Thread: Tha Adventures of Nick L Plate

Didn't really know where to post this but as I researched this with a view to refurbing some old tools, I'll put it here.
I'd like to refresh the nickel coating on some old hand planes so I signed up for Youtube Uni and learnt all there is to know about electroplating.
It is surprisingly easy to nickel plate metal objects. Really the only thing out of the ordinary you need is some pure nickel stock. Some titanium wire is handy but not essential.
Pour some white vinegar into a suitable container, add some salt to improve conductivity. Suspend your nickel plate either end of the container (If you can't bend the nickel so it hangs over the edge, suspend it off the titanium wire. Titanium will not contaminate the solution.)
Connect a DC power supply to the nickel and you are underway. It needs to be fairly low voltage and current. An old phone charger is mentioned a lot on YT. I have an adjustable DC power supply so I didn't need to butcher a phone charger. This is the first step to make the nickel Acetate. Leave the power connected to the plates for several hours till the vinegar turns a light green colour. Bubbles will form on the negative plate and the plate will be, eventually, consumed but you would need to make a LOT of nickel acetate to wear out a plate. Once the nickel acetate is done you are ready to start plating.
Acetate.jpg
After about an hour of cooking

I was looking for a test subject, this being my first attempt, and spied my Eclipse surface gauge. It rusts fairly easily and needs to be cleaned up a couple of times a year so it volunteered.
Before1.jpgBefore2.jpg
A little bit of surface rust here and there.

Electroplating doesn't hide anything. The cleaner it is going in, the cleaner it will come out.
I hit all the bits to be plated with a scotchbrite type wheel. They were then sprayed with a cleaner/degreaser and rinsed off.
Before they went into the plating solution they were dunked for a few seconds into neat hydrochloric acid.

The parts were individually suspended from titanium wire and connected to the negative of the power supply. The positive is connected to both nickel plates, that are still suspended in the acetate solution and the work piece is lowered into the solution.

Plating.jpg
Plating in progress

The pieces were left in for around 10 mins, they were rinsed and dried and the gauge was reassembled.

After1.jpgAfter2.jpg
All shiney bits plated.

I should have spent a lot more time cleaning them up and removing minor dings and scratches but it was just a test piece and I was keen to have a go. I can always redo it too.
I will experiment with a few more pieces before I try a plane body but I was pretty happy with how it all went.
The coating is not very thick but it should provide a degree of corrosion protection.