Battery gold plating pens - any good?

[Hello from Austria]

Good morning

I am thinking of getting some gold plating equipment, and the cheapest option seems to be a battery operated pen, as opposed to a stationary equipment. I would be interested in any feedback on these: how do they perform, how often do you need to change batteries... etc etc?

Many thanks.

Julia

[silken]

I don't have a battery operated one but I do have a mains operated pen plating system and I can honestly say that I love it. For a small time jewellery maker such as myself, it was not a massive amount of money to spend and it is great for selectively plating small pieces of jewellery, etc. I got mine from Spa Plating and I've heard that the battery operated ones are very good but they are best used with the special pen plating solutions as they contain a higher gold content than the usual plating solutions (as with all pen plating systems, battery or mains operated).

I asked one of the reps at Spa Plating and apparently the batteries can last for quite a long time, especially if you're only plating small items. Don't be tempted to go for one of the pen plating systems with an inbuilt battery though as once the battery is dead, you have to replace the whole system. Also, with pen plating it is very tempting to try and use the plating nib as you would a felt tip pen but the trick is to not actually let the nib touch the surface to be plated. Instead, you drop a little bit of solution onto the piece and work the nib over the solution without actually allowing it to touch the metal as this can cause discolouration and fizzing. Also, the pen nib has to be nice and wet to allow for good electrical conduction so if you're using a pen nib that is fairly rigid and not very absorbent, make sure that you soak the nibs in warm water before use. You don't need to do this with some nibs as they are much more absorbent.

I hope this all makes sense

[Hello from Austria]

Hi Emily

Many thanks for your advice. Can I ask, when you are plating, you are not actually touching the surface of the work, just "moving" the solution about? And are you using any solutions designed especially for use with pens, or just a general solution? And last question if I may: why does fizzing and disclouration happen? Forgive me for all the questions, but it's minefield to me at this stage! :-/

[trialuser]

Hello Julia - I'll chip in with what I have just setup for my wife. She wanted an pen electroplating setup for her birthday - perfect, a pressiie I will use a much as her!
I was going to buy this, but it is just a rebadged one of these which is cheaper and has free delivery.
I didn't buy the electrode holder and platinum electrode from Spa either. I bought 12mm of Platinum wire from cooksons, and epoxied i into a straw into an old pen - this saved a few bob also.
At the moment she only wants to plate small pieces and small accents so it suits perfectly. For the 'nibs' I bought 2500 fag filters from ebay for about five quid - should last a while, these work well and have a small volume so little waste.
We have used the standard (8g/L) solution and that works fine.
You don't really need a fancy power supply, just about any low voltage DC source in the 4 - 7 volt range will work. If you do go for a bench power supply you may also be able to use it for anodising.



Cheers

[Hello from Austria]

Hi Trialuser, well I can't stop smiling - this is an amazing invention... Thanks very much for sharing this research, it makes sense! Can I ask you about the fag filters/nibs: do they have to be made of cotton fibre? I need a fairly precise tip, so was thinking of making some out of tightly twisted cotton buds. What do you think?

Julia

[trialuser]

The filter nibs can be trimmed down with scissors or a knife to a thinner, broader shape or even a point. It does tend to fray quickly though and loose its shape when trimmed.
I think the preferred technique when using these pens is to 'work' (push/pull) a drop of solution around the metal, without touching the nib to the work.
Having said that - I often just rub it around touching the nib, seems to work ok - if the voltage is too high it seem to darken (burn?) the gold, we keep it at 4v.
I'm on the lookout for an everyday product which could be adapted to make a fine nib which holds its shape. All sorts can be used for nibs, it just needs to not conduct, absorb some solution and be attachable to the electrode.

[ps_bond]

I wonder if any of the brush pens could be adapted to accept an electrode?

[silken]

The advice from trialuser is spot on

I work the solution over the metal rather than touching the metal with the plating pen. I am not sure of the exact reason for the discolouration but it can be prevented by not touching the metal with the nib, or at least as little as possible. I use a normal gold plating solution from spa plating and it works fine but because it contains less gold per litre, is takes longer to get the desired effect. There is no way to measure how much gold you have deposited without lab equipment but it's only a very tiny layer usually (well under 0.5 microns) but the pen plating solution does indeed work better and allows to get a thicker plate, faster.

I use cigarette filters too, they're much cheaper than the purpose made nibs but they don't last long and tend to disintegrate. I chop mine up a little to fit into the plating wand, I just use side cutting pliers to do this. The best ones are the ultra fine Swan ones as they seem to fit in the plating wand without much hassle. I get about 250 of them from the pound shop which is much cheaper than buying the actual nibs and they do the job just fine. They're very absorbent so no need to pre-soak the nibs.

I bought a book on electroforming by Leslie Curtis and while it is quite complex and deals with electroforming rather than simple plating it has some great ideas for DIY set ups using household items. A good read even if it is waaaaay to complex for me at the moment!

[Dennis]

I wonder if any of the brush pens could be adapted to accept an electrode?

Or just a synthetic artist's brush, with a lead soft soldered to the ferule. Exposed metal can be taped or covered with plastic tubing. My picture shows this idea when I anodised titanium Dennis.

[Hello from Austria]

That's a wealth of information here... What about surface preparation? Spa Plating sell something called an MPU and it's £12 + VAT for a small bottle which seems expensive... Can I ask what do you use to prepare your silver for gold plating?