Metal Plating Tips

Electroplating is an industrial process which coats a material with a plating metal such as chromium, cadmium, nickel or zinc. The process has recently been adopted by hobbyists and small home businesses.

In industrial use the plating process is complex due the magnitude of plating involved, usually large materials to plate and tank volumes of the metal salt solution. The actual plating process is the exchange of cations from a metal containing solution, usually acidic, by high voltage electrolysis methods of the metal salt cations onto a receiving surface. Electroplating is common in most steel manufacturing processes, including stainless steel and airplane parts with mostly aluminum or cadmium plating, just to name a few. The process has recently received popularity in jewelry. It has always been a jewelry process, although in mass production. The concept of gold and silver plating for the amateur, hobbyist or small business has increased with brush electroplating, using small volumes of electrolyte solutions, making it cost effective. This is not oil painting or water colors since the solutions used in metal plating are hazardous materials. Brush plating basically involves brush stroking local areas of the subject medium with the plating solution coated into the brush, usually stainless steel, wrapped in cloth. It is still electroplating with cation displacement but with low voltage and not mass production. The outcome is silver, gold or platinum plated rings, necklaces, earrings and other jewelry products.

Small volume electroplating still has obstacles, as in large volumes. Safety is an important concern in that electroplating solutions are hazardous, such as sulfuric acid which is a common metal salt solution. There are also legal and disposal issues with deposition of waste solutions, which under EPA regulations would be classified as a hazardous waste. Regardless, small volume production can be very cost effective.