Gold plating car emblems Q&A's

A. It may be "low" but it's probably too high :-) "Sootiness" that occurs in the actual plating step is probably "burning".

A. You probably are not keeping the "wand" wet enough and not moving it fast enough.

A. Cyanide free gold solutions are normally acidic, so check for attack to surrounding metals or other source of metallic contamination. Also check your gold strength (concentration).

A. Car emblems are commonly made of a zinc based alloy (Mazac)which is frequently porous and traps chemicals.
It is usual to plate a relatively thick layer of - say - copper before trying to apply a finish coat.
Non cyanide (sulphite) gold plating solutions are delicate and very sensitive to contamination. They are also expensive.
Cyanide gold processes contain very little free cyanide so don't dismiss them on safety grounds - sulphite gold is also toxic!
24 carat gold is very soft and will rapidly wear through with normal weathering and exposure. Customers do not like this.
Finally, brush plating is unlikely to give you a very even thickness. I suggest that you contact a local plater and ask for 2-5 microns of "acid hard gold" over 5-10 microns of copper.

A. If the cars you are working on are late model vehicles, you are probably working with plating on plastics. Back stripping the chrome has to be done thoroughly. The underlying nickel has to be activated before gold plate. Sulfite gold solutions are not widely used for brush plating, especially in the auto after market industry. Are you sure you don't have an acid hard gold?

2007 Plastic?! Don't be silly, Mark. Didn't you see the Dodge Truck commercial where the 9-foot tall blue robot KO's the red one, then struts outside to smash the truck, but is powerless to even leave a mark on the grill? Those grills are obviously made of 4-inch thick depleted uranium :-) Ted Mooney, P.E. Striving to live Aloha finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey Ted, I have to get me one of them Dodge trucks! Aren't those grills triple chrome plated? I also like those steroid enhanced "macho" voices they use to convey the toughness of other trucks on the market now. Mark Baker Process Engineer - Syracuse, New York 2007

A. Stainless steel is widely used term that covers a wide range of materials. Check your anode is not dissolving - if it is, it will contaminate your bath and this could be the cause of your problem.

A. Mr Larusso,
I am not sure what "fast gold" is. It would seem that if you use a alkaline based chrome strip, the underlying nickel should have to be activated before gold plate, or you would suffer gold adhesion failures. Maybe brush plating technology has advanced so much where you can skip that step? Hmmmmm, interesting. When you say non-cyanide gold, are you referring to a sulfite gold formulation?

A. Hi Larusso,

I've experience in brush plating, if you do not clean properly it will give you burning and red black spots, cloudy, etc.

It seems your cyanide free gold is less gold concentration.

For cyanide free gold I use 1V to 2V, for cyanide base gold I use 6 to 8V. You should keep the wand wet.

I use Platinum (Pt) Anode for gold plating.

After stripping chrome it is good if you activate.

Freshly nickel plated does not need to activation.

I do plating on new brand car emblems 24k gold by brush plating it last 6 to 8 months without any problem and thickness is 0.5 micron.

To do heavy plating by brush it is not possible, you have to do by tank plating.

Good luck