Hi Chris,

You can copper plate steel quite easily yourself. Just buy some "Copper Sulphate" dissolve in water and submerge your part.

In the old days it was a nuisance if you forgot and left your tweezers in the solution, by the following day they had started to get a copper coating. You can electroplate it as well using the same solution.

Edited By John Baron on 16/02/2020 18:54:51

Hi Chris,

That is a good question ! I've never considered whether copper would plate onto copper. I imagine it would, but you probably wouldn't be able to see it other than on a different metal.

Just as a point of interest, printed circuit etching, where the copper is etched away using ferric chloride, the solution that remains contains all the copper that is removed. I've seen that solution used to electroplate steel and then used to have chrome plated onto that. So that could be a second method that you could use. But beware that ferric chloride will very quickly eat any copper it gets into contact with when disposing of it ! So don't pour it down the sink. I used to get rid of mine by soaking wood chippings with it and then binning the fairly dry residue.

A thought has just occurred to me, you could use a paint brush to try it on a small part of the item you want to plate.

Edited By John Baron on 16/02/2020 20:59:39

Any chrome platers should do it for you. It is part of the chrome plating process on most materials.

Steve.

Hi Joe, Guys,

Thanks for your interesting post. I always thought that they used tiny hollow rivets for through holes !

Now I know.

I suspect the method without a power supply relies on the different electrochemical potential between iron (from the steel) and copper

Iron has a potential of -0.04, copper -0.36, silver -0.69, so I suspect you'll have to use some power. Of course this might be complete tosh, but it will then flush out someone who really knows

In the Electroless Copper plating method for PCB's, the plating solutions are typically a Copper suphate solution with sodium hydroxide (trace qty) and glyoxylic acid as a reducing agent. A monoamine is then used as an accelerator to kick off the plating process – no power involved in this process. This process is almost always only used to provide a very thin conductive layer on the material, and thickened up by normal electrolytic plating.

Your idea of different electro-potentials must be valid though – having also played wit copper iron saturated Ferric Chloride solutions, wiping a rag, soaked in the stuff, across clean steel, left a visible copper sheen..

Joe

Hi Chris, Guys,

I don't think that I would bother with buying a kit ! All you need is an old wall wart and some suitable solution. Either some copper sulphate from a chemists or some ferric chloride and a bit of copper tube to dissolve in it. Since it seems that a paint brush connected the right way round, I can't remember if it should be positive with respect to the item you want to plate, dipped in the solution will do it.

I would suggestyou go to the garden shop for the copper sulphate, it will be a lot cheaper than at the Chemist.

Ian S C

Hi Chris, Guys,

I had to go and Google to remember which electrode should be connected to the positive pole of the power supply ! Its the copper one in the solution. The work piece is connected to the negative wire.

If you are submerging the work in the solution, it needs to be suspended so that it cannot touch anything other than the solution. Normally you would use a wooden bar or stick across the container and a copper wire connected to the negative pole to suspend the work.

The stronger the copper sulphate solution is, the more quickly the work will plate. Also the more conductive the solution the higher the current for any given voltage. Using a car battery charger with a built in ammeter will give you an instant indication. Anything around a couple of amps will be fine. A useful way of getting to this point, is to make a weak solution and then add more copper sulphate until you have the current you want. Obviously you need to agitate the solution to mix and dissolve the crystals.

Adding hot water will help the crystals dissolve more quickly, but as far as I am aware won't make the plating go any faster.

Edited By John Baron on 18/02/2020 20:03:04

Hi Chris,

Yes I use woodwork carbide router bits to machine steel on both the lathe and mill.

Note the rounded shoulders on the Norman tool post pictures. They were done in a single pass at about 1000 rpm and something like 90-100 seconds an inch. I've been intending to get some cutters with 1/2" shafts, the one I have at the moment are only 1/4", and seem a bit thin for the work I've asked them to do.

I've only ever bent one and that was routing a dado edge in teak ! It bent, made a horrible vibration and then broke off at the top of the collet. Frightened the life out of me at the time.

I only started to used them because a wood router cutter is far cheaper than a form tool or a proper shaped milling cutter.

Let me know how you get on.

Best Regards: John Baron

Hi Chris,

That radius was simply that of the cutter. It has a small bearing on the bottom, I just wound the table in until the bearing touched and then set the depth to match the top of the work.

As far as using 1/4" inch shaft cutters on the lathe, I made a holder.

I put a piece of 1/2" square bar in the tool holder and a 1/4" inch drill in the chuck. Set the hight to the centre of the bar, making sure that it was parallel to the drill and drilled all the way through. I then just hacksawed a slit down its length.

By putting the cutter in the drilled hole and putting the bar in the tool holder and using the clamp screws to compress the bar, you avoid galling the cutter shaft which is quite soft.

Thank you.

Yes the Norman toolpost is something I should have made long ago, before spending silly money on a Dickson and three holders. You still have to prat about setting the hight when you regrind a tool. Plus it is a lot more rigid. But then I primarily only use HSS tool bits, and I'm not in a business where time is money.

Best Regards:

John.

Edited By John Baron on 19/02/2020 16:51:16