Copper Plating
You just never know when you will have a chance to do something different when working on clocks. Some time ago, I bought a floor standing Vienna regulator by Wolkenstein http://snclocks.com/S319.htm ) with copper plated bits and bobs. This clock recently sold, and it was time to think about getting it ready to send to the new owner. As you can see in the detailed shots of the weights (follow the above link – click on the picture of the weights) – there was a bit of room for improvement. The pictures don’t show the dings to the tops and bottoms, but they do show where some of the copper plating has worn off. So, choices were to run them down to a plating shop, or plate them myself after rolling out the worst dings.
After my experiences with plating shops (it is amazing the damage they can do), I decided it was time to search the net and learn to plate.
Found several sites, but liked this one for its simple methodology: http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/chemistry/institutes/1986/exp30.html
So, after getting the requisite chemicals, I set up the experiment on the kitchen counter:
Read MoreAfter my experiences with plating shops (it is amazing the damage they can do), I decided it was time to search the net and learn to plate.
Found several sites, but liked this one for its simple methodology: http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/chemistry/institutes/1986/exp30.html
So, after getting the requisite chemicals, I set up the experiment on the kitchen counter:
Plating Set-up
The picture shows my car battery charger (set on the 6 volt level) hooked up to a piece of copper pipe on the positive electrode and an end cap on the negative electrode. OK – I suspect using a battery charger was a bit of overkill, and in fact, I suspect it would have worked better with a little weaker power source, but none the less, it was handy, and it worked like a charm!
