My first attempt at electro-plating

[thor447]

I have successfully completed my first attempt at electro-plating.  I have a few cases that were prepped by stripping the old plating and fully polishing (which took ages doing by hand).  About 2 weeks ago I bought a book on the subject of electro-plating.  I read the book cover to cover a few times (it was a very small book), and I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the process of electro-cleaning, surface activation, and the application of bright nickel plating.  I also received some incredible help from a member of this forum who provided me with some info and tips that they've learned throughout their time in plating.  I'm happy to say that my first try at this wasn't a total failure! 

Here are the results just after the final rinse.

I wanted to plate about 20 microns on the case.  My thought was that it would give me a little cushion to smooth out some of the defects.  Thankfully the defects were actually quite minor.  There was a small section where the plating looked to have a slightly rough surface.  I believe this occurred when I was adjusting the position of the case in the tank.  I bumped the anode and it came into contact with the case for several seconds.  Everything else turned out quite nicely, with the exception of that rough patch.  About 1 minute on a soft cotton buff with some white Dialux smoothed it out beautifully. 

I'm really pleased with the results!

[pent]

Very nice!  Could you share what abrasive compound you used to strip down to the base metal.  I'm practicing this on a few old pocket watches with mixed results getting to base metal.  Thanks!

[thor447]

11 hours ago, pent said:

Very nice!  Could you share what abrasive compound you used to strip down to the base metal.  I'm practicing this on a few old pocket watches with mixed results getting to base metal.  Thanks!

I hand sanded starting with 400 grit (lightly), and worked my way up in grits until I could put a full polish on it.

[CYCLOPS]

Cleanliness is one of the keys, wear gloves [oil in finger prints], the article will come out like it went in, I mean if polished it will come out that way, if brushed the same.....have the correct anode, some solutions do better with heat, so many videos on this too......

[Tsjai]

Well done! Can you share what book you read or share your process?

I want to learn this as well but online information is not very accurate