Brush plating is a very useful and portable method of contact plating. Many different types of metals or alloys can be applied over another metal. Our company makes far more solutions available in brush plating chemicals then tank plating due to the large demand of our customers. In a brush plating set-up we can work with lower powered rectifiers and much less chemicals then in a tank plating set-up. Larger pieces can be plated at a lower investment money wise and a smaller work area is needed. Basically it doesn’t matter how large the piece is, since it will plate wherever we touch the wand to the work surface. Tough jobs can be done easily since we do not have to disassemble most items. Car parts can be plated right on the auto without dismantling the car. This is how the gold emblems on cars are done. The emblems are never removed from the car to be plated. It doesn’t matter if we touch the paint on the car as the paint does not conduct electricity so the paint will not plate. Guns are much easier to plate this way as there is no worry of the insides getting rusty from submerging them in solutions. If you have two conductive surfaces close to each other and you only want to plate one of them, the plating will only occur on the surface that you contact with the wand. If it is impossible to plate one area without touching the surrounding areas then you can mask off the area with tape or nail polish or the such. In brush plating the solution is all used up and therefore you do not have a disposal problem like in tank plating. It is considered environmentally friendly.

The theory of Brush plating is simple. The rectifier supplies a negative charge to the work piece and a positive charge to a hand held wand (brush) which has the anode attached to the end of it. The anode is covered with an absorbent material which holds the plating solution. The anode can either be dipped in the solution or in some large jobs the solution is constantly pumped up to the area being plated. The anode is then moved across the work piece by the operator, or the work piece can be moved under the anode, such as a moving shaft. The movement will apply even plating on the entire area being plated. Plating occurs only where the anode contacts the work piece. The longer you go back and forth on the work area, the more metal is applied. You have to have some movement of the wand over the work area or you would have a dead short since both the Positive and the Negative are both connected to the work piece. The voltage may have to be adjusted due to the fact that not everyone moves the wand at the same speed. In tight areas you can just wiggle the wand on the piece to get movement.

 Advantages of Brush plating: Lower initial cost to start. Portability, the equipment can be moved to the worksite. Ease of operation. Permits the plating of parts too large for a tank. Reduces the amount of masking. Reduces waste disposal. And don’t let the word brush fool you, you can’t leave any brush marks since the metal is electrically deposited on the work piece.