Electroplate Stainless Steel With Copper

[@nicamarvin]

here is the science of the process: Good grade stainless steel should have about 75% iron, 15% Chrome and 10% Nickel, stainless steel when exposed to air will form a thin(invisible) layer of Chromium oxide that will prevent any oxidation from taking place and it also prevents any type of electro coating taking place, when you dipped the piece in hot Copper Chloride solution the chloride ions attack the chrome oxide surface and the piece becomes active now(as opposed to being passivated) and since iron is less noble than Copper(Cu2Cl + Fe = Fe2Cl and Cu) Copper is plated directly to the now activated piece, but since this is a form of displacement plating(no electroplating involved) the coat is not adherent at all, but now that the piece has been activated is ready for Copper electroplating

[@nicamarvin]

Another way to plate Copper on Stainless steel is by Nickel plating it with a Woods Nickel Strick(an all Nickel Chloride electroplating bath), the science is the same, Nickel Chloride activates the stainless steel surface and plated with Nickel, then that piece can be copper plated as usual

[@perrygershin3946]

Thank you so much for this explanation, I had always suspected that the hot copper chloride was altering the surface in some way but I didn't know exactly what was happening. I have no formal education in chemistry, it is just one of my hobbies. I try to research my experiments before I perform them but wikipedia can only take me so far.

[@TheCommonstudio]

Great video thanks a lot. Would other acids work to similar effect? Hydrochloric/Ferric acid? I am trying to plate something on a tight deadline and it looks like copper chloride is somewhat difficult to obtain where I am. If not, any reliable sources for copper chloride? Can I buy the crystal form and make this solution myself? Please advise.

[@ThalesPo]

@@TheCommonstudio how did that work? I'm guessing the hydrochloric acid works even better to attack the oxide that forms on the steel. We don't need the copper ions for that, I'm guessing. Phosphoric acid would work too, I think. It's a very strong acid, and less dangerous to work with than sulfuric acid, and you can just buy it over the counter.

[@suwitbuaboot9191]

@@nicamarvin I would like to know . Now I work at plating factory have problem about Copper cyanide plating on Stainless SUS 304 . I found about blister problem. Flow of Cu plating is degreasing , HCL dip, Ni strike, Cu plating. Please let me know how to improvement blister defect. Thank you very much

[@donaldjohnson406]

Thankyou for sharing your hard work with me. I'm a collector of copper bottom pots. This looks very interesting to me.

[@perrygershin3946]

You're welcome Donald, glad you liked it.

[@zk-dm8iv]

I like that u show the times u went wrong and what happened and dont cut it out as most times people only show the successful times of experiments

[@lord_alchemist14]

This is actually a nice informative video; as someone who wants to try electroplating for the first time, it is very comprehensive. However, may I ask what is the concentrated copper chloride solution used for? Is it for the copper to stick better to the surface of the knife? Thanks, and I look forward to your response.

[@bitacorachile]

Dear Perry, Thanks a lot for your video, so good. A big hug from Chile.

[@mikeholmes3203]

I stumbled upon something needed to clean the glass insets of a lamp I was restoring for a home I was working on for a customer, someone mentioned the toilet bowl cleaner "The Works" to clean it and it did work very well getting all the old rust stains off the glass, it also managed to change my stainless steel sink into more of a gunmetal black color, it didn't rust as I recall, wondering if that could be substituted for the hot copper chloride step?

[@MadScientist267]

I'd assume a dip in hcl probably accomplish something similar. But useful to know. I'm looking at plating the outside of a stainless beaker with copper to use inductive heating with it... this is useful information indeed.

[@perrygershin3946]

Thanks for the comment. I wish you success with your beaker.

[@TheIncredibleSpic]

Great video! Do you think if you were to use a small torch it would have changed the color drastically like titanium and aluminum anodizing colors are?

[@dieterkrause1674]

excellent description - well made video

[@EWOK278]

Thanks heaps for sharing all aspects. Great work

[@perrygershin3946]

You are very welcome.

[@d-not-u]

Pretty amazing experiments and results 👏

[@perrygershin3946]

Thank you for the comment.

[@farhadjabbri4331]

possible if you do etching before have a better result. if you etch before the copper won't wipe out.

[@BobbyBurgess-kd7rl]

I learned something new today.I was seeing that the church of scientology are making L.P. records out of stainless steel (for keeping future historical records) which have an incredible lifespan, but in order for them to be cut (recording grooves). They are nickel plating them first.....at first I thought my leg was being pulled....but Wow...

[@MadScientist267]

And if it's true, the cut is in the nickel, not the stainless. Brilliant 🤦‍♂️

[@chandlerhearn9883]

I would love to have records that aren’t as easily scratched. All my vinyl is junk but I love it.

[@wh0tube]

Modern alchemy! 😍👍 next, we’ll turn gold into copper! 😁

[@perrygershin3946]

I wish I knew how to plate a brass finish onto the stainless steel. That would make it look more like gold. That would be more complex though, it would require adding two metals at the same time.

[@wh0tube]

@@perrygershin3946 why? 😀 isnt brass cheaper than stainless? Is there a particular application you need stainless steel hardness with the look of brass? Could you fuse/melt brass onto stainless steel? Torch and brass brush, or brass leaf and flux?

[@MrAppie9090]

Lol 6 minutes in: I haven't actually been able to successfully do it. 😂 You said that, but it's still pretty funny imagining someone go missing that and going "wtf!". Anyway I found that the way to hie is loooooow and slooooow when plating, I use a nickel layer in between the stainless and copper, it grabs the stainless perfectly and holds the copper very well. IF you go 1 volt 100 milliamps. Also keeping the solution in motion helps against pitting and domes and multiple anodes is the way to go. I use 2 when plating a knife. One on each side and the slow method is bearable. Otherwise you'd be there all night rotating the object for a uniform coating. This what I found to work the best. Could be wrong ofcourse

[@Badlegabiharjansuraj99]

How much voltage & amphere used

[@gautamjain3030]

Can you use Aluminum Potassium Sulfate, AlKSO4? I cannot find potassium bisulfate near me.

[@dmprdctns]

Hello... Thanks... Very informative... Well done. Say, can steel be plated onto steel? No word on that, anywhere... Thanks...

[@gouthamkumar1750]

Use diluted HCl dip to degrees and to remove oxides before plating

[@graememorris7820]

Thank you for sharing. I want to copper plate stainless bolts that secure a boats portholes. I would like them to have a similar appearance to the bronze of the portholes, and I'm wondering if the plating might even help reduce galvanic action between the two dissimilar metals. I will try your etching method. Many thanks.

[@klabrecque2478]

I may be wrong, but I believe I was reading recently that bronze can be plated onto objects. I know for sure brass can be plated onto things. That would cut galvanic corrosion I suspect.

[@rplazola]

Thank You so much, I could gold plate some stainless with this method, copper, then nickel and then gold.

[@klabrecque2478]

Or just a nickel strike & substrate layer, then copper then gold. Or skip the copper and go straight for the gold?

[@Yhrim70]

Thanks for sharing this video! Very Interesting, I think I will do some testing myself, as I need to copper plate a steel part.

[@perrygershin3946]

A method that works on stainless steel may not work on regular steel, they are two very different metals.

[@Yhrim70]

@@perrygershin3946 sure very true, but if you can copper plate stainless steel... surely there is a way to plate steel without nickel plate first. It's not that I mind doing the nickel plating, it's just pure nickel material is fairly expensive [for me at least at present] for anodes, especially to buy enough of it to have a large enough surface area to plate medium size parts... especially when it's just so I can then turn around and cover it over with copper. Got to be some way... In any case, Thanks again for sharing this video, just watched it again for the.... I don't know, I lost count. Still giving it some thought, maybe if I ever get the time I can experiment a bit again.

[@perrygershin3946]

Just for testing, welding rods can be purchased that are 99% nickel, you just have to remove the flux coating. It is not too difficult to get zinc to stick to iron, I have done that with some iron railroad spikes. It sure stops the rust that will inevitably form without some kind of protection. Maybe you could then do copper onto the zinc. This is the reverse of what I do in the video, zinc onto copper, but I don't know what the result would look like. Here is a link to a discussion about copper directly onto iron but it doesn't offer much hope. www.finishing.com/00/64.shtml If you do some experiments post your results, regardless of the outcome, as failures or success are both useful information.

[@Yhrim70]

@@perrygershin3946 Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. However, you can't plate copper onto zinc, if the copper solution is acid based, as the acid just eats the zinc off in a matter of seconds. Learned that the hard way.

[@omaralyousfi1862]

great job thank you for sharing us your experiment

[@perrygershin3946]

Thank you for the nice comment Omar, I'm glad you liked my video.

[@EssexSilvering]

Interesting video, thanks for sharing .......... I am doing the same process but my own solutions to get a copper plate on aluminum instead of anodizing.

[@daveharley8387]

The volume is too low on your camera.

[@mohsinali660]

Very good sir it's amazing 😘😘😘😘❤️

[@joblow-g5u]

You are kalish tether Amish friendo

[@doranmaxwell1755]

either speak or get a new microphone.

[@TVBASICINFO]

Such a long process,,,, is it worth the effort, time and money..??, after all it's just plating,.