores)

2. Sulfuric acid (car battery acid pre mixed)

3. distilled water

4. Miralax (Yes, the laxative.)

For the nickel plating solution, it was even simpler. Here’s the main video I used. https://youtu.be/G-PtnwtOR24

1. table salt

2. A couple of pure nickel rods

3. Pure White vinegar

I used a low amperage wall adapter with some crocodile clips, but I would highly suggest using something very safe. I have since switched over to a small power controller.