Science Committee now has Silver Plating Solution as well as Nickel and Copper.
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@John_Marlow The nickel solution and annode, along with the power supply is in the corner of the science shop (Lab?). Josh said he used 400 milliamps if I recall. Notes are on the Committee drive.
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Part cleaning is the most important part of the plating process to ensure good results. What do we have available to do that? Do we have either an electrocleaning solution, or a suitable degreasing dip?
nope
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Isopropyl alcohol (we have) or acetone (don’t k ow if we have)?
Does Science have an ultrasonic cleaner? That is a suitable first step.
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vector and science both have, theirs is easier to use.
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First step is just cleaning: TSP is, even dish soap as a basic degreaser.
Usually then either an alkaline wash or more commonly an acid etch to remove surface oxides, 5% White vinegar is good or a weak solution on Acetic acid (which what’s in Vinegar). Using the ultra sonic cleaner might do a better job, but it is the solution that’ll be doing the real work.
These above gets you away from a lot of the toxic stuff. But if more aggressive then you still need to do a degreasing, then use other things and based on the metal: HCL, S2SO4, HNO3 as the etch.
If doing Aluminum, there’s another step called “Zincating” which you have to do before plating. You can acid etch aluminum to get rid of the oxide coating, but it instantly reoxidizes with a thin film before you can get it into the plating solution: aluminum oxide is a decent insulator and the prevents plating from bonding. This is for plating not anodizing of which there are several types and slightly different process.
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Looks like Science found its newest expert teacher!
All good. The focus is different, practical verses less theoretical (but not that much, you still have to understand what’s going on.) I won’t be doing how to do plastic, the silvering class was interesting - probably more applicable to Glassworks projects than Machine Shop.
You could teach the silver plating in Machine Shop!!
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