On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 11:28:06 GMT, "SteveF" wrote:

,;
wrote in message
groups.com...
,;
,;
,;
,; Hi all
,;
,; I'm searching for a recipe for making electroless nickel plating .
,; So far googling shows that someone perhaps wrote an article on
,; the subject for Live Steam Magazine in 1977 and supposedly
,; it went into the FAQ but I cannot find it there. As I understand
,; it the process is not new nor propietary.
,; I'm aware that Caswell sells a reasonably priced kit, but cheapness
,; is not my sole motivator. I really would like to try it DIY and
,; hope

,;
,;
,;Whenever you need to find out what's in someone's chemical mixture, just
,;remember the letters MSDS.
,;
,;Found some here. http://www.cutechhpi.com/plating.html

I didn't find anything useful there.

There was a lot of research on this in the 1960's. If you have access
to the Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards during
that time period you will find recipes.

I have been there and done that but unfortunately it was back in the
60's and the elapsed time has taken its toll on the memory banks. But
AFAIR we had a 2 liter beaker, NiSO4 dissolved in a basic tartrate
solution, with hypophosphite near the boiling point. Dip the part in
and let it plate. Now the plate is not pure nickel. It is a nickel-
phosphorus compound about 93% nickel. We also did this with borate
instead of phosphorus which yields a nickle-boron plate.

Can you do this at home? No problem if you can get the chemicals.