Electropolishing, Anybody Do It?

[softailgarage]

Not electroplating, where your adding to the metal, but polishing, taking away from it. As an ex-plater, both electrolytic & electroless, I've been reading on electropolishing and thinking about setting something up at home, however info as far as DIY is scarce. So... anybody have something set up?

 

[nine4gmc]

In for info, I am an ex-plater as well.

 

[softailgarage]

I've been thinking about setting up Ni bath, but would get more use from a polish bath. How about Electro/electroless baths, anybody set up for that? nine?

 

[nine4gmc]

I repurposed an old three shelf rolling cart from HF with a 5 gallon bucket and bar size stainless sink cut into the top shelf for electrolysis and rinsing. There is a 5 gallon bucket cut into the middle shelf below the sink and it has a fountain pump feeding the faucet to recirculate rinse water. My plating rectifier sits on the bottom shelf. I can roll it out the way or over to a tote when doing larger items. I've been wanting to do a Ni run on my machine parts(lathe,dp,mill,etc) but have not set one up yet, I still have a half bottle of the Ni left over that I can use. I gold plated the band on my iPhone 3 a few years back but besides that, have not plated anything in a decade or more.

Have you plated anything recently or do any electrolysis with it?

 

[Malibu Mac]

As an engineer, i have used Able Electropolishing to do electroploishing on torsion springs to eliminate stress and improve cycle life. The removal of material leaves an almost mirror finish. Might check out their website to get some info you are looking for.

http://www.ableelectropolishing.com...tropolishing&gclid=CPKjmIf54r0CFahlOgod5QgASA

 

[garagemanufacturing]

An additional electropolishing option is http://www.electropolishing.com. Most people would advise against doing it at home. You can probably replicate the process at home but you can run into air quality issues not to mention legal issues.