[Russ]

ok so the plating is done and I believe it's been rather a great success it took about 5 minutes for each pipe to plate I didn't want the plating to be too thick so 5 minutes was about right....so the Copper pipes and brass nuts /nipples are now dull silvery nickel....I'm well pleased......it was a bit of a faff but if I'd have had more things to plate it would have been far less time consuming....by that I mean the preparation
1.Wear Rubber Gloves
2. 3x Clear Plastic boxes.....
 1 for the Nickel Acetate
 1 for the Distilled Water wash
 1 for the Hydrochloric wash
wash pipes with washing up liquid to get rid of any extraneous oil/grease and rinse off with tap water with the rubber gloves on rinse in the Distilled water then into the 10% Hydrochloric Acid solution to finish off any final grease/oil/organic matter then back into the distilled water for a final rinse......that's the cleaning preparation over still wearing the rubber gloves wire up the part for plating also wire up the sacrificial Nickel Anode.....I had them so they were just suspended in the Nickel Acetate solution....plug in the power source connect the positive to the Anode and the negative to the part you want to plate....switch on and away it goes you can see the bubbles of hydrogen fizzing away so you know it's working I stirred the solution to help release the bubbles off the oil pipe and keep the solution live it took all of 5 minutes to achieve a decent dull Nickel finish......you should have a go it's quite satisfying.....I'm going to be knocking up a Batch of Brass Acetate solution and a Copper one too so plating Steel should be possible

[Russ]

Dull Nickel plating.....I posted this on the VMCC Forum but I'm doing this for the new oil lines I made for my Sunbeam......I could have sent them to these people in the link below but I thought I'd give it a go myself first....so here's how and my effort thus far

https://chromerestorationspecialist.co.uk/finishes/dull-nickel-plating/

you can make your own Nickel Acetate solution it's not difficult what you need:
1. Spirit Vinegar (Ebay)
2. Salt (ordinary household salt Saxa will do)
3. Power Supply (Ebay)
4. 99.9% pure Nickel bar / sheets (EBay).....this will produce a dull Nickel Acetate solution if you want Bright Nickel you will have to add a Brightener to the final Acetate solution
5. Glass or Plastic container (Glass is better)
6. Wooden dowel / rod
7. Copper wire (Ebay)
method:
put Spirit Vinegar into container say 1 ltr to that add 1 Tbsp of salt stir in till dissolved (the salt increases the conductivity) suspend the Nickel bar into the Vinegar / Salt solution by the copper wire one for the Cathode and one for the Anode from a wooden dowel connect the power supply positive to the Anode and negative to the Cathode (the power travels from positive to negative) turn on the power 4 to 6 Volts and about 5 Amps you will notice the solution around the Anode will start to fizz the fizzing is actually Hydrogen gas......it wont be enough to cause a hazard but I'd do it in a well ventilated space.....so the more amps you use will speed up the process of dissolving the Nickel anode into the Vinegar/Salt Solution be aware though that the more amps will increase the temperature of the solution.....it will get quiet hot the more Amps you use so be careful......using less Amps just means the process will take longer.......also be aware that this process will cause a Vinegar stink....LOL.....so keep your work area well ventilated.....so as the Nickel Anode dissolves the Acetate Solution will turn a teal colour the deeper the teal colour the stronger the Nickel Acetate solution will be.....the Cathode will be covered in Nickel dendrite deposits.......and there you have your Nickel Acetate Solution which you can decant into a suitable plastic container that has a screw cap and it will keep for ages....the beauty of this process is it works for all the base metals swap the Nickel bars for Copper or Brass and you will make Copper and Brass Acetate solutions.......Electro Plating is more of an art form......after all that you could just take your items to the Platers in the link I added above......LOL
so here's the process in action click the link below for a Video clip.....I've got to make 5 of these glass jars, this is my 3rd, this one needs about another half hour to reach the deep teal colour required......it's taking about 2 o 2.5 hrs to do each one this is probably due to the thickness of the Nickel bars (10mm dia)  that I've used for the Anode and Cathodes and sub-optimal ambient temperature conditions.....it's a little on the nippy side but a nice enough day though

https://youtube.com/shorts/BzbXtUN2nqg?feature=share

once I've got enough of my Nickel Acetate batch done I'll do a video Clip of the plating process which is quite involved as it's all about getting the cleanest of surfaces and involves Hydrochloric acid....Eeek....but in dilute form (10%)....Phew still dangerous though.....and distilled water for rinsing before plating.....I'll keep you posted if I haven't managed to poison myself or blow the garage up Hydrogen bomb style.......LOL