Added: 4 years ago
From: Bobensen
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  • wont that make chorline gas?

  • hey dude in this video YOU SMOKE A LOT

  • i actually tried the same thing except i connected a nickel to positive and a penny to negative. the penny was somewhat coated with nickel but it was not as shiny as yours. my finished penny was kind of silvery-copper colored. What solution did you use to plate the penny in nickel?

  • Comment removed

  • what was the power supply? how many volts? amps?

  • get at least 100,000 penies and get yourself a camera that actualy focus !

  • in the vidio at the end the polished one looks like it says 2666 :p

  • how do you make the solution back in sold.

  • SHINY!!!

  • i know this is an old video but i still want to know how to make that kind of set up and what chemicals i need and other supplies to do something like that but engine and gun parts

  • Hi.

    I was sold "nickel strips". It looks nothing like the nickel on nickel plated things but close enough that I could ignore my doubts.

    I've put 2 strips on either cathode and anode and dunked them in vinegar with the slightest hint of salt to speed it up. It's turned turqoise blue. The anode side appears rusted (but not rusted) while the cathode appears like a really dark shade of 'copper' (brass?). Do I NOT have nickel?

    Replacing 1 "nickel strip" with a coin and dunking it in only... p1/2

  • ...darkens it. A while later the edges appear burnt and darkened, which from past reading tells me that the voltage was too high. I've tried all the above with both 1 9v battery, 2 9v batteries in series and 2 9v batteries in parallel. Similar results.

    Can anyone help me?

    Cheers.

  • how resistant is that plating? will it hold up or do you need to coat it with a lacquer

  • Clever stuff, hence I can't do it! Would you mind looking over my recipe to see what I'm doing wrong here? SOLUTION Nickel Sulphate & distilled malt vinegar. 1 part NS to 6 parts DMV. Left to settle for 1 week ANODE Nickel welding rod (for Cast Iron repairs) CATHODE Mild Steel. All rust & grease removed by electrolysis POWER UNIT ZX Spectrum PSU - 9 Volts DC @ 1.4 Amps CONTAINER Old plastic box. TIME TAKEN Half an hour! RESULT Bubbles & Fizzing, but no plating occurs!
  • The solution you use to nickle plate is just vinegar, a small amount of salt, and a nickle bar? I thought you had to use some speacial solution you buy. Thanks for the tutorial.

  • I have a nickel plating gel, any idea how it works.

  • One question and one suggestion.

    - Question, what is the solution? Salt and vinegar?

    - Suggestion: Make a little basket instead of a clip to hold the pennies, and every minute move it a little, so then you won't have marks on them.

  • @tonetta1234

    Yes the solution is Vinegar and very little salt. Keep in mind that this video was taken when I first started with my plating experimentation, currently I do have baskets and holders for objects being plated. Thanks for the suggestion

  • Jesus your video skills SUCK, but the process is cool

  • banjo kazooie

  • Hey, is the anode supposed to made of nickel or will any other metal do?

  • If the video was IN FOCUS, we could see it too!

  • @40172

    Well, Im sorry you were unable to see it but me and everyone else saw this video pretty well. Mybee time for new glasses?

  • banjo kazooie?

  • This video is dope...great details. Quick question, how would I copper-plate some hardware.

  • @Drumminsince89

    Please look at comments below, I believe I posted how and if not I will tell you within a week (I am very busy at the moment)

    Thanks for watching!!

  • @Drumminsince89 yeah lol copper ps3 lol :D

  • that was really cool man, wish I had one of those pennies

  • I work for the government, and if you don't want me to report you, send $50,000 to my YouTube account. Just kidding! This video rocks!

  • @MattBeckstrom

    Thanks

  • I do not know why it never dawned on me before, but plating looks like it would be an interesting hobby that could more than pay for itself in the long run:)

  • I wonder if the bank will accept it? I hope they do xD

  • Love the music.

  • I have had good results with FM 61 Nickel welding rods which are readily available.

  • That was amazing and definitively something I have to try. What kind if power did you use? I'm guessing a switching power supply won't do? My linear supply is only 2A@12V do you think that would work?

  • I found the answer further down.

  • woot for banjo kazooie / tooie music!!

  • which voltage did you apply to the anode when the plating was undergoing?is it possible to do iron plating on Cu?

  • @knowsh

    I used 15 volts and yes it is possible to plate iron on copper

  • Thanks. But I hardly see or hear anyone coat iron on copper. Have you done any or could you tell me how to do it?

  • horrible voice...

  • I agree, It was

  • if you alternate the electroplate layers , Ni,Cu,Ni,Cu, Ni,Cu into 100's or 1000's of layers you could make a very efficient thermocouple, after making thousands of alternating layers you would need to grind the edge to keep the layers independent on the edges.

  • dude.. u need a camra stand... or someone to hold the camera....

  • I had one but it ended up breaking so I used a jar for my stand

  • Ok, I forgive you. Can you tell me the average surface area covered per amount of NiO solution? And where can NIO powder be purchased?

  • could you send me some of those rods

  • Visit

    ---.electroplatingandsolutions­ .webs.---

  • Your voice.. :p Anyway, thanks for the vid, refreshed my memory on the basics of electrolysis.

  • Yes i Know it was funny sounding.... i was having some throat issues

  • Thanks for the reply. I'm having a dickens of a time trying to find pure nickel. I checked welding supplies and they only carry nickle alloy rods. Your's are "pure" nickel right? I did discover that certain guitar strings are wound with pure nickle wire so I'm going to check with a base player I know to see if he will let me have his broken strings.  LOL I only want to plate a hand full of fishing luers and it is not worth the cost of commercial supplies of nickle oxide or sulphate.

  • what about the opening music from banjo kazooie

  • Good Job. Have you ever tried plating over lead with either copper or nickel? What would be the best way to protect parts of an item that I don't want plated? Tape, fingernail polish (laquer)?

  • I never tried plating over lead yet i will eventually get to it when I have more time... In my opinion the best way to protect an object from being plated over is a thin coat of laquer or silicone or something. Tape would just get un stuck and fall off.

  • Good video, I have two questions.

    1) Could I use Lye (NaOH) instead of table salt (NaCl), thus avoiding the release of chlorine?

    2) Could you do follow-up - platinum plating nickel plated copper? ... It would make a beastly home-made electrode.

    Thumbs up for wearing gloves, hope you had goggles too.

  • what's the dark orangy solution made of?

  • Haha... Banjo-Tooie music... first thing I noticed....

  • What happend to your voice dude?

  • Thats a very good question, I wish I knew.... I got it back now

  • What you use for solution? baking soda and water?

  • use baking soda instead of salt with vinegar so you dont get  brown discoloring!

  • cool

  • good am..

    i was backreading.. and u said to dissolve nickel in solution? what is solution? just plain water?

    another thing.. do you know where to buy pure nickel? our local hardware does not have nickel welding rods.. thanks

    the video was very educational... keep them coming..

  • @AC5881 I'd like to know the plating solution too, its very similar to chrome plating...

  • ventilation?

  • the anode is positive and the cathode negative, so you have to use electricity so that the electrons will migrate to the negative cathode and attract the positive nickel ions which will plate the penny.

  • Nice...I bet you you can do it with platinum..over nickle..for PEM fuel cells..lowers cost..

  • Comment removed

  • Comment removed

  • have u ever styed stainless steel plating

  • I'm in the process of customizing a pistol and I would love to nickel plate a gun slide and frame. Would I use this similar process.

  • Yes you Could do this but if it is a nice pistol I would probably have it professionally done unless your really good at it.

  • Thanks for the reply, I think I'll take your advice and have it professionally done.

  • your solution changed color becuz your nickel sulfate dropped. ph should be about 4.4, use h2so4 to lower.

    you dont want the penny to dry, it oxidizes which is whay youre trying to clean in the 1st place. 13V? if you use less current it'll look better.

    acetone, WTF?

    btw Cu uses less current becuz the solution is more conductive, especially if its CN based. Acid Cu solution (dark blue) comes out SHINY.

  • I need to nickel plate some carbon steal flat springs...In a way that is perfectly safe to touch it on the daily bases...

    Can you tell me how to do it?

  • You can probably Plate them and possibly put a clear coat on top of the plating or you can plate them in another materal like aluminum or chrome

  • Nickel Plating on utube may help you. coo-op is the only way to over come, rave on.

  • Ok, I made the solution with 2 nickel rods, vinegar and salt my solution turned the greenish bluish, I then tried to plate a very clean penny and it turned black can any tell me why

    Thanks

    abombws@charter,net

  • Do you have any idea where we can find pure nickel ? Or where to look for it ? I live in Europe. Is there something that we can buy and it has pars containing pure nickel ? Thank you for your article . It is very helpfull

  • I would like to know the composition of the solution you used because i need to do a presentation of it in class and well i need to explain everything in detail thanks much appreciated and btw cool mini lab

  • Sorry for the late replies, (I have absolutely no time) My nickel solution just has distilled vinegar, pinch of salt, and electrically dissolved nickel. Thats all. If you need any more info send me a message.

  • when you say dissolved nickel, thats just from running it, right?

  • Yes, I just ran it but with a nickel cathode in place of the penny.

  • thank u 4 responding 2 my question . great info.

  • Nice tutorial. I would like to plate the inner walls of the holes on my home-made PCB. What would you recommend for making the walls conductive? Graphite works in only 10% of the cases. :(

  • Dude, your voice is really weak and shaky. Was it late at night or what? (Great tutorial, btw)

  • Thats What many say, I've always had an odd voice... Oh well...

  • can u use a simple ac adapter hooked up to allegator clips for a basic power source?

  • Yes you can. As long as the output Current is DC and is above 500mA ish

    And yes USE Allegator clips The way I did it in the video didnt work out very well and I went back to clips.

  • what would be the minimum voltage and amps you need to dissolve it?

  • Well there really isnt a minimum voltage or amps. The lower the voltage=Longer waiting time. I would recommend 12+ volts and atleast 1+ amp. But anything works

  • those bubles are chlorine (atleast it is when it's water) so you might wanna be careful.

  • You are only slightly correct... I admit there is a verrrry small ammount of chlorine gas but the bubbles are also Hydrogen, and oxygen due to the breaking down of the water. The only way chlorine is produced is when there is salt in the solution due to the NaCl. If it was pure water there would only be hydrogen and oxygen H20...

  • your solution looks unheated, thus at room temperature. Comercial platers use heated tanks. Have you tried heating it? Also, how pure is the nickel welding rod? I've heard that copper 'poisons' the process, so for instance you can't use a nickel coin, since it is alloyed with copper.

  • I've heard about heating the solution but I never tried it. I will eventually get a hot plate and try it out. The rod Im using is 100%pure nickel. And yes it would be a bad idea to use a Nickel Coin because it does have 75% Copper and 25% Nickel which isnt much nickel... So when you try to plate using a nickel as an anode it will not plate well because of both the copper and the nickel in the solution, So yes copper in the solution is BAD.

  • I live in canada and some older quarters have as much as 99.9% nickle

  • is the nickel welding rod just sitting in the solution dissolving on it's own, or is there current running thru it prior to plating?

  • In order to disolve and to plate there must be a current running through it at all times.

  • Thank you.

  • respected sir, what current in amp did you applied for plating and moreover what was the constituent of electrolyte solution. why did you dipped the penny in to vinegar salt solution. is there any other solution

  • That's right, it was a nickel welding rod. Maybe some other source of iron?

  • I really have no clue.... It just randomly turned that color over night. currently my nickel solution is Blood red right now.... I have no clue Why... I think it might be because i have a lot of chloride ions in the solution.

  • The reason it turned brown was from the stainless steel anode dissolving in the solution. It is the iron that is brown.

  • I didnt use a Stainless Steel Anode.... I used a 100% nickel annode at all times....

  • what would the result be if you evapourated the vinegar solution. I assume you would be left with some kind of copper but could you tell me exactly what it is called. Also if you did evapourate the vinegar would you be able to mix this substance into pure vinigar to saturate it with copper instead of preparing the solution by electrically dissolving the copper?

  • could you replace the nickle with a zinc nail if you are using 2 aaa batteries? or would you need to use a power supply like you, or a 9v battery?

  • Well if your looking at plating zinc that would work. I am planning on making a zinc plating video. For plating zinc, 2 aa batteries would be fine.

  • thks it tried it. i took a penny and sanded it down to get the zinc core. i took another penny and plated the penny with the core. with 3v of power it took about an hour to evenly cote the penny. Note: it takes a lot of time to polish with toothpaste and it might look like there is that black stuff on the penny but it is just the deposited zinc so if you polish it, it should be mildly shiny

  • Yea I used a sanded down penny before I used zinc strpis.

  • material that u used as anode is melting road of Nickel. nn the cathode is nickel too??? why the colour of both of them different?? anode for electroplatting is negative isnt?????? not positive.but in volta cell anode is positive

  • how do you get that stuff????

  • Easy for me at least.

    Almost all household

    items. Except for the

    welding rods.

  • what's the yellow solutions ??

    wts in it ??

  • is is,

    Electricly dissilved nickel

    Salt

    Distilled Vinegar

  • I mean if any dangerous gas is produced?What is produced by plating nickel?

  • Well first of all, Nickel isnt the safest metal to be constantly touching because it's a heavy metal. As for the gas being produced, thats Hydrogen and Oxygen with maybee a tiny trace of clorine gas (when you get enough salt in it) but not enough to hurt you. Still the hydrogen with oxygen is explosive and can cause some big problems if it encounters a spark or flame. Thats why if I use higher voltage while elextroplating (more hydrogen) I am by a door or an air source (just in case)

  • Is this safe?

  • Ummmmm... It really depends what your definition of safe would be....

  • did it plate the part were you attached the coin to? the coin hanger?

  • somthing just happened i need ur advice on i was working with zinc chloride and i have a jar of vinigar set aside to clean my tools with

    while making the zinc chloride i set a drill bit and a pair of tweezers in the vinigar and left them there by accedent

    when i wend back several hours later the vinigar was green any thoughs?

  • Well, Thats kind of odd... The Vinegar could have dissolved something or if you contaminated it some how. I have no idea. Thats kind of like my copper solution, it randomly turned green a day later....

  • if it turns green that means it has sucsesfuly dissolved into the water

  • ummm, great, but what about if i want to plate a part from my car, like from an audi 80 the enigne belt metal cover???

    you need a bucket for it....

    And i heard not vindegar but distiled water.

  • Well, if you used distilled water, there wouldnt be any acid in the solution to hold the dissolved nickel. In order to plate you need an acidic solution. I believe you might have heard mix nickel sulfate(or W/e) with distilled water to get a solution which is very true because the NiSO4 contains sulpheric acid.

  • umm im trying this how long does it take for the solution to become completely saturated with nickel?

  • With my 15 volt transformer, It took me about an hour to get it completly saturated.

  • Question! About the solution. I´ve read the ingredients;

    -Distilled White Vinegar ( Any type of Vinegar will do, right? )

    -for my jar, about 2 tsp of salt

    -Electricly Dissolved nickel

    So, here comes the questions!

    -for my jar, about 2 tsp of salt

    How much Vinegar is there room for in Your Jar?

    And further, this recipe is for the "cleaning" solution?

    How do You dissolve the nickel?

    Just with electricity and water, until it turns green?

  • do you know anything about gold plating?

    ive been trying to find a way to plate a necklace my gf has its a pure substance but its lead so im a little worried for her heath i cast the neclace myself so naturally she loves it so getting a new one is out of the question

  • Really, No i havnt had a chance or even enough money to investigate it. The only thing i know is that it's similar to nickel plating. Well, I dont even know if you can even plate gold on lead but i have been suprised before. Sorry I couldnt help you.

  • I must say its very strange seeing someone doing, doing as a hobby, what I do for a living keep it up.

    I don't know if it would work in your soloutions which are very differnent to what we use in the industry lol, but try adding a little Saccharin to it, it should give you a more ductile, less brittle finish, it will vastly improve plating on any thinner strips of metal.

    I wish help you more I don't know what chemicals would be readily availible. I guess 96% Sulphuric acid is out, lol.

  • where do you get it in the inustry?

  • Did you use nickel welding rod,or stainless steel welding rod? I tried with nickel welding

    rod , and all that happened was the penny turned black.....What else do you think I could try,to make penny ,nickel shinny ?

  • Well lets start with the basics, you must first get nickel in your solution before you start plating. Also when you start plating be sure your nickel rod is on the + and your penny is on the - side of your circuit. Also before plating CLEAN YOUR PENNY VERY WELL!

    see if this fixes it-

  • where do you get your solutions?

  • I made it myself

  • tut/or where you learned please?

  • I just did a lot of research on the internet about nickel plating did a little bit of experementing. the process is nearly identical to my copper plating. Look under my previous comments on how to do it. If you need any help feel free to message me.

  • when say electrically dissolves nickel, you mean the nickel from the welding rod right? I'm also assuming another source of nickel could be used right?

  • Yes that is correct.

  • Nice ideo however you kinda lost me...Being as I have never done this before I have no idea about how much current, what was the orange liquid etc. Maybe you could do a HOW to series from building the electrial componants, what meterials you need etc.

    Also, do you know if it is possible to Plate PLastic. I understand that plastic is non-conductive however, I know that it is possible, just not sure how to do it. ( see bronzing baby shoes)\

    Thanks ;)

  • 1.Pour some vinegar in a jar.

    2.Add a pinch of salt (increases conductance).

    3.Add a pinch of sugar (shiner(optional))

    4.Connect (+) battery terminal to nickel anode(metal you are using as plating).

    5.Connect (-) battery terminal to temporary cathode(metal you are trying to plate with nickel)

    6. Wait a few hours for nickel to dissolve into solution till it colors(usually green or yellow)

    7.Replace temp. cathode with metal you want to plate.

    8.Wait a few minutes and watch what happens.

  • YAAAA BANJO KAZOOIE MUSIC!!!

  • Can U nickel plate aluminum?

  • I Think you can.

  • whats a converted ATX power supply??

  • go under my videos and find the one called

    My Converted ATX Power Supply

  • You Sure???, well Ok...Thanx......

  • how to make the solution on your bus bar?? the green one?? what are the ingredients??

  • You dont need a bus bar (I was just trying out different ways at the moment, even now i dont even use the bus bar) Just relate to my copper plating video to show how to connect your terminals. the ingredients:

    -Distiled Vinegar

    -2tsp salt

    -electricly dissolved nickel

    Thats all there is to it

  • how to make the electricity machine you got?? how can i made theme/??

  • That thing I just shown was my switch. I used a 15 volt DC wall transformer. Now i use my converted ATX power supply.

  • how do you dissolve the nickel?

  • To dissolve The nickel in the solution, Get your Nickel Annode and Hook it up to the Positive end of your circuit (3-15v) and hook another piece of metal (could also be nickel) and connect it to the Negitive end of your circuit (that will act as your temporary cathode). Turn on your power source and wait ad wait for about an hour (or until your solution turns green.) Then When Ready Replace your temporary catode with the object you want to plate.

  • So what is the nickel plating solution made of? what are the ingredients? can u please tell me?

  • -Distiled Vinegar

    -2tsp salt

    -electricly dissolved nickel

    Thats all there is to it

  • Hi Bobensen,what are the actual ingredients and amounts in your plating solution?If you don't mind my asking.

  • Its Really not that hard to make this silution. And no you don't need to be exact with the amounts. I used-

    -Distilled White Vinegar

    -for my jar, about 2 tsp of salt

    -Electricly Dissolved nickel (look around in my old comments to find how to do that)

  • Ah Finally! You were totally correct about getting stuff clean. It appears even though one may think clean is enough,...it's not. I went for the "boil out" and then did a water break test. The items appeared cleaner and therefore plated pretty good. Other experiments with brass and silver are in my mind at the moment.

  • I re-did the experiment again with the same results. Then I reversed the procedure to coat the nickel with copper using the same electrolyte. This time I used a 1.5vdc battery charger and got the same results. The bright blue solution clouded and the nickel developed a very "faint" copper coating. Any suggestions? I will attempt more experiments tomorrow again until I get a positive hard coating. I had charged the solution using a nickel on both anode & cathode. The coin ended up half gone

  • I'll have to post this in 2 sections...I boiled the nickel and penny coins in water and then cleaned them with acetone.  Used SS rod to support the penny and hung the nickel coin in the elctrolyte consisting of 4-1 (vinegar-hydrogen peroxide) + 1/2 tsp. salt. Ran a 9v phone battery charger for 15-20 min. The electrolyte turned to a bright "lagoon blue." I then hung the penny in the solution for approx. 10 minutes. It developed a "crusty" dark brown soft coating. I cleaned it in distilled H2O.

  • I used distilled apple cider flavored vinegar. A slight greenish tint noted. I'll prep & clean better with a white vinegar batch. Should I use a nickel for both anode & cathode.run current till green then penny for cathode? I used stainless steel leader wire for supports of the anode and cathode. They blackened but cleaned up well. The nickel was blackened but cleaned up, the penny, turned snow white. 99% rubbed off. I will post results tomorrow evening. Thanks!

  • Thank you for the info. I tried the experiement today and it worked but took quite a long time. I did not use a "bus bar" but instead hung both the anode and cathode off of the side of the glass jar. Should this matter? I'm wondering if that was a cause for such great delay. The pennies coating was very weak and powdery? I used a nickel coin for the anode.? I will try again tomorrow. Thanks for the response!

  • It is fine you didnt use a bus bar (I was trying new ideas at the moment) Try cleaning your cathode better if you havnt done it already. also what color is your solution? You may want it to dissolve a bit more.

  • The metal "clip that supported the penny to the bus bar...what was that? Stainless steel, nickel?? Thanks!

  • Just a scrap piece of stainless welding rod. You can also just use normal alligator clips. (I was just trying the idea out)

  • Any real difference between "white vinegar" and regualar "apple or cider vinegar" which is a very light tea color? Also, one would not be able to use and metals that are a mix like a "nickel-aloy" rod etc? The DC transformed that I previously mentioned 3V-12V

    has a selector switch to lock on to that voltage. Once I decide to cut the factory plug, how would I note which is the + side being that there is no markings? Thank you!

  • First of all it really doesnt matter about the type of vinegar you use. I would just use white vinegar (If you have any). Secondly, about the aloy thing, plating aloys is not possible but if you have a nickel aloy rod it might be possible to plate nickel, Try it out. And about the power supply, try using a voltmeter. If you do you can find the positive side.

  • If I did a penny silver, would I be able to use a "SILVALOY-15" welding rod or must the silver be "pure?" What is the steps for charging the electrolyte w/silver. Both + & -polls first, then remove - side and hook up clean penny? Thanks!

  • Hello...very nice. I have a couple of questions. DC source of power? I have a Radio Shack AC adapter 120vac input. Output 3-12V variable select. Can I use this? Also, the cleaner vinegar-salt? any specific recipe as well as the electrolyte for the plating? I would like to experiment with this. Thanks!

  • srry if i am doing difficult.

  • srry for asking

    can you say the sulation,

    where you hang the penny in.

    (srry for asking (stupid me))

  • Hang the penny where? I hung the penny pinched between a clip I made that i hung in the nickel plating solution. I also put it in a salt vinegar solution before plating.

  • nickel plating solution,

    is water and?