How to nickel/chrome plate slugs and magnets?

[Artur pickupmaker]

Hy people, I have a problem.

I lead some steel and AlNiCo rods to a chrome plate house and talk them to chrome plate it, the work was made but it comes with a thin iron powder joined to its extremes.
I think this powder was on the baths.

Another problem is how to hold the rods in the bath. This time they tied them in copper wires but it's not a safe way, some of them could fall inside the bath.

So a ask: how do you do that?
It's not possible to chrome plate magnets unless it's discharged? How to hold this pieces in a way it will not fall?

Just to remember, it was made in a chrome plating house and I cannot do things by myself there, I have to say to the workers there what to do and hope they will do.

[RedHouse]

I never tried plating magnets, but when plating poles and screws you should re-locate the electrode (part hanger/clip) periodically to avoid a contact mark.

Plating slower with a bit less current helps too. I have no idea what they did to get you a the thin iron powder on there are you sure it's just not residue? try using some Flitz on it and see if it rubs off.

[Bruce Johnson]

That's a good question. I've never tried to have magnets plated. Most likely, the iron filings were picked up during the buffing process, off the buffing wheels. Like Brad said, you may be able to hand polish them off. I don't know if there's any easy solution to that.

For holding small parts during plating, the common method for small quantities is to wrap them with copper wire, as you did. For larger quantities of little parts, they'll use a special basket or drum. It has a steel mesh and a motor drive. You put the parts inside and lower it into the bath, then it slowly rotates and tumbles the parts as they are being plated. That's how you get the plating all over without marks from the wires. I'm sure your plating place has one of these. However, there's usually a minimum order cost to do a "basket batch", whether it's 20 parts or 2000 parts.

[Possum]

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Tell them you want electroless plating, there is no electricity and no wires to hook up, this can be done with chrome and nickel.....

[Artur pickupmaker]

I tried in another chrome plate house but it came ever worse, hehe. With even more iron powder.

I sanded and polished the rods before led it to plate, didn't imagin they would polish it again. But its possible to plate it without polish again, no?
The chrome plating house guys are very crude, they use to plate car pieces, seems to don't know what magnets does. But seems to be one of the best plating houses around here, so I have to try again.

I want a good plating, that resists well to oxidation and corrosion. Have seen bad plating in many pieces, that falls out easily and don't prevents well the base piece to oxidate.
Electroless plating is good (in prevent the base piece to oxidate) as electric plating?

In a Elecroless plating process the problems a faced (iron powder and find a secure way to hold the rods) would not happen?

[David Schwab]

Why are you plating the magnets? I wouldn't do that.

Neo magnets are plated, but there's no reason to plate alnico.

[RedHouse]

Why are you plating the magnets? I wouldn't do that.

Neo magnets are plated, but there's no reason to plate alnico.

Might look really cool, and set him apart from others.

[Possum]

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I think plating magnets is a waste of money. But if you're determined to do it, you probably have to plate them in copper first. You might go look at Caswell Plating's website and see what they have there. I am pretty sure regular chrome plating needs nickel or copper plating under it, and then there's the problem that you are trying to plate alnico which is a mix of alot of different metals.....

[LtKojak]

Why are you plating the magnets? I wouldn't do that.

Me neither. Slugs or screws, yes. Magnets, no.

[RedHouse]

I think plating magnets is a waste of money. But if you're determined to do it, you probably have to plate them in copper first. You might go look at Caswell Plating's website and see what they have there. I am pretty sure regular chrome plating needs nickel or copper plating under it, and then there's the problem that you are trying to plate alnico which is a mix of alot of different metals.....

No, and as Caswells site will tell you, nickel compounds will plate without copper.

[Artur pickupmaker]

Have you ever seen an old Strat or Tele single coil? After many years of rock'n'roll and sweat the AlNiCo rods became rusty and this rust eventually penetrates the coil corroating the wire. That's because the old Fender ones die.

I put a insulating tape around the magnets before wind but think it's still not enough since I want to make eternal pickups. Also, as Red House said, the plated poles became brighty and beauty, like the other plated pieces of the guitar.
Maybe it causes some kind of tonal difference I have to experiment.

[David King]

I think you'll need to totally demagnetize the alnico before nickel plating as the nickel is magnetic and it will be drawn unevenly towards the poles and pile up in unsightly encrustations on the ends. It sounds like that's what has been happening. Chrome will have a copper or nickel underplate (often both).
See if you can find a radio station or studio with a bulk demagnetizer.

[Possum]

....

Well there's no such thing as eternal pickups. Eventually the solder joints will fail and the magnet wire will oxidize in a couple hundred years. If you're using ROHS solder the joints will fail in about 10 years.

[Possum]

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Some of Caswell's plating stuff is pretty advanced. Usually nickel plating is done with a copper preplate, all the polished covers we buy are preplated in copper, I really hate that. The first bucker covers didn't have that done, DMC covers are the only ones I know of that have no copper underneath, or at least an invisible layer of it. Their electroless plating solutions are awesome.....

[LtKojak]

Well there's no such thing as eternal pickups. Eventually the solder joints will fail and the magnet wire will oxidize in a couple hundred years. If you're using ROHS solder the joints will fail in about 10 years.

+ 1. When applied to p'ups, the RoHS directive is the most useless and idiotic thing ever thought out from any lifeform in the entire universe.