Home >> Science & Nature >> Science

How Do I Chrome-Plate Metal?

If you're interested in trying some chrome-plating at home, do-it-yourself chrome plating kits are the way to go. Trying to get all of the materials individually can be an almost impossible task, especially in the small quantities that you'll need them in. The kits come with all the materials you will need in manageable amounts. Each kit comes with it's own instruction booklet that will walk you through the plating process, but they all follow similar, if not the same, steps from start to finish.

Things You'll Need

Rubber gloves
Safety glasses
Chrome plating kit (including three 5-gallon buckets)
Degreaser
Buffing rags
Sodium hydroxide
Dioxide acid
Sulfuric acid
Thermometer
Metal tongs

Instructions

- 1
  Clean off the metal that you are going to plate. Use a buffing cloth and degreaser to remove all traces of dirt and oil from the surface. Any residual oil could result in the etching solution not reaching all of the crevasses on the metal.
- 2
  Put on safety glasses and gloves. Submerge the metal piece in sodium hydroxide (or etching solution No. 1 from the kit). Let it sit in the solution for at least one minute.
- 3
  Remove the metal from the sodium hydroxide (solution No. 1) and place it directly dioxide acid (kit solution No. 2). Let the metal sit in this solution at least 45 seconds.
- 4
  Remove the metal piece from the second solution and rinse it with cold water. Dry off the metal piece with a buffing cloth and place it in the acid bath from the chroming kit.
- 5
  Hook the battery to the electrodes from the chrome kit, and place the electrodes in the acid bath. This will begin to heat the acid. Place a thermometer in the bath to keep track of the temperature. Once the temperature reaches 115 degrees Fahrenheit, start timing. Let the metal sit in the bath for 10 minutes.
- 6
  Remove the metal from the acid bath and rinse it with cool water. Place the copper strike, the nickle strike and the hex chromate solutions from the chrome kit into three separate buckets.
- 7
  Submerge the metal piece into the copper strike for one hour. Remove it from the liquid with metal tongs. Move the metal to the nickle strike solution, and again let it sit for at least one hour.
- 8
  Remove the metal from the nickle strike and place it in the hex chromate solution. After sitting in the solution for an hour, the metal can be removed and rinsed in clear water. Your metal is now chrome-plated.

Science