Easy DIY Nickel Electroplating - Electro Plating Made Easy

I quite fancied nickel plating one of the restoration projects I've been working on recently I'd never done it before so I thought we might as well go on this journey together the items that you need are readily available some white distilled vinegar a bit of table salt nickel which is easily bought off the internet and a power source I'm using an old phone charger one of the most important items is a cup of either tea or coffee served in a DIY Dave mug available from our merchandise store links in the description first of all I'm going to sort out the power supply I'm going to bare the ends and attach a couple of crocodile clips you don't necessarily need to do this you could always wrap the bear wire around the nickel I have a feeling we're going to use this system quite a lot in the future so I thought I might as well make it as robust as possible these particular mini crocodile clips come with handy plastic sheath to avoid shorting should the wires ever accidentally meet now the next stage of the process depending the course we come from in the world is to either solder these on or solder them on each equates to the same thing and will render the wires firmly in position with that done we can set about testing the power supply this particular adapter comes out at six and a little bit volts DC it's very important to have a direct current for this particular process and not an AC current one thing to note is that the power outlets in the workshop are protected by an RCD a residual current device if you don't have this option it might be worth put in a small inline fuse on the positive wire the next stage is to get our nickel electrodes I'm using the ruler so that we get to approximately the same size pieces now this particular piece of nickel is 100 millimeter square by one millimeter thick now it turns out that nickel is quite tough I wasn't really expecting it to be like this don't know why but had our done so I would've widen the frame out a little bit as you can see shortly it's a right pallava with our pieces cut we're just going to bend the ends over so that we can hook it on the side of the jug now we're going to make our electrolyte solution we're going to use a distilled vinegar which is acetic acid and we're going to add a bit of salt which is sodium chloride the salt isn't completely necessary but it does help the electrical conductivity of the solution around about a tablespoon you'll be fine it's important to know which is a negative and positive wires if you don't know beforehand that you certainly will do soon after switching the power on the negative electrode or cathode will start bubbling this is hydrogen gas being released it's worth pointing out that this process should be completed in a well-ventilated area whilst the volume of hydrogen gas expelled isn't a huge amount it still is a flammable gas and that volume of vinegar tends to pong a little rotten as well I don't have any passage of time footage but this is 30 hours later I only had a small container so I didn't want to push me look too much with a higher voltage I did want the solution to be nice and saturated as well because I did believe it was going to be proportionate to the amount of plate that went onto the item I was quite amazed at how much of the positive electrode or anode had been taken into solution I was also intrigued by the way the metal had changed during the course of the process and the beautiful crystalline shapes that had formed there was however a certain amount of residue left at the bottom of the pot this is nickel sulfite nickel fines as they are called or no doubt just the impurities in the metal now that we've made the solution we better stick it to something so here's a brass fitting that I'm just polishing up the nickel won't fill in any blemishes so it's important that the part is in perfect condition before you plate it it's incredibly important now that the parties degrease thoroughly you don't want any finger grease on it or polish residue here I'm using an acetone free brake cleaner the item is now placed in plate as pickle this is 50 percent water to 50 percent hydrochloric acid or muriatic acid again depending where you come from in the world it's important to note that the acid must always be added to the water and not the other way around as it causes a thermal reaction this section of the process can be left out but it's best practice to do it as the acid etch is the surface and allows a nickel to key better to the surface being plated after a minute or so in the acid we're going to clean it off in fresh water it's time to put the power back on and put the item in the electrolyte solution the part to be plated has now been connected to the negative wire and has become the cathode whilst positive wire is connected to a fresh piece of nickel and has become the anode I thought I'd give you a real-time demonstration of how long it takes for the nickel to be attracted to the part talk amongst yourselves for a minute nearly there wait for it that's 30 seconds and it's already picked up a thin coating as you can see the part being plated acting as the cathode is now emitting hydrogen gas the electrolyte solution now contains electrically charged particles called ions the ions are attracted to the opposite polarity the positive ions in the solution are now being attracted to the negative polarity of our part which is acting as a cathode and coating it in nickel the part was left in solution for an hour and a half to give it a good coating there is some pitting visible on the part this is due to the hydrogen bubbles this can be alleviated by adding a surfactant which breaks down the surface tension of the bubbles right it's time for a quick polish and see what we've achieved I have to say that I'm extremely happy with these first-time results in fact depending again where you come from in the world I'm either chuffed to nuts or I'm stoked please like and subscribe so we 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Channel: Restore and Make

Views: 153,440

Keywords: easy, electroplating, nickel plating, electrolyte, cathode, anode, copper, copper plating, gold, diy, electrode, faraday, ion, ions, nickle, nickle plating, restoration, restore and make, restoreandmake, restore, antique restoration, tool, tool restoration, silver plating, woodwork, metalwork, home workshop, project, home project, home school, electrolysis, voltage, volts, science, science project, home science project, easy electroplating, easy nickel plating, diy dave, brass, hand tool restoration

Id: jCXGDdlKxc0

Length: 8min 18sec (498 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 06 2020