Front panel labels and electroplating

[Tony Clark]

> Also, has anyone tried using an electroplater such as one advertised by
> Hunter Products  908-526-8440.   It apparently can plate gold etc on 
> contacts and connectors.  Wonder if it would work on problem synths 
> with tin contacts everywhere.  It costs $328.  Also wonder if it blows 
> up your components when you use it...... 

   Hey, why spend $328 bucks on a "electroplater" when all you need is a 
variable power supply and two conductive electrodes?  At my business we 
do some spot electroplating on linear resistive elements to plate copper 
over silver conductive surfaces.  To do this we hook up a cheapie lab 
power supply (variable voltage and current) to a graphite electrode 
(positive side) and a voltmeter probe (negative side).
   Then you use a saturated solution of the material you want to plate 
(like copper sulfate-(ide?)) and use the graphite electrode (covered in 
an absorbant material (like fiberglass cloth) to rub the area you want to 
plate while using the voltmeter probe as the current sink somewhere on 
the conductive path.
   Takes a little practice to get it to work well.  You can't plate for 
too long and the current has to be fairly constant and at a good level 
(somewhere in the 50-100mV range) for it to work, but it does the job.  
And for a hell of a lot cheaper than $300!
   Note, I wouldn't try it on populated boards unless you are sure it can 
handle stray currents in the range above!

   Tony

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I can't drive (my Moog) 55!         |     The E-Music DIY Archive
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Tony Clark -- clark at andrews.edu     | aupe.phys.andrews.edu/diy_archive
http://aupe.phys.andrews.edu/~clark |     Contributions welcomed!
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