Electroplating At Home

[Vich]

Just noticed that my Accutron which is humming nicely still no longer looks as "golden as it used to".  The sides are really worn now and look more like nickel or SS whilst the back which is separate is still in really good condition, this after only about 8 months, though I did wear it continuously for about a month in LA and was hot and sweaty most of the time. 

 

I have a couple of 10k Accurton cases and may swap it over. But I would not sell this case on to anyone.  I think that the person I bought it from must have used an immersion kit to give it a good but quite temporary shine.

I was wondering if anyone has dabbled in home plating.  I have a bit of old gold in my drawer so the raw material is there.  I believe the solution can be made up by dissolving gold in a Hydrochloric / Nitric acid mix and then you are looking at the transference via a current through the liquid.

 

Has anyone tried this ?

 

Cheers,

 

Vic

[Geo]

Not tried it yet Vic, but I've been thinking about it for a while.

[mwilkes]

What, no fire-gilding with mercury?

[bobm12]

I've been entertaining the idea too and was planning to start with this kit:

[Vich]

I think I will look into it.  It seems like an interesting and potentially usefull thing to be able to do, especially with old watch cases or even crowns. 

 

I like Bobs info particularly the electroplating in miniature part. 

 

I think that one of the highest costs is the soulution itself and if we can get that bit sorted out it might be quite feasible.  Worth a shot anyway.

 

Cheers,  Vic

[bobm12]

Glad you can do something with this one. If you launch yourself into it first, please let me know. I'm in the process of getting a watch waterresistant tester so this one might have to wait lest the wife squeals! :)

[NigelNorski]

Hi Vic, I have somewhere in the house a book on home electroplating I'll hunt it out for you...

[Vich]

Thanks Nigel, I will PM you about it.

 

Still tied up with the amp but always on the look out for something new and interesting.

 

Bob's suggestion is looking good as those small kits are available in the UK as well.  i think the most costly thing is the electrolytic fluid, if you can make that yourself I think the problem is largely cracked.  Lots of nasty chemicals involved but nothing I have not used before.  Muriatic Acid is, I believe just Hydrochloric acid which is available from most DIY places as it is used to wash down brickwork - further research needed :D

 

Cheers,

 

Vic

Edited October 26, 2014 by Vich

[NigelNorski]

Found it Vic....

[bobm12]

Thank you for posting Nigel, I'll look for it too!

[Mark]

I used to have a big plating machine. There are two main kinds of plating, flash plating and hard plating and I used to do both with it.

 

Flash plating OK for anything that will not come into contact with your skin as it will wear off very fast. This is more useful for plating watch hands or movement plates etc. not so much for plating cases due to the lack of durability. The pen plating kit falls into this category.

 

Then there is hard plating. This is suited for watch cases as the plating is more thicker, typically 5 or 10 microns or more. The hard plating solutions are very prohibitively expensive for one-off jobs and you need an agitator as the piece needs to be in the solution for a long time and always on the move.

 

Some materials (like brass) will need a base coat (nickel (poisonous), Rhodium (expensive)) to start with as you cannot gold plate directly onto it.

 

I never managed to plate onto SS as I never had the knowledge or equipment to do so.

 

I am by no means an expert on plating, just a complete novice really. I keep a pen plating kit as it is useful for touching up bit and pieces on occasion. But I would say that plating onto a SS case could be very difficult and I would rather send the case in to a pro.

 

Be warned though - if you do get into plating (it's fun) then you will be looking all over the house for stuff to plate :D

 

I hope this helps.

[Vich]

Thanks for the info Mark. 

 

I take it that you purchased your electrolyte rather than made it up yourself.  It seems like that is the main cost. 

 

I just thought it may be interesting and a bit of fun and you have confirmed that.  I am still on the research phase but it seems like it is not too difficult but some of the chemicals are a tad nasty.  Loads of stuff on you tube about it - one is a guy from the uk using household cleaners to make up the electrolyte !? I have not seen all of his Vids yet but had to laugh as he explained that there was a US patent which he could not infringe then proceeded to tell what the constituent components were.

 

Cheers,

 

Vic

[Mark]

Never made my own salts - used to purchase from CooksonGold.com or HSWalsh

 

Now I just use a pen plater and I only use that a handful of times a year. There are sellers on eBay with kits at a reasonable price so that may be the best route because the kits from Cookson or walsh are quite pricy.

[bobm12]

Mark this is amazing information only gotten by experience. Thank you for the heads up. I'm also -- eventually -- planning to get into plating! Therefore my previous posting.