Caswell Plug N' Plate Nickel Kit

Bought a Caswell kit a week ago and have finally figured out how to make it work well. Here are a few of my learnings:1) Kit documentation refers to a 4.5 volt transformer with it...but mine came with 1.7 volt transformer. I checked with Gil Garceau who has a Caswell kit as well and he confirmed he had the 4.5 volt transformer. I plan to ask Caswell about it, but since I had a leftover 4.5 volt Sony transformer from some now long gone gizmo...I swapped the leads and I was in business.2) If you find yourself doing what I did and using another transformer...be very conscious of + and - leads on the transformer...mix them up and nothing seems to happen (I did...switched and then it worked).3) For little stuff like screw heads, safety valves, whistles and the like...I found a glass "jigger" about 1/4" full of solution, set in a dish of hot water and kept hot on a small coffee warmer worked great. Temp of the nickel plating solution makes a huge difference...when warm the plating is almost instantaneous...not warm it works poorly if at all. If the plating peters out and seems to stop, dump out the solution and add more...you have likely depleted the nickel content at that point. (mine is a nickel kit only, but I assume similar process for copper)4) Items to be plated must be very, very clean. I found cleaning with Dremel wire brush followed by denatured alcohol and finally distilled water worked well. Handle parts with fresh gloves to avoid fingerprints which will not plate.5) Little "wand" thingy they give you works fine...you wrap some of the cotton bandage material they supply around the end, held with a loose rubber band enough to let the bandage stuff soak up the solution, then just sort of paint it on gently...making sure the end of the metal wand itself does not touch the object being plated...only the bandage material. When done, the wand/bandage can be rinsed in distilled water, pat dry with paper towel and left out to dry for next time...I used same bandage piece several times. I will get a roll of the stuff at Walgreens however as they only give you enough for wrapping wand 2-3 times. It looks like simple thin cotton cloth.6) Once item is plated...drop it in a dish of distilled water until you are ready to dry and polish. As they come out of the solution they are kind of dull grey.7) Polish with Dremel brass rotary brush...brings up a gleaming nickel finish quickly, but don't over polish because the plating is thin...if you polish through it you can always redo the plating steps.Bottom line, a great way to fix problems with nickel plated items, making them look great again.

I used this kit to plate the base of several copper heatsinks before using liquid metal thermal compound. This is necessary to prevent the liquid metal from being absorbed into the copper. It is important that the surface to be plated be clean and free of oxidation or corrosion. Copper should be bright pink before plating, not brown and dull. Use mirror-fine sandpaper to remove any oxide first, and then clean the surface with acetone. If a certain area won't plate, sand and clean that area and try again.

Big fan of this kit. Used it to plate keys (yes there's a good reason for plating my keys). Worked very well. Called support for questions prior to purchase. Representative was knowledgeable and the conversation was actually quite stimulating as he went through the process and the chemistry behind the process with me. Impressed by this company. Even more impressed by this product. If you're brushing on small items, even keys, I would suggest looking into the nubby wand attachments they carry (real name escapes me) to ease in the detail of the process. Can't wait to try some other metal kits! Thanks.

Plates thinly, takes multiple platings to look good.

Product worked as advertised

Great product and does what it claims. It takes some elbow grease and the parts must be very clean but it does put a nice nickel finish on your parts. I restored a WW1 Luger magazine using Plug N' Plate and it came out beautiful. I would recommend this product to people refinishing small parts.

product doesn't work nearly as well as I was expecting after carefully following the directions the plating that I was able to accomplish was entirely too thin didn't look as good as it was should have and with splotchy

I attempted to nickel plate a small item machined from ordinary round brass stock, about 1/2 inch long and 1/4 inch in diameter. It was polished and thoroughly de-greased. Instructions were followed to the letter. After several lengthy attempts at brush plating, all I got was a dull grey surface. I finally re-polished the part and resorted to immersion (dip) plating (which the instructions discourage), and eventually got a nice, shiny surface. I registered and emailed asking for support, but my request went entirely unanswered. Considering the price of this item, some support from the manufacturer other than a a link to FAQ's would be expected.