Nickel plating at home

[chrisfell]

After a long time of pondering I thought I’d try and plate some fasteners. It goes like this. Search the interweb for plating kits. Baulk at the cost. Search the interweb for eejits who claim to have done this already using household products. Disbelieve them all. Another search, more claims using cheap available household products. Think, oh what the hell, it’s only a couple of quid.

I used. One 600ml bottle of distilled white vinegar; two pieces of pure nickel; some copper wire left over from a house re-wiring project; salt; old plastic soup carton saved from the re-cycling bin; an old phone charger 5v 1a. Total cost of new items £5.
And it worked reasonably well! It was a bit fiddly but it worked.


Drawing about 220ma at 4v


Initial setting up, turning clear vinegar into green electrolyte by plating a nickel cathode from a nickel anode.


Parts in the electrolyte waiting for power on.


Comparison before and after.
The initial trial was with two untarnished washers, they came up really bright.
Fresh out of the electrolyte the parts are disappointingly dull, but a few seconds with polish and they brighten up nicely.

[JerryL770]

Interesting project Chris. Some questions:

- where from did you get your nickel? Fleabay?

- did you do anything to remove the rust first?

- how durable is the finish do you think?

I know copper plating is difficult at home as the copper does not easily stick to the iron unless using the right electrolyte and copper coating first would likely (if it stuck proper) give a more durable finish.

[Tom W]

Very interesting. I would research hydrogen embrittlement before you get too involved with plating anything that’s safety critical.

[chrisfell]

Jerome,
Fleabay sourced nickel.
Rust removed with a wire brush.
I should have acid etched the parts before plating to remove the last traces of rust.
I’ll use limescale removing toilet cleaner, (hydrochrolic acid).
Electroplated nickel is durable, but its function is to oxidise instead of the iron in the steel underneath. It is a sacrificial plate.

Tom.
This is a good point. These are simple fasteners. Plating them brings them back to their original, nickel plated finish. Even though some of these fasteners will be fitting the steering rack, the radiator, the fasteners will not be highly stressed. The HRC of 8.8 bolts is on the lower limit of susceptibility to HE, but given that they were only in the plating solution for a minute or two, I have no worries about hydrogen tunnelling into the fabric of the bolt and resulting in failure.

[cactusman]

Agree Chris. Doubt hydrogen embrittlement will be an issue. With the elfin safety hat on soluble nickel compounds are known to cause skin irritation and have been identified as potential carcinogens with extended exposure so I would wear disposable gloves when doing the plating especially if you have sensitive skin.

[265bhp]

hi chris

nickel plating is really satisfying..i have done dozens of components..see my restoration thread....i blast cleaned most parts..varied the length of time for plating depending upon their size...small threads like 3/16 and even 1/4 need to be around 25 mins or less..otherwise safe to plate up to 45 mins..careful of build up on edges..ensure you never get too much current...all good fun...

all the best
jonathan

[chrisfell]

“I would wear disposable gloves ”
So would I. I always have ar least one spare box of gloves in the workshop/garage. Never attack the car without them. Keeps my delicate white collar cuticle free from all that nasty blue collar muck and grime.