Gold plating

[Fred in NC]

Anybody ever try doing some gold or silver plating?

I have been considering plating as a means to making my own clips out of brass and then plating them.

Thanks !

 

[Scott]

I remember going through some rather extensive discussions on plating over at the Yahoo group. Lots of interesting products were looked at, and found to be not all that great. I think the overall conclusion was that to do a good enough job with the plating you'd be better off sending it out to a professional. Now, if that situation has changed, I would LOVE to hear about it! I would really like to make some of my own parts and have them plated!

Or you could try the Poor-man's plating - powdercoating! Even I have a powdercoating set-up. You can get some pretty durable finishes with powdercoating, lots of colors, and relatively easy to do.

Scott.

 

[DCBluesman]

I've tried gold-plating and wasn't all that pleased with my results. After that, I made friends with a local jeweller. I now swap him pens for his services. That way we both get wholesale pricing! [8D]

 

[Fred in NC]

Lou:

Do you mind telling what was wrong with the results ?
Thanks !

 

[DCBluesman]

I got the gold plating from a craft supply house. First of all, I was re-plating. The gold adhered differently in different parts of the metal I was working with. I could never get a consistent level coat across the entire small piece. Next, it seemed to wear off quicker than professionally plated pieces. Also, it required several coats, each of which were messy to apply and harden(at best). Then there were the obnoxious chemical smells.

Now, take all of this with a grain of salt. I'm a former accountant and a current consultant. If I was any good at this stuff I'd have chosen different fields of endeavor. [8D]