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Can I plate
larger items with more Volts?
This is almost a TRICK QUESTION because
even a correct answer can be misleading.
To address this from another way, here is
a realistic answer.
- You can gold plate at 6 volts, 12 volts or
say 17 volts or even higher.
- At first, the answer is you can plate
large items with 6 volts.
- It is equally correct to say you can plate
large items with 12 volts.
- It is also logical to gold plate at
13.8 volts.
- And, it is fair to say that you can plate
large items with more volts.
So, in this TRICK QUESTION, the answer is YES but it is
misleading to you because you can do the same quality, or even better quality at 13.8 volts
or at 6 volts with a good quality gold plating system and a gold plating solution with a
lot of gold in the actual gold plating solution.
During the 2000 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, a new
company on the market was offering a gold plating system that claimed they
offered 30 volts. They also had a very low price on their gold which leads us to
believe they are using a gold plating solution with little gold in it and are
attempting to drive a lot of volts through it to make it plate out the low
amount of gold in their gold plating solution.
As a part of a similar answer, check out our
page that describes what a synthetic anode cover is. The image below will show
you an example of a synthetic anode cover on a dollar bill. That will show you
relevant size. It is the restriction of the size of all of the synthetic anode
covers that dictate the limitations of a system as well as why move volts does
not help.
The real question should be can I plate a large piece
better or faster with different voltage.
- The answer is simple, in BRUSH PLATING, the only part of
the chemical that is making contact with the item you are gold plating is the synthetic
anode wrap. As long as you use the same size synthetic anode wrap the voltage is not
realistically important. Essentially all of the synthetic anode wraps from
all of the different companies offering gold plating systems are the same
size.
- We have Gold Plated multiple numbers of scripts in our
tank plating operation at 12 volts and 25 amps.
- We can gold plate assorted 15, 16 & 17 inch chrome
wheels at 12 volts and 25 amps. Although we upgraded to a 12 volts 125 amp power supply to
strip the chrome quicker.
- It is sort of like breathing through a straw. The inside
diameter of the straw is the same if you breath slowly or if you blow hard yourself. Only
so much air can go through the inside diameter of the straw. Once you reach the maximum
air flow for the size of the straw, that is simply all of the air you are going
to get. You may get red in the face and feel as if you are getting more but the
fact is simple, once you get the maximum air flow, that is it. To get more, you must
increase the inside diameter size of the straw.
- Even if you were to increase the size of the synthetic
anode wrap it is still smart to use 12 volts. We use 12 volts in TANK PLATING where we can
plate large items or many small items at the same time. We still use 12 volts.
Why the difference in voltage between 6 volts and 12
volts?
- Different pieces can make a difference in the amount of
voltage you would want to use, it depends on the piece. If you are working on a
smaller item like Fish hooks, or an item with thin edges, you may want to gold plate with
as little as 6 volts. 12 Volts can be to much power for this small sized piece. Clearly,
more than 12 Volts is to much as well and the higher voltage on some pieces can damage the
small delicate parts.
- Electricity generates heat. To much electricity (higher
volts) can generate to much heat.
- If you are working on any item from an automotive script
and larger (at least up to the size of bumpers), you can gold plate with as little as 6
volts, or you can do a great job with 12 volts. We to gold plating of large pieces in the
BRUSH TYPE and the TANK TYPE systems at 12 VOLTS. Since you can do a great job with 12
Volts, there is no need to have more since the added voltage will not help you. Actually,
more volts can damage a piece as we mentioned above.
- Actually, added voltage may make you RUSH through parts of
the Gold Plating process so you do not put through to much electrical energy through the
piece you are working on, which causes heat and can damage a piece. Beyond potentially
damaging a piece, being in a RUSH can cause you to make errors which translates into
dissatisfied customers.
- The reason to refer to higher voltage may relate to the
PEAK Voltage of the system, not the designed and or desired working voltage of the system.
The 30 AMP Mobile Gold Plating System operates at just over 12
volts.
-
The Pyramid PS36KX has a range of 11 to 15 volts. You still do the entire Gold Plating
operation it 12 volts. Mentioning up to 15 volts would be misleading, although technically
correct.
What about doing a large piece with 12 Volts?
- The first step you take should be reading our FAQ titled
"Which is BEST. Tank plating or mobile BRUSH plating?" A link to this page is on
our FAQ.
- Gold Plating a LARGE PIECE is done in steps and stages. It
is a matter of doing a small portion of the piece at a time. We go into greater detail on
this in our Gold Plating Manual.
- Some EXPERIENCED Gold Platers do this work while other
EXPERIENCED Gold Platers chose not to. How you can tell yourself? Clearly not from reading
this Web page, or any web page. What we recommend to our customers is listed a few lines
below.
Are there limits on Gold Plating large pieces?
- It is fair to say that I expect any person who owns or
buys any gold plating system from any manufacturer or distributor (with at least 12 volts
and 25 amps) will be able to gold plate large items with the system. Although we
prefer, and recommend, 12 volts and 30 amps.
- With a minimal amount of Gold Plating experience, it is
reasonable to expect the person doing the gold plating will understand the gold plating
process and will be able to the technical process.
- This points out that any equipment (with at least 12 volts
and 25 amps) will do the work and the operator will know how to do it after a short
learning period.
HERE IS WHERE WE ARE AT.
- Any gold plating system with at least 12 Volts and 25 amps
is capable of Gold Plating a piece as big as a Bumper. I expect that is the biggest piece
anyone is ever likely to consider gold plating.
- Any gold plater with minimal experience will know how to
do the work.
Why anyone would want to GOLD PLATE LARGE ITEMS is the
real question.
- How do we solve this matter? It is actually simple. First,
buy an affordable Gold Plating system (it all comes down to converting 110 volts to 12
volts and the chemicals anyway) and after you have some experience in Gold Plating, buy a
chrome wheel, grill and or Bumper from a Junk Yard. The part should come CHEAP from a Junk
Yard since you do not need a good piece.
- After you get the large chrome piece (at least the size of
a wheel) back to where you are comfortable, do the work to actually Gold Plate the
large item. The instructions on HOW TO Gold Plate a Large Item is in our manual. It is
simple enough.
- After you actually do the Gold Plating work YOURSELF, you
will see exactly what it takes to gold plate a large item and you can make your own
decision about your doing the Gold Plating work on large pieces.
What will the person Gold Plating the wheel, Grill or
Bumper see?
- The process of gold plating is essentially to transfer the
gold to the piece using a synthetic anode wrap. Picture the synthetic anode wrap being
about the size of your thumb. You put the gold onto the piece using a surface area about
the size of your thumb. Gold Plating is quite a bit like the finger painting you did back
in Grade School.
- Did you ever do a FINGER PAINTING on a piece of paper the
size of a wheel, grill or a bumper?
- Were all of your FINGER PAINTING results even? Meaning the
color at one side was the same color, and thickness, throughout the entire piece you did?
- Were you absolutely perfect in FINGER PAINTING?
Unless you can honestly answer YES, I WAS ABSOLUTELY
PERFECT IN FINGER PAINTING, you may not be happy with the results of your Gold Plating
work on a large piece like a Wheel, Grill or Bumper.
While you may not be happy, rest assured, whatever
machine you used from any current supplier, with at least 12 volts DC and 25 amps had the
ability to do the work.
This is what we tell all of the people who purchase from
us.
1. Get the system and learn how to use it.
2. Go to a salvage yard and get a large chrome part.
3. Follow the instructions in the manual on Gold Plating large items.
4. After you are finished doing the Gold Plating, let me know your opinion.
We find the brush plating systems are an ideal way to
apply 24K gold to the scripts on a vehicle.
The well developed process of strip the chrome, activate
the exposed nickel and deposit the 24K gold to the exposed and activated nickel works
great, all the time.
The process of strip the chrome, activate the exposed
nickel and deposit the 24K gold to the exposed and activated nickel is the same set of
steps used in TANK PLATING. Tank Plating has universally been considered the highest
quality of Gold Plating because the item being plated is uniformly plated while the item
is under the surface of the assorted plating solutions during the assorted plating
processed. Full Uniform Coverage comes from Tank Plating.
The differences in Tank Plating Versus Brush plating is
on another FAQ answer.
The short story is this.
TANK PLATING provides a uniform processing because the
entire piece is under the surface of the solution as the process is taking place. The
solution gets all over the part, all at the same time.
IN A TANK PLATING PROCESS.
The chrome stripping is EVEN all over the
piece.
The nickel activating is EVEN all over the
piece.
Most important, the gold plating is EVEN
all over the piece
Uneven plating on a small piece like a script is far less
frequent because the piece is smaller to start with. Second, because a script is smaller
than say a wheel, no one notices an uneven spot on a script like they clearly can see the
problem on a wheel!
No one NEEDS to have Gold Plating on their vehicle to go
down the street.
People want to SHOW OFF and that is one of the reasons
they DRESS UP their vehicles.
Can you picture anyone showing off with bad looking DRESS
UP items?
It the ride looks bad, the owner / driver looks bad.
If the owner / driver looks bad, they are not going to be
happy.
Unhappy customers create more problems.
Before you purchase any Gold Plating System for the
purpose of Gold Plating LARGE ITEMS, make sure you can return the system if you are not
able to get as good a result out of the system as you can from a TANK PLATING system.
We do not sell anyone our Gold Plating system by telling
them they can plan on Gold Plating large items with the unit, even though the system has
the capability to deposit gold onto a large piece. We specifically tell everyone to try
the Gold Plating system on a large chrome scrap piece before they make their decision
about gold plating large pieces. After they have the experience, they can make their
own decision.
On large pieces, we go directly to TANK PLATING.
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