HOW TO DO GOLD PLATING SIMPLY (electroplating) (gold plating)

[foxfan12345]

Time to bling out ma keys

[jstarks21]

Lol at first I thought the design on the tray was electrodes and had something to do with the process.

[moosedrummer1]

Damn you're good! But the music is gay as hell.

[lynchjaguar]

@moosedrummer1

Youtube stock library man..........

[cincinatus90]

I dont understand. Is there gold in the pink liquid?

[georgeevans18]

could u gold plate for me?

[lynchjaguar]

@georgeevans18

What were you thinking of having done (and what metal is it currently?)

[jbiohjdfio398476y3]

real gold?

[lynchjaguar]

@jbiohjdfio398476y3

Real 24k gold

[MrGrandDragon]

I have a copper GPU water block that I wish to gold plate. I live in the UK so I think shipping would be relatively cheap. The only concern I have is regarding the Acetal top (over side) which might be affected with liquid. Are there ways to isolating the copper from the Acetal block? Would tape be a good idea?

[lynchjaguar]

@MrGrandDragon I do not know what acetal tops are to be able to help you on this one. If the part you want to plate can be removed then all the better, if not, then you ideally should be catching all your run-off anyway (as it is supposed to be re-used etc)

[Hyzing]

@MrGrandDragon why would you gold plate a gpu water block it would ruin it especially with gold... copper was chosen for a reason

[lynchjaguar]

@Hyzing

I'm staying out of this...I know absolutely nothing about water blocks etc lol

[1superocky1]

does it wear of easy ?

[lynchjaguar]

@1superocky1

It is the same as any gold plate. It is not hard wearing like chrome for eg, but if you put enough on, then it can take a beating! It is cobalt hardened 24k solution, to give it a longer life. It will wear off eventually if constantly rubbed, but it will take much more than un-hardened gold plate.

[1superocky1]

@lynchjaguar thank you , looks very good.

[arsacd]

what are these solutions?

how can i make them or where can i buy them

[lynchjaguar]

@arsacd

The gold solution is £49.20 for 100ml from goldsolutions.eu. Postage is £2.75 or even quicker to just email glocom0800@hotmail.com so we can directly send you a paypal invoice for the full amount. All the kits, chemicals and plating solutions are available from goldsolutions.eu (click online shop and then explore)

or we have some deals on ebay also. (tweegee is the seller name)

[kenshinbattousai374]

@arsacd It's basically a solution of gold in nitric acid. This results in an aqeous solution of Au ions with a 4+ charge.

[lynchjaguar]

@kenshinbattousai374

No this is not any kind of acid gold solution, it is gold potassium cyanide solution in electrolyte.

[gavbutt1]

Hi. I'm thinking of getting a plating kit to plate the sides of my iPhone 4. How would I do this??? I think it's alloy. ???

[lynchjaguar]

@gavbutt1

It is stainless steel (albeit matt) and quite easy to do. you do not take the phone apart

the kit comes with detailed instructions on how to do iphone 3 and 4

[SuperBG1990]

@gavbutt1 It doesn't plate, don't try it.

[lynchjaguar]

@SuperBG1990 what doesn't plate?

[Jordan56096]

how did you do the xbox? you can do plastic too?

[lynchjaguar]

@Jordan56096

No you cannot plate plastic without expensive conductive paint that has a low success rate

We just bought chrome plated xbox covers online (where some factory does all the hard non conductive plating with their equipment) and stripped the chrome off and plated onto the conductive nickel underneath. Easy!

[chisaoboy]

Interesting. Thank God for the volume control.

[JackTheFossilMan]

You could gold-plate your delorean; it's covered with stainless steel!

[AnderZ312]

thats an expensive ass keychain.

[lynchjaguar]

@AnderZ312

Believe it or not, there's only about 30pence worth of gold on there!

[guitarsz]

@AnderZ312 i think it's just a regular keychain...

[FRANC1300]

wtf is in that glasses?it looks like strawberry juice?pls enyone i want to know what is that wather some special liquid?

[ebgrisi]

@FRANC1300 Gold solution. gold is solid, but if its attached to another compound it could become liquid to better plating of things. they won't tell you what is in the solution, because that's an industry secret... I think it is potassium gold cyanide: KAu(CN)2, which is gold ore with KCN (toxic) and water but not sure.

4 Au + 8 KCN + O2 + 2 H2O → 4 K[Au(CN)2] + 4 KOH (electrolysis its the opposite of this)

The cathode must be coated with some cation exchange membrane so it wont get plated.

[lynchjaguar]

@ebgrisi

It is just regular gold potassium cyanide gold (doesn't even need hazmat lables it is that un-dangerous alot of peeps hear the word "cyanide" and think of dying ninjas etc- but there is cyanide in apple pips. The amount in here is tiny and it is not even accessible as a gas in this solution

The croc clip is not treated with anything, it is platable this presents no problem however.

[ebgrisi]

@lynchjaguar Actually it is classified as: "Very toxic (T+)" and "Dangerous for the environment (N)" it might be safe to use, but still it should be with careful usage, to avoid contact with the eye, for example. About coating the croc, that was just for not wasting gold on something you will use a lot to do this. Now, could you answer me this? What is the activation, before the plating?

[lynchjaguar]

@ebgrisi

If the solution we use was classified very toxic and dangerous for the environment, then it would at least require certain labbeling and transport laws (hazmat) which, according to hazmat rules (having asked the environmental agency) it doesn't! If you drank a pint of the stuff then sure, you would not do yourself any favours, but that is the case with many things that are not "very toxic"

[lynchjaguar]

@ebgrisi

You can protect the croc clip from plating if you require, but in reality the cost of the gold lost on the clip is so minute, especially versus the amount of profit made on the goldplating service. Plus, if you are brush plating, then the croc clip doesn't get plated anyway, as you should keep the probe/swabbing at least a certain distance from the clip. The prep chemicals that come with the kit are either nickel activator, stainless steel activator or chrome stripper

[lynchjaguar]

@ebgrisi

the activators and the chrome stripper included in the kits are also hazmat friendly and require no special transport or training etc-

[ebgrisi]

@lynchjaguar So it just lower the energy needed to coat it? Is it essential? I was trying to learn it because I wanted to gold plate copper wires, so I get better sound quality on my project, but I think I'll try to learn the toslink. Thats because this equipment cost wouldnt get paid back, because I wouldnt sell anything! I just wanted to know the basics, to try an amateur coating later...

I was wondering if I use a small piece of gold instead of gold solution (not brushing), would it work?

[lynchjaguar]

@ebgrisi Technically speaking, you would be better off nickel plating the copper wires first, THEN gold plating them, as gold straight on copper will not prevent oxidization of the copper underneath the gold. However, i do not know how much of a problem oxidization is for wires in terms of doing their job (especially if they are insulated in plastic casing) in which case you may as well go straight on with gold.

The lower the voltage, the slower the action.

[sazid420]

what are the solutions did he used for making this plating??

[lynchjaguar]

@sazid420

All solutions used here are available from us at goldsolutions.eu. Stainless steel activator then 24ct gold solution (with added cobalt hardener)

[oneodakine]

how do you gold plate aluminum?

[lynchjaguar]

@oneodakine you have to use a chemical called zincate and then rinse and nickel plate for about 20 minutes, then nickel activate and then finally goldplate,

[lynchjaguar]

You can buy chrome plated console covers and use the kit to strip the chrome off which is easy and then you have a nickel surface which is easy to plate

[lynchjaguar]

You first have to cover it in very expensive conductive paint, then copper or nickel plate it, then finally gold plate it. It is a very difficult process to get good results from, not to mention expensive! It is done in the industry by using vacuum environments for a perfect paint finish that will be mirror when plated on (something that is very hard to do manually)

[lynchjaguar]

The video showing how to do an ipod without ruining it is now up!!! Type in gold plating ipod: the ultimate how to and you will see just how quick and easy it is to SAFETLY plate an ipod while wasting no gold solution at all! All in less than 10 mins!!!

[jimbob202019]

@lynchjaguar Real 24k gold... i dont think thats 24k gold.

P.s can you plate over sterling silver?

[lynchjaguar]

@jimbob202019

This is real 24k gold. And to plate over sterling silver, it is best to nickel plate first and then activate and THEN gold plate.. If you plate straight on with gold, then in a years time or so it will look manky as there is a reaction of the silver under the gold (and the gold will just mimic the exact finish it is plated on) but a barrier layer of nickel will always prevent this and keep the item shiny. This is done over any metal that is known to badly tarnish. This is 24k gold

[lynchjaguar]

Real 24k gold going on, it's this quick and easy to do an ipod, provided you get do it in a way that doesn't allow liquid to get inside the ipod at all,....i shall be adding a vid soon that shows just how to do this (BEWARE any vids showing an ipod just put down on a sponge and plated on top of....this will cost you your ipod if you try this trust me!) You can only do that if it is just the BACKPLATE detached from the ipod, if the ipod has all the innards and workings, they will get wet and ruin