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Thread: Non-cyanide silver electroforming

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    Hi,
    Did you find/try good silver plating bath? Ready made or just solution recipe?

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    67

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    Hi
    The only available solution in the UK that I found was silver sulphate which you can buy readymade from SPA plating- it is not suitable for electroforming and I have had variable results with electroplating (I think you need a very big anode surface, sometime the plate would be shiny and good, other times it was furry and white- I need to do more of a play with it, e.g I haven't checked how thick I can get the plate). I have been electroforming in copper sulfate, giving a quick wash with distilled water and then electroplating in the silver sulphate solution. Afterwards I fuse and anneal the whole object at near the mp of silver to burn out the mandrel and smooth out the dodgy silver electroplate; you can see the results on my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/MMMJewellery
    It is in an album called electroplating experiments where I was plating leaf skeletons. Hope this helps
    Cheers Matt

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Central London
    Posts
    8,845

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    A huge body of work, which I admired, but what I envy most is a decent sink in your workshop. Dennis.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    2

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    Thank you for your reply. Your leafs looks good. I will need to silver plate mirror like polished copper plates. I thought it would be cheaper not to buy a ready made bath. I was readying many patents about silver plating. I found informations about succinimide, thiosulfate, 5,5-dimethyl hydantoin and about potassium iodide based baths. Did you read about them as well?
    For me succinimide based bath was the most promising. I bought the ingredients, but before the first try I found an article about stability problems. 5,5-dimethyl hydantoin is in the most recent patents but no information about how to maintain. Thiosulfate: poor adhesion... Potassium iodide: If I wont have success with succinimide, I will try this, but not much informations about bright silver plating with this.
    Do you have any information about any of them?

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Staffordshire
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    1,727

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    You have some beautiful work there Matt, it looks like you enjoy trying out different techniques, and with quite some success!!
    Though I have to say, I'm with Dennis, I too have 'decent sink in my workshop' envy

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    67

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    Hi
    I did look at those variants (although the potassium iodide one is new to me- I would expect silver iodide to precipitate out: AgI Solubility in water 0.0000003g/100mL (20 °C))You must have a good chemical supplier to get the raw materials!! I did look briefly at buying the raw materials but gave up. My concern with these new baths is that the manufacturers will add a brew of other components to maintain the bath and deliver the desired results- these may not be disclosed in patents. If you don't have the succinimide solution hanging round for a long time you should be fine- my guess is that it will last a few weeks (even a few months) without to much degradation.
    Let me know how your experiments work out, and good luck.
    Thanks Matt

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    67

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    I have found more info on the silver sulfate bath, the additive is ammonium carbonate 5g to 15g silver sulfate (or also quoted 70parts ammonium carbonate to 156 parts silver sulfate). This bath is not good for electro forming or even thick plate as the silver is stressed and becomes white and flaky. I have not seen any other solutions for this other than cyanide ones.

    P.s thanks for the kind words regarding my work, it is much appreciated. I agree that it's a luxury having a sink-I went to some effort to ensure that went into my shed! !

  8. #18
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    6

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    I am also looking to electroform in silver having done so in copper. Having used cyanide based solutions some years ago to plate in brass I see no issues with it as long as you wear rubber gloves and work in a ventilated area.

    Having used conventional plating power sources I now use a pulsed power supply; just a conventional supply with an electronic switch on the supply to the anode. This gives faster plating and smoother surfaces.

    If anyone wants the construction details just shout.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Oxon
    Posts
    394

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    I'd be interested in the pulse switch, I like to tinker.
    Cheers

  10. #20
    Join Date
    May 2015
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    It`s pretty straight forward really, just a case of putting an electronic chip ( a 555 timer chip driving a suitable power transistor/power control unit ) into the power supply to the anode. For high power plating a reverse pulse is applied every 5 or so pulses but for low power plating this can be dispensed with.

    Any site showing details of the 555 chip will provide all the details you need The trick is to use a suitable power transistor, power control unit, to switch the anode current. I use an H-Bridge module such as a L298N ( I tried to provide links but was unable to do so as I have yet to reach 5 posts).

    If you get into it let me know how you get on. Next time I should be able to posts links to show details of circuits etc.

    Regards john

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