Nickel plating help

[Hartacus]

My E30 tools started to rust. I gave them a rust bath and removed the rust.



I then created a nickel plate solution song a 2amp 5v charger.

One side came out pretty good, the other side came out horrible.

Any idea where I went wrong? Did I just not leave it in long enough?

[ZeKahr]

My E30 tools started to rust. I gave them a rust bath and removed the rust.



I then created a nickel plate solution song a 2amp 5v charger.

One side came out pretty good, the other side came out horrible.

Any idea where I went wrong? Did I just not leave it in long enough?

Looks to me like there was some residue (the dark gray blotches in the 1st and last pic) on the “horrible” side that reacted with the nickel plating solution when you ran electricity through the solution. Never done nickel plating though so just a guess on my part.

[jbontke]

When parts are plated in larger bins, they suspend the metal item so that the electrolysis process can easily access all sides. I would try again, but suspend the wrench by a wire or something.

[Matt@EDC]

As above, suspend the the part in the solution. Even then, you may want to turn it 180deg to get even coverage. You can almost think of it as the nickel hitting it in ‘line of sight’ coming of the anode.

I do my own zinc playing for my E30 project and use two anodes, one each side of the plating bath, and a pump to circulate the solution and agitate the expelled hydrogen away from the part (not entirely necessary, but preferable).

Good work with the DIY setup and having a bash! Just polish it down, give a good clean and have another go.

[Hartacus]

that's a great idea and nobody explained the direct line of sight before. Thanks, that will really help