Plating & Other Chemistry

The Lab has a mixed-use fume hood for cleaning, plating & other chemistry. A sink, integrated eyewash station & a safety shower are next to the fume hood as shown in the picture.

Contact Dr. Nagle to recieved required lab specific safety training before you use the fume hood or use any chemicals in the Lab.

The Lab has equipment and supplies for gold electroplating. We stock electro-cleaning solution from Gold Plating Solutions, a B1-RL 24 Kt gold plating solution from Technology Without Limits (TWL), hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and distilled water. We should also have all the beakers and tweezers that you would need, as well as two power supplies: one typically for electro-cleaning and one for plating. The SDS are available in lab and from Dr. Nagle.

A simple way to make non-metallic parts conductive. Easier to use than conductive paints. The Caswell Electroless Copper Plating Kit provides an even, consistent layer of copper, which can then be plated with Acid Copper for a thicker layer.

The kit can also be used to plate thru-holes in Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs).

The system can operate at room temperature, or can be heated to 100 deg F for a slightly faster plating time.

You can plate directly onto cleaned plastics, etched glass or epoxies. Includes an epoxy sealer for plating over porous items such as wood, leather, plants, rubber, or anything else you can imagine.

Adapted from Caswell’s webpage for electroless copper 1 qt.

The SDS are available in lab and from Dr. Nagle.

The Lab has tinning solution for electroless plating of a thin layer of tin on copper. This shelf-stable powder is simply mixed with water at 50 C and then used at room temperature, according to the instructions on the package. The SDS is available in lab and from Dr. Nagle.