Plating & Other Chemistry
Fume hood, sink, eyewash & shower
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.
Gold electroplating
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.
Electroless copper
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.
Copper electroplating
The Lab has equipment and supplies for copper electroplating, which is accomplished much like gold electroplating. Find manufacturer info here.
Tinning
The Lab has tinning solution for electroless plating of a thin layer of tin on copper.