My new hobby.

[Jay R]

I bought some chemicals off the net and knocked these up with some wires and a couple of RCR123 cells. I really like the sand blasted finish. 24ct.

Sorry about the naff camera.

 

[PapaLumen]

Lovely! Ive looked at those gold plating kits on t'internet, did you buy a kit? Which one, how difficult was it, do you need to provide the gold?
Cheers.
Craig.

 

[Jay R]

I bought some hydrochloric acid for burning off the oxidisation layer just before plating, 100ml of gold plating solution and that’s it. The rest was done with a couple of batteries, leads off my multimeter, some magnets to hold the batteries and leads together and a spare bit of stainless steel rod with a felt wad shoved on the end. . Total cost was about £40 most of which was the gold solution and I still had half of it left when I finished my lights so I started doing my son’s toys, some coins, etc...
I looked at the plating kits on the net but the simple ones only consisted of a cheap power supply, a couple of leads and a steel rod which I already had all of anyway. Anyone with a few wires, AA cells, piece of felt or cotton and 2 elastic bands to hold it all together could do the same.

Hardest thing is to get the best finish you can before you start. I buffed with some metal polish and a minidrill. Wash well with deionised water and start plating straight away. If it’s been sitting around more than 5 mins after polishing, you have to connect it up to the batteries and rub or dip in the acid to burn off the oxidised layer just before plating ( Fizz, fizz. ). Hold the negative lead against the light, connect the positive to the steel rod with the felt on the end and dip in the solution then just brush up and down the light. The Wee I just dipped in the solution with the steel rod next to it.

There’s loads of videos on you tube that make it look really easy and it is. Just keep the chemicals well out of reach of any children. The gold solution is made with potassium cyanide which is highly poisonous.

I even plated the ends of some of my rechargeable batteries to get the best connection !!!

 

[PapaLumen]

Wow, doesnt sound impossible. I may have to have a play with this :)
When you say hold the negative against the light, how did you do this with the wee you dropped in the solution, did you clip it on or just hold it from above the solution? Thanks.
Mmm shiny.

 

[fyrstormer]

Looks damn good on the copper-alloy lights. Finally an easy way to keep them from tarnishing? I'll be interested to hear how the finish holds up over time.

 

[Jay R]

Papalumen, you only live down the road so pop over and I’ll show you. As for immersing, I just held the probe against the side and popped everything in the solution, fingers and all. I had gloves on.

Hope the finish holds up well. The Raw NS lives on my belt in a leather pouch, the Wee SS takes the occasional ride in my pocket and the others tend to be shelf queens now. I guess if it starts rubbing off after a while I can just re-plate. It only takes a half hour from setting up to putting away.

 

[PapaLumen]

Cool, thanks. I'll be in touch :)

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Wow, cool stuff!

Im normally not a fan of gold bling, but I like this. I think a full sized light such as a Surefire C2 gold plated would be awesome.

Nice work!
:thumbsup:

 

[Jay R]

Thanks for the appreciation guys. I did all the lights I wanted to but still had lots of chemicals left over so I went a bit mad. Gold plated my Leatherman, some of my sons toys along with lots of other stuff and I plated the ends of all my rechargeable lithium cells for better current flow.

I even plated some coins just so I could have this conversation in a bunch of shops when I go to pay.

Salesman “What’s that coin ?”
Me “10p”
“Why is it that colour ?”
“Because it’s gold plated”
“Corr, how much is it worth ???”

Pause......

“10p”

 

[Captain Spaulding]

haha nice.

So lets see that gold plated leatherman!

Also, just curious as to what (if anything) the gold plating does to the cutting edge of the knife on your leatherman?

 

[Captain Spaulding]

One more possibly dumb question, do you have to strip the lights down? LIke remove the lens and parts NOT to be gold plated?

 

[Chongker]

Salesman “What’s that coin ?”
Me “10p”
“Why is it that colour ?”
“Because it’s gold plated”
“Corr, how much is it worth ???”

Pause......

“10p”

:takeit: for 10p :nana:


Anyway, very nice work!

 

[Jay R]

Chongker,

You want one ? Send me your address via PM and I'll stick you one in the post. Any coin you want 10p or under.

Captain S,

The coating is thin enough that it doesn't seem to make much difference to the edge of the blade though I guess it will wear through quickly. I only did a small Leatherman Style but I may do a bigger one at some point. It's a pain getting into all the nooks and corners.

The Raw NS I took fully apart and coated the body inside and out. I did 2 Wee's now. The bottoms I took off and did in and out but the top has the reflector as part of the light. I didn't want to coat that as I'm no fan of yellow lights so I left the glass in, took the LED out and plugged the battery tube so the liquid couldn't get into the head. The Fenix and Martacs I just did with everything intact. The glass isn't conductive so that stays fine and everything else gets plated.

 

[Chongker]

Jay R,

Are you really serious? A gold plated penny would be laugh. PM incoming =)