Nickel Electroplating in the Home Shop - A Shocking Way to Prevent Rust!

Today, we're trying out nickel electroplating for the first time in the home shop. We're going to nickel plate the mild steel rack storage pins we made in a previous video so they won't rust, tarnish, or corrode in the coming years. Nickel Electroplating turns out to be a very simple process, involving vinegar, salt, nickel, and electricity. For a total amateur, it turned out great.

Tools used in this video:
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00:00 Intro
01:18 What is electroplating?
02:18 Making the nickel acetate solution
06:29 Test plating a wire
07:58 Preparing parts for plating
08:54 Electroplating steel parts
10:11 Initial results
11:26 Buffing the plated parts
12:11 Examining the results
12:57 Conclusions

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[jeffbrassard]

Home or shop electroplating is a bad idea and the notion that it is a simple process is ridiculous. Reliably electroplating metals (nickel, copper, zinc, tin, chromium, brass, etc) requires specialized equipment, hazardous chemicals and process knowledge that are not available to home enthusiasts. All electroplating takes place in a specific process sequence that involves multiple cleaning, rinsing, de oxidation steps before the plating step can be initiated. These process steps use strong and potentially hazardous industrial chemicals. This should only be done by people who are in the electroplating and surface finishing industry. In addition to the potential for exposing the hobbyist to hazardous chemicals most of the products used in electroplating would be considered hazardous waste by the EPA so disposing of them is a real problem for anyone not in the industry. Bottom line, do not try to electroplate at home or in a shop. Take your parts to a plating company near you. There are more than 2, 000 licensed plating job shops in the USA.

[dbm]

I love the, “ I don’t know, let’s try “ attitude .
The key to all our knowledge

[eliduttman]

Excellent results, for so simplistic a method. IIRC, top notch work for nickle on steel requires copper 1st. So thorough surface preparation, including electro-cleaning, comes 1st. A copper "strike", which is (sic) frequently cyanide based lays some copper down. After the initial THIN layer from the "strike", a thick layer of copper is laid down. Additional surface preparation, including buffing, may follow. At long last, its time for nickle. So, a Woods nickle "strike", starts the layer off. The bulk of the nickle layer is laid down in a Watts bath.

Nickle electroplating anodes are encased in "Dynel" or similar acid resistant bags, in order to trap the inevitable sludge. Even with bagging, either periodic or continuous bath filtration is necessary. Debris in the bath employed was obviously present.

After honorable separation from the U.S. Army, I was hired in the 4th quarter of 1968 by Bulova Watch Co. as a chemical laboratory technician in the dial department. In that capacity, I acquired some knowledge of electroplating that has stayed with me.

[TheFeller]

The major thing I picked up in my nickel-plating adventures is if you want a shiny finish post plating. You need to polish or buff your part to that finish before you plate it. A very common misconception is the buildup of nickel will "hide" scratching and unpolished surface finishes. This is not the case. It seems like double unnecessary work to polish a part before you plate it but if you are after a nice polish, it is essential. I did electroless plating with old cast iron parts from a lathe. It took several rounds of trial and error to achieve the result I was after, but finally I succeeded. I also discovered if you want a really great finish to plate the parts with copper first, and then nickel plate them. The copper plating is much less fussy, and your parts don't have to be absolutely perfect like with nickel. You do need to polish the copper layer before nickel plating, but copper polishes like a dream compared to nickel or most other metals. Hope this helps, keep on making the great content. Thanks.

[johnmcclain]

I began "copper plating" things when I was about eight or nine, following a recipe in a hobby book and have done it ever since. I worked in an electroplating shop for about six months in Chicago, and ended up enlisting in the Marines. I worked in electronics there and we electroplated all sorts of electronic boards in our repair process. While the chemicals can be intimidating because of the poison hazard, it is easily mitigated with responsible handling and personal education. I grew up in an America when "kids were excited to learn new skills and enter the workforce with knowledge and a plan for life". I'm disgusted with the "zero sum game" being played by so many "fear mongers". Life is dangerous, no one gets out alive.

[firebirdclonefirebird]

Super nice results.

It's hilarious reading the comments from the greenies who somehow think vinegar and salt will destroy the Earth.

[AutoExpertJC]

Nice demonstration. Two comments on this (engineer here): First, it's probably better to refrain from covering a tank in which water is being electrolyzed. (The water is splitting into a perfect stoichiometric mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gasses. This is an explosion - deflagration - hazard, because all the mixture needs to go off is a tiny spark.) Secondly, steel is more active than nickel. Therefore, if a pinhole or other defect occurs in the plating, such as a scratch from abrasion with a weight plate - the steel will start sacrificing itself in a corrosive environment. This is the opposite to the protective mechanism of galvanising (where the zinc is more active than the steel). This is why galvanising is more prolific in industry (because it protects the steel in the way nickel cannot).

Finally, being a pedant - disposal of the chemicals is a real problem, because nickel and other metals in the groundwater is a bit 'Erin Brockavich'. It's also very important not to ad-lib the electrodes. If stainless steel or chrome parts get in contact with the bath, this can form hexavalent chromium under electrolysis, which is exactly Erin Brockavich (it's carcinogenic).

[PowderMill]

⚠️. OUTSTANDING…. As Always!
Thank you.
We just tried this plating project with our fire department antenna mounting brackets that we had fabricated from mild steel stock.
They are only exposed to minor stress, but are most definitely going to be exposed to salt water spray and moisture.

We also have entered the 3D printing world. Your projects and instructions are awesome.

Thank you!!

[Oberkaptain]

Adding on to what Sad Panda said, in my home shop experience with home electroplating and anodizing. I found that once you have your solution made with the cheaper source metals. Use a coffee filter to clean the solutions of contaminates. I then use a glass pyrex container to hold the solution and put it on a chemistry heat plate as I found it works better at around 110F. I then make 3d printed stands for the parts and have only nozzle thickness point touching of the part so there isn't a chance of accidental contact with the anode. I then use 100% pure material for the anode for the final plating process.

[bitofbritlife]

Why so many naysayers? I know, it's because it's far easier to critisize others than do something interesting and put it on YouTube yourself.
I think this is fascinating, and something I will do to small parts on my car restoration. Thank you for taking the time to film, edit and post this. It was done very well.

[curator]

Citric acid works also, and doesn't make a stink. I had to ditch my first batch because being in the same room was unbearable.
Normally parts are pickled to remove oxides before plating, and after degreasing.
Current settings for commercial solutions are around 2-7 amps per square decimetre (surface area of the part being plated).
Setting the current too high will make flaky deposits, especially around corners and closer to the anodes.
Nickel is deposited at a maximum rate of 1.095 grams per amp hour. Some efficiency is lost by the production of hydrogen.
Thickness can be approximated as 12.295 * I * t / A in microns, amps, hours and square decimetres. 20-50 microns is a typical plate thickness, and should take a couple of hours.
If you have accurate scales, you can check how much mass the part has gained and infer thickness from the density of nickel and the part's surface area (although sharp corners tend to plate thicker).
Large distances between electrodes, stirring and moderate heating help distribute the deposits more evenly.
Anodes are usually held in a titanium basket and wrapped in synthetic fabric bags to prevent particulates from contaminating the part's surface.
Bright finishes are usually achieved with chemical additives. Molasses is supposedly a traditional brightening additive, but I haven't had great results with it.
You can check the performance of a plating solution by plating a strip of copper placed at an angle to the anode for a fixed amount of time and current. It's called a hull cell. It's a bit beyond me to explain it here.

Admittedly, I only have experience doing this in a small jam jar with battery pack connecting straps as anodes, and an air pump for stirring. The above represents the sum total of my notes on the subject.

[DaveStar]

I wish all videos on YouTube were like this, thank you for the detailed process

[g.tucker]

Love that warm glow that nickel gives.

[joesmith]

Two things I like about this video: A it was very informative, and two, it was in simplistic terms I could understand.

[johnathonmullis]

I love your content. You do all the stuff I wish I could do. I got crippled up in the military and it’s difficult for me to find things to keep my brain stimulated. I get a great deal of enjoyment from watching your videos. You show everyone these things can be done and what it takes to do them. You show us your setbacks along with your successes. You show us all what men are capable of. It’s great that there’s guys like you still around.

[TheUncleRuckus]

Looks good James 👍👍
My only suggestion would be if you're looking for a really durable finish or if the parts will come in contact with moisture for any length of time would be to Copper Plate the Steel first, as Nickel doesn't bond that well to Steel and, Copper bonds well with both Steel and Nickel. Also if you're looking for a Copper Plating solution pick up some Copper Sulfate Root Killer found at any home store, it's cheap and works great.

[opieshomeshop]

The solution needs to be agitated during the plating process. Keeping the solution flowing helps prevent burning of the plating and also imparts more even plating. You don't want bubbles forming and staying put. The flowing solution moves the bubles so there is constant fluid contact with all parts. Electroless nickel plating is also something to consider. Caswel also has nickel salt solutions so you don't have to make the solution by scratch.

[timmerlives]

Great work. For such a simple process, it came out fantastic. I’ve toyed with nickel plating because rust is a huge issue in my workshop.
So many get into precise “Woods Strike “ formulas but you just winged it and it came out fantastic. Thanks for posting.

[KJEAD]

I used to electroplate nickel onto a molybdenum metallization layer on ceramics. This is a common industrial process used for making a solderable surface on a ceramic assembly. We had various agitating and tumbling devices to keep the plating even. Despite that, it was observed that the metal deposited more thickly on sharp edges and corners of the substrate.

[unclereefer]

Thank you for adding this to the collective knowledge folk like you make the internet a better place