Help-Electroplating KIt Mixtures

Feb 27, 2004 5 Replies
H

Sometime in the last century I bought one of those small electroplating kits where you use a brush with metal bristles, a 3V power supply & paste solutions to plate small parts. Now that I need to do a small plating job I find that the jars of the copper, silver & brass pastes have dried out to the point they're more crystal than goo.



Anybody know what I can add back in to get them back into gooey condition? Theres a notice on the label that they contain "KCN" (cyanide?) & that it's not a good idea to mix the contents with your insides, but thats all.



I really don't want to have to order new jars, wait for them to arrive & then have 'm dry out before the next time I need them :(.



Thanks,



Howard.


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H

Hey Howard, Yeah, KCN is potassium cyanide. You should be able to reconstitute the products with distilled water. I doubt any of the buffers would have been lost. I'd suggest you get everything back in solution before attempting to use them. Stirring with a glass rod should do the trick.

Good luck!

Harold

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J

I can't help directly, but if you ask this question on the electroplating

101 group on yahoo I'm sure you'll be overun with answers , good ones as well.

regards,

John

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T

Certainly worth a try but if water vapour can get out air can get in and, IIRC, KCN oxidizes to carbonate.

Ted

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H

Thanks everybody, I added some water, & after being shaken (Not Stirred) I was able to plate with it, seemed to work fine.

Howard.

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H

Heh! That's easy enough. Most plating solutions are nothing but water with additives. Unless the cyanide had oxidized as Ted suggested, I figured you would be fine. Jewelers buy plating solutions by the quart and use them for a long time with no trouble, though they generally don't allow them to dry out.

Harold

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