Mesh Electrode

£27.55£103.39 + VAT

Clear selection

A mesh electrode for beaker plating which is a cheaper alternative to platinised titanium anodes. Please click on the Tech Specs for more information.

 

The mesh electrode fits snugly inside the glass beaker without any extra clips. To see how the Mesh Electrode works, please click HERE to see a gold tank plating project in our Electroplating manual.

A short video showing the mesh electrode in action.

Back to Product Description

 

Features Benefits
  • Made from the highest grade titanium coated with MMO (mixed metal oxides)
  • Unlike stainless steel, will not contaminate gold plating solution
  • Cheaper alternative to platinised titanium

 

Gold tank plating a silver ring to vermeil standard

Our Gold Tank Plating Kit, when used with our on-line Gold Tank Plating Calculator, means you’re now in complete control of the gold plating process.
Plating to vermeil standard requires a layer of gold of at least 2.5 microns on sterling silver and our kit will help you plate to these kinds of specific and substantial thicknesses of gold.
You’ll not only be confident that the layer of gold you’ve plated is of a uniform thickness, you’ll also know how much gold is left in your remaining plating solution and therefore how long it will take to plate your next item to the same or a different specification.
Our kit also offers you the flexibility of plating larger objects in our 500ml, 1 and 2 litre capacity Plating Beakers.

1. Arranging your kit

Set up your Gold Tank Plating Kit as shown.

Below is a video showing you how to set up the power source for this kit, the Microplater Classic.

2. Setting up the gold plating beaker

Once the plating beaker is filled with gold solution and is on the hot plate stirrer, grip one of the red leads to its mesh electrode.

Turn on the Electronic Stirrer and place the magnetic stirrer bar in the gold plating solution. Set the hot plate stirrer bar speed to 1 and the heat setting to between 0 and 1. You are aiming to heat the gold plating solution to 25 to 30 degrees centigrade, so you will need to adjust these settings as you go, to maintain a constant temperature. Check the temperature of the solution with the Temperature Probe.

3. Setting up the cleaner beaker

The other red lead should grip on to the mesh electrode in the cleaner beaker.

4. Connecting the Plating Stand

The black lead should be plugged in to the base of the Plating Stand.

5. Connecting to the power source

The other ends of the red and black leads should be plugged in to the MF Rectifier.

6. Calculating plating and powered cleaning times

You’ll need to work out the surface area you’re plating and decide the thickness of plate you require.

In this case we’ll be plating gold onto a sterling silver ring to vermeil standard. This means we’ll be plating to a gold thickness of 2.5 microns. The surface area of the example ring worked out at 8 square centimetres.

Go to the Gold Tank Plating Calculator on the Gold Tank Plating Kit shop page and enter in the required data. Press the ‘Calculate’ button and take a note of the results.

Based on the above data, the amp setting on the MF Rectifier for gold plating will be 0.08 for just over 22.09 minutes.

Set the Economy Rectifier to 3 volts for cleaning.

7. Preparing the surface of the ring for plating with MPU

First clean the ring with MPU using a soft tissue. Then make a small jig to hold the ring, using the Gold Plated Jigging Wire and the Wire Cutters.

8. Preparing the surface of the ring for plating with the Ultrasonic Cleaner

Hang the ring on its wire jig in the Ultrasonic Cleaner and turn it on – a couple of minutes should be enough.

8. 1st and 2nd of the 6 rinse stages

Briefly dip the ring into the first and second of the six rinse stages. The water you use can be ordinary tap water for 5 out of 6 of the rinse stages; we recommend for the last 6th stage that you use deionised

9. Powered cleaning 0.8 amps

The Gold Tank Plating Calculator has told us that the amp setting for the gold plating stage should be 0.08 amps. For the Cleaner stage, the amps on the MF Rectifier should now be set to 0.8

Leave the ring in the Cleaner for 2-5 minutes. Once it’s done, take the ring out of the Cleaner and pass it through rinse three and four of the six rinse stages.

10. Gold tank plating

Adjust the rectifier so that the amp reading is 0.08

Grip the wire jig (with the ring hanging from it) in the crocodile clip that’s fixed to the arm of the plating stand.

Make sure the Plating Timer is set to the right time (in this case 14.04 minutes) and start the timer as soon as you lower the ring into the plating solution.

11. Final rinse stages

After the plating has finished, take the ring out of the plating solution and pass it through the two remaining rinses.

We recommend that the last rinse should be deionised water.

12. Finishing with MetaSeal

The gold plated ring can now be finished with MetaSeal to bring out the lustre of the plate and help seal its surface.

14. Maintaining your tank plating solution

To maintan the plating solution in best working order, cover the beaker with cling film between uses. This will prevent dust and fine hairs getting in and reducing the eficiency of the solution. If you’re not going to be using the solution for more than three consequetive days it is best to re-bottle it.

At some point it’s also a good idea to filter your solution. Guidance on this can be found on the filter kit product page HERE.

Specifications of Mesh

Base mateiral Titanium grade 1
Length of mesh unit 5mm
Width of mesh unit 3mm
Wire width 1mm
Thickness 0.6mm
Surface factor 1.4
Composition of coating IrOx/TaOx
Expected life 0.001A/cm2/year at pH 11.0
pH range 1.0 – 13
Shelf life Over 10 years
Health and Safety classification Not classified
Special considerations None
Transport (UN number) None: Not classified as dangerous for transport

 

Mesh dimensions

Beaker volume

Length Height
250ml 207 mm 70 mm
500ml 220 mm 100mm
1 litre 314 mm 120 mm
2 litre 393 mm 140 mm

General guide;

Certain small items, for example Swabs, Nibs and Plating Pens can be sent by normal post within the UK

  • The courier option for UK deliveries is FedEx
  • Free UK mainland delivery available on orders over £200
  • International orders usually 3-5 working days.

For all price quotations for deliveries, please add your items to our shopping cart. You will be able to see the shipping costs by clicking on the ‘Calculate shipping’ button in the cart and before checking out.