Homemade Copper Plating Bath - Easy, Affordable and Reliable - DIY Professional #2

Other videos show how to copper plate but use a mason jar or something similar. This is a highly reliable and effective copper plating bath that has the ability to produce professional results and run continuously for weeks. I built this for approximately $150 which does not include the price of the variable DC power supply, but as you can see in this video you don't need a lot of voltage and could easily use a voltage regulator or voltage divider to step down the voltage from even a cell phone charger to get an affordable power supply.

Here are some pictures of other items I have plated, sorry I forgot to include them in the video:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6ko0iKoNkCJSEJtaHJRR193ajg&usp=sharing

This electroplating bath has a modular design that allows you to do any kind of electroplating with both air agitation and temperature control as long as the electrolyte tank fits into the heating bath. From what I have researched there is no home plating kit that provides these features for any where near the price I built this for. This encompasses the idea behind the DIY Professional.

This is the 4th interation of my electroplating bath design and I have been successfully copper plating and nickel plating a large variety of items for the past year without any issues related to the design of the electroplating bath.

All components for this bath were purchased at Home Depot or Amazon. Below is a list of major items I used while designing this bath:

Conductive Paint for plating non-metal objects
https://amzn.to/2MIKU3H

Stainless Steel Rod:
https://amzn.to/2L9gvXE

Titanium Wire:
https://amzn.to/2EgiO9T

pH meter:
https://amzn.to/2GXKQrC

Air Pump:
https://amzn.to/2QIEwb2

Submersible Water Pump:
https://amzn.to/2Lb0sbR

Automatic Thermostat:
https://amzn.to/2PwcqgP

Stainless Steel Mesh for mesh bags:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#stainless-steel-mesh/=11a6hm7

5 Gallon bucket and lid:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/The-Home-Depot-5-gal-Homer-Bucket-05GLHD2/100087613
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leaktite-5-gal-Screw-Top-Lid-5GAMMA6/203205720

Outer Tank:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rubbermaid-18-Gal-Roughneck-Tote-FG2214TPMICBL/100644802

^^^I'm pretty sure my Rubbermaid bin is 18 Gallons but it may be the next size bigger than that. Just make sure your bin is big enough for you to fit a 5 gallon bucket inside and still get the lid on.

Below is the recipe for the electrolyte I am using to Copper Plate:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ko0iKoNkCJamd6VUhTSm1paFk/view?usp=sharing

For nickel plating I use something called a Watts Bath.

The part I am plating in this video was 3D printed on my Draken DLP printer by 3DFacture. Click on the annotation at the end of the video to see how I printed this part.

#garagescience #diyprofessional #copperplating #electroplating #chemistry #homemade #diy

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