Masking for selective nickel and silver plating

A. Hi Tanmay. I am not completely understanding your process steps, but it seems that you tried masking with wax and then barrel plating but it didn't work because the wax on the rivet heads did not hold up to tumbling action. So you tried racking or wiring the parts, and found that it was very expensive and not trouble-free either.

If I am not understanding the problem, it sounds to me like you just need to use a more robust masking material in your barrel plating process. There are all kinds of sprayable, brushable, and dipable elastomer masking materials that will hold up better than wax, as well as platers tape, and PVC or silicone caps. It sounds pretty easily solvable to me. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Depending on where you want the silver and where you want the nickel, you can plate the entire part with silver over nickel and strip the silver down to nickel. For example if the head of the rivet is where you want the silver, make a fixture to hold the rivet so only the stem is sticking out and strip the silver off exposing the nickel.