Plating Tiny Contacts

[Searcher7]

Can someone advise me on whether it is possible to (Nickel or Gold) plate a small item like an electrical contact while it is still attached to the leaf, or does it have to be removed?

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/LeafSW1_zpsimx5esvz.jpg

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Jasen Betts]

On 2017-11-17, Searcher7 <Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:
> Can someone advise me on whether it is possible to (Nickel or Gold) plate a small item like an electrical contact while it is still attached to the leaf, or does it have to be removed?

the leaf can probably be masked with wax or some other inert coating so that only the contact surface
is plated, probably have to remove the leaf from the insulator though.

it used to be that those insulators were built from tubes and wafers
of insulating material and could be dissassembled and reassembled.

--
This email has not been checked by half-arsed antivirus software

 

[rickman]

Jasen Betts wrote on 11/17/2017 5:37 PM:

On 2017-11-17, Searcher7 <Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:
Can someone advise me on whether it is possible to (Nickel or Gold) plate a small item like an electrical contact while it is still attached to the leaf, or does it have to be removed?

the leaf can probably be masked with wax or some other inert coating so that only the contact surface
is plated, probably have to remove the leaf from the insulator though.

Why would you need to remove it from the insulator? The contact is near the
end of the spring, so if the spring is masked and the contact exposed, the
end of the leaf can be immersed and plated.

This seems an odd request. The contacts shown seem to be gold plated
already, but it may be brass contacts instead.

--

Rick C

Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms,
on the centerline of totality since 1998

 

On Fri, 17 Nov 2017 12:36:01 -0800 (PST), Searcher7
<Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:

Can someone advise me on whether it is possible to (Nickel or Gold) plate a small item like an electrical contact while it is still attached to the leaf, or does it have to be removed?

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/LeafSW1_zpsimx5esvz.jpg

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

You can pretty easily plate nickel or gold onto a contact by masking
the area you do not want plated with a thin lacquer coating. nail
polish would be more than adequate. For only a few parts brush
plating for gold and electroless nickel plating for the nickel. I have
done both. They are both easy but electroless nickel has the advantage
of being harder and more easily built up into a thicker deposit. Which
would work for your next post where you wanted thicker plating for a
connector that gets a lot of use. I get my electroless nickel plating
supplies from Caswell. For small quantities of plating supplies and
large quantities of good advice they are the best outfit I have found.
See the link:
http://www.caswellplating.com/
I'm just a happy customer and the only benefit I get from posting
their info is a warm and fuzzy feeling from helping my fellow human
beings. I have been doing business with them for years and will
continue to do so.
Eric

 

[Searcher7]

On Friday, November 17, 2017 at 7:57:30 PM UTC-5, et...@whidbey.com wrote:

On Fri, 17 Nov 2017 12:36:01 -0800 (PST), Searcher7
Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:

Can someone advise me on whether it is possible to (Nickel or Gold) plate a small item like an electrical contact while it is still attached to the leaf, or does it have to be removed?

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/LeafSW1_zpsimx5esvz.jpg

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
You can pretty easily plate nickel or gold onto a contact by masking
the area you do not want plated with a thin lacquer coating. nail
polish would be more than adequate. For only a few parts brush
plating for gold and electroless nickel plating for the nickel. I have
done both. They are both easy but electroless nickel has the advantage
of being harder and more easily built up into a thicker deposit. Which
would work for your next post where you wanted thicker plating for a
connector that gets a lot of use. I get my electroless nickel plating
supplies from Caswell. For small quantities of plating supplies and
large quantities of good advice they are the best outfit I have found.
See the link:
http://www.caswellplating.com/
I'm just a happy customer and the only benefit I get from posting
their info is a warm and fuzzy feeling from helping my fellow human
beings. I have been doing business with them for years and will
continue to do so.
Eric

I'm still looking into the advantages of electroless Nickel vs. Gold,(and what is Boron Nitride), but apparently this is going to be a learning process.

I'm on my way.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

On Sat, 2 Dec 2017 13:02:38 -0800 (PST), Searcher7
<Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:

On Friday, November 17, 2017 at 7:57:30 PM UTC-5, et...@whidbey.com wrote:
On Fri, 17 Nov 2017 12:36:01 -0800 (PST), Searcher7
Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:

Can someone advise me on whether it is possible to (Nickel or Gold) plate a small item like an electrical contact while it is still attached to the leaf, or does it have to be removed?

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/Statenislander/LeafSW1_zpsimx5esvz.jpg

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
You can pretty easily plate nickel or gold onto a contact by masking
the area you do not want plated with a thin lacquer coating. nail
polish would be more than adequate. For only a few parts brush
plating for gold and electroless nickel plating for the nickel. I have
done both. They are both easy but electroless nickel has the advantage
of being harder and more easily built up into a thicker deposit. Which
would work for your next post where you wanted thicker plating for a
connector that gets a lot of use. I get my electroless nickel plating
supplies from Caswell. For small quantities of plating supplies and
large quantities of good advice they are the best outfit I have found.
See the link:
http://www.caswellplating.com/
I'm just a happy customer and the only benefit I get from posting
their info is a warm and fuzzy feeling from helping my fellow human
beings. I have been doing business with them for years and will
continue to do so.
Eric

I'm still looking into the advantages of electroless Nickel vs. Gold,(and what is Boron Nitride), but apparently this is going to be a learning process.

I'm on my way.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Boron nitride is a very hard and slick substance. Cubic boron nitride
is used, among other things, for making grinding wheels for grinding
hardened steels. It is harder than tungsten carbide. I think only
diamond is harder than cubic boron nitride. If I was you I would stay
away from the boron nitride additive because it is not necessary for
your needs and adds complication to the process because the solution
needs to be constantly agitated to keep the boron nitride evenly
distributed in the plating and the agitation needs to be kept going
until the plating solution has cooled. If left to settle while the
plating solution is warm it will turn into a useless clump in the
bottom of the bath.
Eric

 

[whit3rd]

On Saturday, December 2, 2017 at 1:56:14 PM UTC-8, et...@whidbey.com wrote:

On Sat, 2 Dec 2017 13:02:38 -0800 (PST), Searcher7
Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:

I'm still looking into the advantages of electroless Nickel vs. Gold,(and what is Boron Nitride), but apparently this is going to be a learning process.


Boron nitride is a very hard and slick substance. Cubic boron nitride
is used, among other things, for making grinding wheels for grinding
hardened steels. It is harder than tungsten carbide. I think only
diamond is harder than cubic boron nitride.

The 'cubic' is important, because BN also comes in hexagonal form,
and hexagonal boron nitride is like graphite. Lock lubricant (black) is
graphite powder, and lock lubricant (white) is boron nitride.

'CBN' or brand name 'Borazon' are names for cubic boron nitride.

 

On Sat, 2 Dec 2017 16:47:35 -0800 (PST), whit3rd <whit3rd@gmail.com>
wrote:

On Saturday, December 2, 2017 at 1:56:14 PM UTC-8, et...@whidbey.com wrote:
On Sat, 2 Dec 2017 13:02:38 -0800 (PST), Searcher7
Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:

I'm still looking into the advantages of electroless Nickel vs. Gold,(and what is Boron Nitride), but apparently this is going to be a learning process.


Boron nitride is a very hard and slick substance. Cubic boron nitride
is used, among other things, for making grinding wheels for grinding
hardened steels. It is harder than tungsten carbide. I think only
diamond is harder than cubic boron nitride.

The 'cubic' is important, because BN also comes in hexagonal form,
and hexagonal boron nitride is like graphite. Lock lubricant (black) is
graphite powder, and lock lubricant (white) is boron nitride.

'CBN' or brand name 'Borazon' are names for cubic boron nitride.

That's why I called it cubic boron nitride instead of just boron
nitride when describing what it is and what it is used for. Because I
don't know how many different forms it comes in. So thanks for the
clarification. Obviously CBN would make a lousy sliding surface.
I have a small lathe that I am, for a hobby, slowly making much
more rigid and accurate than when it was originally made. After I get
the ways done I am gonna do the electroless nickel/boron nitride
plating on them. That's the closest I can get at home to the hard
chrome plating done by the factory on my machine tools.
I could certainly buy a bench top lathe cheaper but it has been fun
so far working on the old American iron and the challenge is worth it.
Especially since I have the inspection tools and skills to use them to
check my work.
Hmm. This post really should be over in rcm. It really ran off
topic for this newsgroup and I usually don't post off topic stuff. At
least the post wasn't political and didn't insult anybody.
Eric

 

et...@whidbey.com wrote:
>Obviously CBN would make a lousy sliding surface.
I have a small lathe that I am, for a hobby, slowly making >much
more rigid and accurate than when it was originally made. After I
>get
the ways done I am gonna do the electroless nickel/boron >nitride
plating on them. That's the closest I can get at home to the >hard
chrome plating done by the factory on my machine tools.

I could certainly buy a bench top lathe cheaper but it has been fun
so far working on the old American iron and the challenge is worth it.
Especially since I have the inspection tools and skills to use them to
check my work.
Hmm. This post really should be over in rcm. It really ran off
topic for this newsgroup and I usually don't post off topic stuff. At
least the post wasn't political and didn't insult anybody.

That means somebody didn't get to enjoy putting someone else down or didn't have hurt feelings after reading this ... whichever is better. Anyway, sometimes its tough to even tell what's too political or religious.

 

[Searcher7]

On Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 7:16:45 PM UTC-5, et...@whidbey.com wrote:

On Sat, 2 Dec 2017 16:47:35 -0800 (PST), whit3rd <whit3rd@gmail.com
wrote:

On Saturday, December 2, 2017 at 1:56:14 PM UTC-8, et...@whidbey.com wrote:
On Sat, 2 Dec 2017 13:02:38 -0800 (PST), Searcher7
Searcher7@mail.con2.com> wrote:

I'm still looking into the advantages of electroless Nickel vs. Gold,(and what is Boron Nitride), but apparently this is going to be a learning process.


Boron nitride is a very hard and slick substance. Cubic boron nitride
is used, among other things, for making grinding wheels for grinding
hardened steels. It is harder than tungsten carbide. I think only
diamond is harder than cubic boron nitride.

The 'cubic' is important, because BN also comes in hexagonal form,
and hexagonal boron nitride is like graphite. Lock lubricant (black) is
graphite powder, and lock lubricant (white) is boron nitride.

'CBN' or brand name 'Borazon' are names for cubic boron nitride.
That's why I called it cubic boron nitride instead of just boron
nitride when describing what it is and what it is used for. Because I
don't know how many different forms it comes in. So thanks for the
clarification. Obviously CBN would make a lousy sliding surface.
I have a small lathe that I am, for a hobby, slowly making much
more rigid and accurate than when it was originally made. After I get
the ways done I am gonna do the electroless nickel/boron nitride
plating on them. That's the closest I can get at home to the hard
chrome plating done by the factory on my machine tools.
I could certainly buy a bench top lathe cheaper but it has been fun
so far working on the old American iron and the challenge is worth it.
Especially since I have the inspection tools and skills to use them to
check my work.
Hmm. This post really should be over in rcm. It really ran off
topic for this newsgroup and I usually don't post off topic stuff. At
least the post wasn't political and didn't insult anybody.
Eric

I'm on various lathe and metalworking groups, and with a whole lot of unfinished projects, so I had no problem.

BTW. I assume that the cheapest kit I should be getting from Caswell is the "Electroless Nickel Mini Kit (5 Pint)" since I'm a beginner, correct?

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.