First off I’ll explain my process.
Degrease item.
Put item in blast cabinet and blast until no previous coating or contamination is present (I use glass bead as blasting media)
Blow off any blasting residue with compressed air (breathable quality)
Into degreaser 5 mins
Rinse then into pickle 2 mins
Rinse then into plating tank.
End result is a plated item that has a golden hue to it, with a kind of silvery blueish watermark here and there. It’s just not nice. (See image)
The 3 items on the left are old (46yrs) exhaust brackets so the pitting is acceptable. The small round bar on the right is new fresh metal bar which I tried in case it was down to the old items causing the problem.
In order to try and eliminate the problem I did the following:
I renewed my electrolyte (added the correct amount of starter and brightener)
I renewed my anodes (others were really black and scummy, but would clean up I guess)
I bought a proper power supply
I use stainless steel wire to hang the items and anodes in the tank (thought the copper wire was causing the hue)
Stopped rinsing in tap water and changed to deionised.
Purchased an aquarium water heater (set to 22c) And an aquarium air pump to blow air)
And I still end up with the same problem.
It’s got to be something I’m doing wrong, if anyone can shed some light it really would be great?
TIA