A friend recently gave me a Meopta 5x7 enlarger which although fully functional, I'd like to spruce up a bit. It's a beautiful piece of work, made in the days when things were really well built. The column consists of three steel rods which were originally chrome plated. The lens focusing mechanism centers around another rod, also chromed.
I'd like to re-plate these four rods with nickel, because: a) the nickel process is simpler as I understand it, compared with chrome; and b) I don't think the wear factor is such that chrome is warranted over nickel, since nickel itself is fairly durable.
If anyone has done large scale nickel plating, can you advise me on the practicalities involved? For example, the three rods that form the column are about 1.3m in length, so how many anode pieces would be required on each side of the bath? I envisage plating only one rod at a time, so what voltage and current would be required?
I understand that cleanliness is essential and I intend taking back the surface to bare metal, with an acid etch before plating. The pic gives an idea of the pieces. The unit is magnificent... the condenser glass weighs in at 8kg and is 24cm diameter. Thanks for any thoughts.
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