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Brass plating over stainless steel

is this an easy process? is it even possible?

Jerry Herrera
hobbyist - Anaheim, California
October 12, 2009

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Hi, Jerry. Yes, this coating is possible by conventional electroplating processes. It does, however, require good acid activation of the stainless steel, and a Wood's Nickel strike before the brass plating. Some shops would probably recommend copper plating after the strike and before the brass plating, and not all plating shops are set up to plate onto stainless steel.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
October 12, 2009

is there a chart that indicates the times and volts to plate brass to stainless? Or just a chart for all apllications?

Jerry Herrera
Hobbyist - Anaheim, California, USA
October 12, 2009

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Hi, Jerry. You generally don't electroplate by voltage, but by current density. Plating time is determined by Faraday's Law. You vary the voltage as necessary to hold the recommended current density. There are a few proprietary non-cyanide brass plating baths, and these will be supplied with "technical data sheets" that tell you what current density, temperature, concentration, etc. to run that particular bath at.

Other than that, brass plating is done from cyanide-based baths which are pretty much out of the question for hobbyists since cyanide is both a profound ingestion hazard (the amount that can be hidden in an aspirin capsule has proven universally fatal), and an inhalation hazard (if accidentally acidified, HCN gas is released -- which is exactly how California's gas chambers worked).

Handbooks like the Metal Finishing Guidebook and Electroplating Engineering Handbook [on AbeBooks or eBay or Amazon affil links] will tell you how to operate the Wood's Nickel strike, although I can't help but note that taking the parts to a plating shop is probably the best approach.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
October 13, 2009