Plating lead camé of stained glass

A. Hi Lucille. Other readers may have more experience with this than me, but my understanding is that gold plating will not be bright unless the nickel plating under it is bright.
But if the gold is thick enough to not be porous, I would not expect it to tarnish. Almost nothing is as corrosion resistant as gold which is thick enough to be pinhole-free and porosity-free. It is possible that with a higher current density or improved bright nickel chemistry, the nickel would be bright everywhere, and thus the gold as well.
Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Lucille,
Ted is correct about the tarnish resistance of gold, but in my experience, it is quite possible to plate bright gold onto a matte nickel underplate. Are you able to contact the supplier of your gold plating solution? They are the process experts for your particular chemistry. My first suspicion, based on your remark on the location of the dull areas, is that your issue is related to a low availability of gold ions in some of those tighter geometries. Just my speculation though, as I am not very familiar with brush plating.

A. Hi Sue, Tom's posting was from 1996 so I doubt that he is reachable, and whole 450-page books like have been written on brush plating, like Rubinstein's excellent "Electrochemical Metallizing" [on eBay, Amazon, AbeBooks affil links], so it's not quite clear what specific information you are seeking ... but Lucille's posting should be a helpful start, and Gold Touch [a finishing.com supporting advertiser] may be able to tell you what stuff you need if that's your main question.

Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. What kind of parts do you want to electroplate and do you know what you want to put onto the parts? Is this plating for decorative purposes, or is it for repair or dimensional restoration?

A. Yes, John, there are kits, and there are suppliers who cater to small-lot customers. You will see them by googling 'hobby plating'.

Hopefully your caming isn't real lead, though, because that requires activation in hydrofluoric acid, which is very dangerous and will ruin the glass (although as a stained glass artist you may already be familiar with that).

Either brush plating or tank plating are possible. As long as your don't need hydrofluoric acid (or fluoride-bearing substitutes), it is probably possible to tank plate without hurting the glass. Good luck!

A. I have personally brush plated two stained glass windows each approx. worth 50K$. We plated both sides of the window and the plating had to withstand an outside environment. The windows were each approx. 4 feet in diameter. To do both, it took a crew of two three days. The technique is very easy to do and can be easily learned in a few hours.

A. Dear Scott:

There are at least three shops that I know of in the Toronto area that plate fully assembled Tiffany lamps which is virtually the same as your application. There must be some shops in the New Jersey, New York City area that do similar work. Suggest you contact some of the local suppliers as they should be able to provide you with names. .

A. Hi, John. We appended your posting to a thread which may already partially answer it for you. Nickel plating or nickel plating followed by gold plating will give you that shiny look. You may also wish to see thread 46134 on pretty much the same subject. If you wish to learn about brush plating, see if your library can get you access to Rubinstein's "Electrochemical Metallizing" -- it is a 450-page book on brush plating. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi, Ray. Nothing is impossible. Please see our FAQ: "Introduction to Chrome Plating" to understand the issues. But prepping lead is very difficult since it can only be activated in fluoride-based acids, which are very hazardous. Chrome plating solutions are toxic and carcinogenic, but nickel plating may serve. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Plating on stained glass is very doable. Construction of glass design is very important. You must consider the plating process aggressive since water pressure and tank agitation may cause damage. Also, a racking point (area where item will be making electro contact and supporting item through the plating process) must be considered. Many times stained glass clients need to reconstruct their projects. Send or email a picture or meet with a decorative metal plating shop and ask live what are key criteria for successful plating. We found that decorative chrome plating is harder to achieve full coverage (some nickel shadow) so many people choose nickel plating; however, with several trial runs, success is possible. Stained glass is art and fun. I took a college course on stainless and brass / chrome plated more than 300,000 pieces through my plating shop. Best to your colorful and shiny endeavors...