Hello everybody,
I had some silver medallions/tags cast for making engraved
bracelets, and then had some of them rhodium plated and others gold
plated (18k I was told).
I had read somewhere that the plating should be 3 microns thick to
be lasting but I don’t know of any way to measure the layer after the
process.
So I started rubbing one of the gold plated medallions with a silver
cleaning cloth, and the plating came off in 15-20 seconds! Is that
normal? Obviously you shouldn’t clean a plated medallion with that
kind of cloth, but still… I did the same thing with a gold plated
brass medallion I had bought and it didn’t rub off.
-
How can obtain a better plating quality?
-
I know it depends mainly on 2 factors: the amount of gold in the
bath, and the duration of the bath. What is the quantity and duration
required to get a plating that is at least 1 micron thick? -
Is there any way to test the quality of the plating?
-
I noticed some small marks on the plating and was told that it
could be due to bubbles in the plating. Is there such a thing? -
The are also some cloud-like marks on some of the pieces, any
idea what could have caused that? -
Will applying some kind of coating over the plating increase it’s
longevity? -
Is it stupid to try and gold plate silver medals? Would gold
plating brass produce much better and longer lasting results? (I
consider brass jewelry as junk personally…) -
What nickel free alloy is best suited as an underplate for gold
plating silver (in order to avoid having the silver show when the
yellow gold plating wears off)
I really hope someone will be able to help me,
Thanks a lot