Got the de-nickelling bath set up - using battery acid (35% sulfuric, as
it's heaps cheaper than the recommended 60%), plus some glycerin.

Parts I'm trying to prepare for putting on new nickel have some old
nickel, and some exposed base metal. Trouble is, the base steel is
dissolving faster than the nickel!

Thought I had to current up too high, but I can see it bubbling away
even with current turned off.

Any suggestions as to what's up?

Thanks
Jordan

"Jordan" wrote in message
u...
Got the de-nickelling bath set up - using battery acid (35% sulfuric, as
it's heaps cheaper than the recommended 60%), plus some glycerin.

Parts I'm trying to prepare for putting on new nickel have some old
nickel, and some exposed base metal. Trouble is, the base steel is
dissolving faster than the nickel!

Thought I had to current up too high, but I can see it bubbling away
even with current turned off.

Any suggestions as to what's up?

Thanks
Jordan

Sulfuric dissolves steel----so you may have to resort to mechanical means of
removing the old plating. Right off hand, I cant think of another acid
that would work without attacking the base metal.

Harold

You could use a professional product like
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/sto...aspx?p=1102&s=

or
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/sto...e=SUPER-STRIP?

Randy


"Jordan" wrote in message
u...
Got the de-nickelling bath set up - using battery acid (35% sulfuric, as
it's heaps cheaper than the recommended 60%), plus some glycerin.

Parts I'm trying to prepare for putting on new nickel have some old
nickel, and some exposed base metal. Trouble is, the base steel is
dissolving faster than the nickel!

Thought I had to current up too high, but I can see it bubbling away even
with current turned off.

Any suggestions as to what's up?

Thanks
Jordan

Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

"Jordan" wrote in message
u...
Got the de-nickelling bath set up - using battery acid (35% sulfuric, as
it's heaps cheaper than the recommended 60%), plus some glycerin.

Parts I'm trying to prepare for putting on new nickel have some old
nickel, and some exposed base metal. Trouble is, the base steel is
dissolving faster than the nickel!

Thought I had to current up too high, but I can see it bubbling away
even with current turned off.

Any suggestions as to what's up?

Thanks
Jordan

Sulfuric dissolves steel----so you may have to resort to mechanical means of
removing the old plating. Right off hand, I cant think of another acid
that would work without attacking the base metal.

Hydrochloric acid doesn't seem to eat steel, at least not quickly. It's sold
as muriatic acid in gallon jugs at the hardware store. Watch out, it splashes
and will eat everything else it hits.


Harold

"Cydrome Leader" wrote in message
...
Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

snip-----

Sulfuric dissolves steel----so you may have to resort to mechanical
means of
removing the old plating. Right off hand, I cant think of another acid
that would work without attacking the base metal.

Hydrochloric acid doesn't seem to eat steel, at least not quickly. It's
sold
as muriatic acid in gallon jugs at the hardware store. Watch out, it
splashes
and will eat everything else it hits.

No, it dissolves steel, too, and likely at about the same speed as sulfuric.
I don't recall if it dissolves nickel, which is the real issue.

Harold

Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

Hydrochloric acid doesn't seem to eat steel, at least not quickly.

No, it dissolves steel, too, and likely at about the same speed as sulfuric.
I don't recall if it dissolves nickel, which is the real issue.


I wonder if the glycerin, which is in the recipe for the solution, is
supposed to somehow prevent the steel from dissolving?
I guess not, as I'm using it but the steel gets attacked anyway.
In which case, I've no idea why it's there - just following instructions.

Jordan

"Jordan" wrote in message
u...
Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

Hydrochloric acid doesn't seem to eat steel, at least not quickly.

No, it dissolves steel, too, and likely at about the same speed as
sulfuric.
I don't recall if it dissolves nickel, which is the real issue.


I wonder if the glycerin, which is in the recipe for the solution, is
supposed to somehow prevent the steel from dissolving?
I guess not, as I'm using it but the steel gets attacked anyway.
In which case, I've no idea why it's there - just following instructions.

Jordan

Good point. It may, indeed, act as a buffer. I have no plating experience,
only experience in dissolving various metals from my years working as a
precious metal refiner. I can't help but think you're going to have to
resort to mechanical means in this case. I did a lot of stripping using
cyanide and had a similar problem when stripping copper based alloys. Once
you get exposure of the base metal, the wrong things start reacting and what
you're trying to remove quits cooperating. Buffered solutions helped, but
are not a cure-all.

Harold

Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:
Once
you get exposure of the base metal, the wrong things start reacting and what
you're trying to remove quits cooperating.


I should also mention that I've only had the problem with some parts.
For some reason, the base steel wasn't attacked on some items.
I guess there are differences between steels.

Jordan

"Jordan" wrote in message
u...
Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:
Once
you get exposure of the base metal, the wrong things start reacting and
what
you're trying to remove quits cooperating.


I should also mention that I've only had the problem with some parts.
For some reason, the base steel wasn't attacked on some items.
I guess there are differences between steels.

Jordan

Interesting, and not uncommon. When I was refining, I used scrap steel to
recover low grade values of the platinum group from solutions. That was
necessary because it's almost impossible to recover them by other means,
unlike gold. It was always interesting to find that there were zones
that would react quicker than other areas. Not being a chemist or
metallurgist, I have always been at a loss to explain what I experienced.

Harold

Since it is a good solvent - perhaps it holds the HCL for use so it doesn't
boil off. Might be a modifier of indirect ions.

Being hygroscopic - doesn't play into this not much at all.

Martin
Martin Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
NRA LOH, NRA Life
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder



Jordan wrote:
Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:


Hydrochloric acid doesn't seem to eat steel, at least not quickly.


No, it dissolves steel, too, and likely at about the same speed as
sulfuric.
I don't recall if it dissolves nickel, which is the real issue.


I wonder if the glycerin, which is in the recipe for the solution, is
supposed to somehow prevent the steel from dissolving?
I guess not, as I'm using it but the steel gets attacked anyway.
In which case, I've no idea why it's there - just following instructions.

Jordan

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