Electroplating of most metals using 1 single chemical solution.

[Peterae]

I was talking with Chet as he has experience of electro plating metal, i am interested in learning how to plate metal strips.

Chet told me an easy way to do this is to use a method of brushplating.

So i did a search on yourube and found a fantastic video by  Robert Murray-Smith THANKS Robert if you ever read this.

He found a patent US7235165 but because this patent is active he had to change his formulation of the brushplating chemical

The thing is that the chemical mentioned in the patent is only a carrier chemical, you use an anode of the metal you want to be plated, and for the cathode to be plated you run a brush that has the metal placed inside a piece of foam to make a brush and pump the chemical into the sponge, you run a current and rub the brush over the metal object to be plated.

The chemical does not consist of the plating sulphate as per the normal plating process, once used you can reverse the current and use a carbon rod in place of the original anode and it deionizes the fluid thus allowing it to be used for other metals.

Very Clever, very easy to make and a lot cheaper than buying a brushplating kit.

The patent is here
https://www.google.com/patents/US7235165?dq=7235165&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pa6lU5zYL8SZPbvbgYgG&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAA

and Robert's video is here in 2 parts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trrVeix0nS4


I then realized that if the a pen had it's ink unit taken out and a metal say copper was inserted and the fluid was pumped down the pen case, you could draw using a 3d printer frame to make 3d metal objects of varying metals.

I have not tried this but it has occurred to me that this is one thing that is not easy with 3d printers.

[muDped]

Peterae,

Many thanks for discovering this and making us aware of
it.  As and amateur electro-plater whose been searching
for such an all-purpose formulation this is very, very useful.

The chemicals utilized are relatively inexpensive and
commonly available and most importantly, are non-toxic
as well as reasonably safe when used with care.

Brush-plating or some variant of it are great fun.

[ion]

I get a "corrupted file or not a pdf" when I try to open that last document with either Open Office or Foxit reader.
Anyone else have that problem or is it something wrong with my computer?

[Centraflow]

same with me here

regards

Mike

[Peterae]

I did PM him, when he re uploads and it works i will delete our posts 

[muDped]

Thanks Peterae,

Last night on my little old Toshiba laptop I printed the page
to file and it opened on my pdf reader - although the file may
actually be in postscript form.  I've downloaded the .pdf for
the patent and I'll upload it here to replace the other questionable
file.

[ion]

Many thanks, dumped. This one opens.

Turns out I already have this from the link posted earlier, which I downloaded to pdf. Wasn't sure if I had it.

[Chet K]

Peter
Away working ATM [again] this is truly wonderful information .
I believe this Fellow is talking at Aaron's event in Idaho USA this month.
a remarkable man .

thx
Chet
ps anything you fellahs need for your experiments in plating , let me know.[send you samples]

DON'T buy any Kits or exotic equipment , a clean very small dc supply[or battery] and a cotton ball
with a few alligator clips is all you need to play here and get excellent results.

Here is where I buy my supplies [in the USA].
http://www.uyemura.com/

[Peterae]

Thanks Chet

[ion]

I want to electroplate some very clean copper tubing, about ten foot long coil, 1/4 OD with silver approximately 10 microns thickness. The plating must be fairly uniform.

I have a lot of silver / copper alloy wire (several thousand feet) but don't know the formulation percentage of the alloy.

The wire is 0.019 " and 8 feet give approximately 0.167 Ohms so 0.021 Ohms per foot. This is better than copper of the same gauge but only by about 20%.

I can also use some old silverware or coins, but these are not always pure.

Would it be best to keep the PV and current low in order to pull off just the silver ions?

Anyone good at this electro chemistry stuff?

[muDped]

In order to attain a pure silver plate upon the object being
plated the plating solution must not be contaminated with
any other metal.

It is relatively easy to purify scrap silver to remove copper
and other alloy metals from it but it is a dangerous process
involving Nitric Acid.  The fumes produced (Nitrous Oxide) are
very hazardous and deadly.

Once dissolved in the Nitric Acid to form Silver Nitrate, this
solution is mixed with Sodium Chloride to precipitate the
pure Silver Chloride.  This is carefully filtered, washed and
dried under low light conditions and stored in a dark glass
bottle until ready for the follow-on procedures to produce
pure metallic Silver.

For those experienced in Chemistry it is a basic process
but requires extreme precautions.

High quality silver plating is done with Cyanide solutions which
are deadly poisonous.  Although there are several electro-less
mixes which can produce Silver plate by either immersion in the
solution without any electrical connections or by rubbing the
compound onto the object being plated.

Electro-less plating is very thin.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Here's a formula for a cyanide-less immersion plating solution:

12 Ounces Sodium Chloride
12 Ounces Cream of Tartar
1/4 Ounce Silver Chloride
Distilled Water to make One Gallon of Solution.

Use hot but not boiling.  Add Silver Chloride as needed to
keep it plating.

From The Electroplater's Handbook by C. W. Ammen
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The all-purpose plating solution is reported to do well with Silver
but the details on the Voltage setting will have to be discovered.
Most Silver plating baths operate at from 1 to 2 Volts at room
temperature.

[ion]

Thanks Dumped

Based on your input I will have to find a different strategy.

[Peterae]

Or use the solution above and a piece of 99.999 pure silver which is not really that expensive, although ideally i would use a pure ring of silver with the pipe threaded through, you could use a piece of foam between the ring and pipe and maybe some plastic washers with holes in to center the ring around the pipe circumference, then soak sponge with the chemical above and run the ring/sponge up and down the length of pipe until you have a silver coating.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-x-5-GRAINS-PURE-999-FINE-SOLID-SILVER-BULLION-BAR-INGOT-UK-SELLER-FREE-GIFT-/281082290119?pt=UK_Coins_Bullion_Bars_SM&hash=item4171cf5fc7

Be carefull on ebay though, there's a lot of fraud with precious metals, i mean is that 5 gramm bar really 0.999% silver or 99.999% LOL

[ion]

I was describing exactly that method to Chet just now, then came back to the computer  to see that you have already posted it. We are thinking in the same direction about this.

I was going to use a small gearmotor to pull (at a controlled rate) the copper tubing through the felt washers that sandwich the silver electrode material, allowing some freedom to the felted plating assembly so it rides the tubing.

Maybe a 35mm plastic film container with 1/4"  or slightly larger holes punched on either end, the felt or foam inside with the plating solution.

[Peterae]

Maybe a 35mm plastic film container with 1/4"  or slightly larger holes punched on either end, the felt or foam inside with the plating solution.

Sounds good 
You will probably need felt or something soft rubbing against the newely plated silver so no to scratch it .