DIY Nickel plate?

[AlHunt]

Has anyone done at home nickel plating? I can see plenty of kits available online and stories of mixed success.

Specifically, I have a barreled action I'd like to nickel plate. I could build a small tank to drop it into. Gotta plug the barrel, I know.

Why not just send it out, you ask? Because I'd sooner not endure the no-doubt endless wait for some gunsmith to get around to it. Also, I like doing things myself.

 

[chief38]

I admire your confidence and take charge ideology! Finding competent, honest and highly skilled Gun-Smiths today is not an easy task! When you do finally find one you need to "pay through the nose" wait ridiculously long periods and get extorted by the rules, regulations and prices of shipping it both ways. When ever you want an update or email response - good luck! IMHO the really great G-S's out there take advantage of people because they know they are the "few and far between" and most gun owner's have no real choice.

Even if your first attempt comes out a little less than the 100% we strive for, you will have some experience, the equipment and will be learning how to perfect the plating process. I have no experience plating but I do have experience doing many G-S'ing tasks I never thought I'd be doing 50 years ago. After having a highly touted G-S ruin two of my Revolvers, I vowed to learn how to do thing myself and never again have to send a gun out. Since that time, I have broken my rule of sending only 2 long guns out for rebluing but the rest of the restorations, repairs and general work were all done in my home workshop. I have only used Mid West Gunworks for the rebluing of the two long guns and they did do an outstanding job, the wait time was less than 8 weeks and they charged me a reasonable price. This was about 20 years ago and I hope they have maintained their ethics and highly skilled staff.

So if you do decide to do your own plating, please let us know how it went and of course don't forget the before & after pictures! Good luck!

NOTE: Although I've got zero experience in plating, I'd bet it's "all about the prep work" - just as most finished are. Don't skimp there and I wold bet your results will come out good.

 

[2152hq]

I did small parts with a Brush Plater and it worked fine. Texas Platers was the brand but there are others now I believe. I used that for about 35yrs or more and still do occasionally. Does a great job for that,,triggers, screws, pins, levers, safetys, etc.

For complete Electro-plating jobs on the engraving projects I had always used Reliable Plating in Chartley,MA.
They had been around for nearly 100yrs and did a perfect job. They had an FFL and were familar w/firearms. You did all the polishing. Turnaround was usually 2 weeks.

But they are gone now having been recently sold to another plater in RI.
I don't have any experience with the new outfit (Monarch?) nor any feedback from anyone in the biz that has used them.
Lots of engravers used Reliable Plating over the years. Don't know where their business is going.

As far as a DIY Electro Plating project, it is doable, but expensive.
All the nickel plate soln(s) can be bought on the Net
as well as the necessary power source and hook ups.
Some sell 'kits' but many are set up to do the plating in 5gal plastic buckets (that you pay dearly for). A bbl'd action (rifle) certainly won't fit in there.
You have to know what you are doing when it comes to the power/current and how much to apply in the plating process or you can end up with some bad results.

Everything For Firearms - Electroplating Kits - Caswell Inc

You can get adventurous and make both your own Nickel Plating Soln and your power source from common items available!
Again internet instructions available but I'd practice on a scrap piece before immersing my pride and joy firearm expecting a brilliant nickel plate.
Here's one such set up. I have no idea if this works or not. Just showing you what some folks are doing. Everything 'works' on the Internet!
High Quality (and Safe) Nickel Plating : 7 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables

Yes prep is very important. Perfect polish is king, and so is cleanliness the parts. Just like in Bluing.
Handling the plating soln correctly, the time in soln, agitation is sometimes needed, etc.

You might want to look into 'Electroless' Nickel Plating.
A different way to a Nickel Plated a surface. Still not in-expensive to get set up for. But can said to be geared more to the DIY'r than the Electro-Plating set up.

Good Luck with your project!

 

[Mercury]

If you're handy, you don't need to buy a kit.
All that you need is a glass jar, some white vinegar, a Ni anode-(sourced from eBay) and an weak electrical supply (which can be an old DC cellphone charger).


Here's a link on how to make the Ni electrolyte solution and how to start plating: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-PtnwtOR24[/ame]

When I was converting a M649 from .38 Spl to .32mag, I couldn't find the correct SS yoke that matched the cylinder. I ended up finding one that was blued, removed the finish with vinegar and then gave it a Ni electroplating.

I wasn't sure how long to leave it in the solution, so I stopped after about 30 minutes. I had to lightly sand and then polish it with a gray pad and it turned out looking close. It's just a shade off in color but most people don't know that it's not SS when looking at the gun.

 

[llowry61]

I watched some you tube videos on how to do it. Seemed fairly straight forward but when looking into the kits it was expensive to get set up for something you may only do one time. Would love to see the project if you decide to do it.

 

[Eddietruett]

I’ve done a lot of electroless nickel with Caswell products. Worked great with glass beaded metal and was very durable. Looked like stainless when finished. Did not have the same luck with polishing before plating. I think my problem was I got the metal so polished the chemical didn’t adhere well and when I left it with a rougher texture before plating, I never could get it to polish it mirror like. I’m sure it could be done, bit I stuck with the bead blast. Most of my work was on golf clubs and it worked

 

[smoothshooter]

Not sure why anyone would want to nickel plate a barreled action, but if that’s your thing, go for it.
You might want to practice on some similar sized and shaped pieces of the same metal and shapes that have little or no value first, though.

 

[BSA1]

Well I don’t think d-i-y plating is as easy as Youtube makes it appear. At least a plating job that will last.

Back in the mid 1990’s I brought a new Colt SAA 45 Colt revolver with nickel finish. Took it to the range and the first 50 rounds blew off the plating on the front of the cylinder. Then later on the nickel finish peeled off of the frame.

A few questions come to mind;

1st; How do you get the nickel to evenly cover the entire part(s)? Round surfaces would seem to be more difficult that straight flat pieces of metal.

2nd; Adding material will make tolerances tighter. With a barreled receiver the threads for the barrel will be smaller. The recesses for the locking lugs on the bolt will be smaller. Since you cannot easily measure the amount of nickel that is being applied how do you know how much is too much? Or does it even matter?

3; Is all nickel the same hardness? Is there different types of nickel for different uses?

 

[WR Moore]

Have you considered Armoloy or other version of hard chrome plating? Bonds at the molecular level and is much, much more resistant to wear-and having rifle level pressures remove it. Also, since the plating is ~0.0001 inch (+/-) thick, you're not going to see any parts interference.

You could probably save some money by doing the disassembly yourself and send only those parts that need plated. Plating the bore/chamber for rust resistance would likely cost slightly more.

Decades ago, I plated the backstrap of a Hawes/Herters/JP Sauer & Sohn SA due to rust with one of those battery powered kits. It's still there and still rust resistant, but a shining example of the platers art it never was.

 

[steelslaver]

The shape has nothing to do with it when plating. Tiny molecules in suspension don't have a problem with curves. That is why a if you plate a pit, it will still be a pit only plated. Usually the plating is only .0005 or so thick .001 would be really thick. .0005 isn't a problem unless your gun was way tight to start with. Plus hammer trigger, extractor should remain blue. Notice that when Mercury plated his yoke it still fit in the frame and swung in and out and the cylinder still turned on it

 

[2152hq]

I never had any re-assembly problems with any gun I sent out for plating.
I'd had them done in Nickel, Silver and a couple in Gold at customers requests.
They all went to a commercial Electro Plater.
Seems like they did a copper plate first under any of them.
Then a Nickel plate was applied under the final Silver plating.
Don't remember if anything other than the copper was used under the Gold plating.

I remember reading that Electroless Nickel can build up and cause assembly problems with tight tolerance parts. But I never used it myself.

If the parts are not perfectly clean, the plating will easily peel off even though the completed job looks perfect.

 

[steelslaver]

I think that commercial shops do a chemical clean then probably a short reverse current plate in sulfuric acid so a small amount of material goes from work piece a plate.

My 2 brothers worked in a small plating shop for a while way back when. I have removed nickel using the reverse method before bluing a couple parts

Here is smiling Larry from Midway with a how to do.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INiyYbFUihA[/ame]