Hi All;
I recently tried applying black rhodium (pen plating) to a piece,
and although I didn’t expect it to be a really dark black, it was
pretty disappointing. The piece was done in Stuller’s bright white 14
karat alloy, had a high polish, was cleaned with electrocleaner,
rinsed in distilled water, dried with compressed air, and applied
with a new pen and tip reserved exclusively for this process. What I
got was a middling grey color, which seemed to actually lighten a bit
when put in the ultrasonic. Anybody have any tips for doing this to
get better results?
David L. Huffman
David,
I’ve resisted trying black rhodium (too cheap) so can offer no real
help. Just a big thank you for saving me some $$. Rio does describe
it
as a grey-black, and the compressed air might be an additional
problem. One of my compressors blows oily air and the even with the
oil-less one that air is none too clean.
A really dark black is possible with Tellurium HCL based solutions
applied with a steel applicator (broken saw blade). Alas it is NOT
good in an ultrasonic. Usually I pickle copper plate and use LOS.
Jeff
Demand Designs
Analog/Digital Modelling & Goldsmithing
http://www.gmavt.net/~jdemand