Fair enough. I for one would love to learn more about this electroplating process. And as you said info is scarce. Seems like a perfect challenge for an educational YouTuber focused on chemistry.
Yeah.
Actually, I think someone like Cody would be very interested in learning how to electroplate aluminium.
I mean I’ve discovered tons of stuff in this process:
1. How to make sulfuric acid using Epsom salt using a galvanic cell electrolysis.
2. How to make sodium zincate for electroless plating of aluminium using electrolysis, or for higher concentrations, reverse galvanic cell electrolysis.
3. How to make copper sulfate using electrolysis, or for higher concentrations, galvanic cell electrolysis.
4. Making sodium cuprate as strike copper plating(not flash copper) on non-aluminium parts.
I’m also currently in the process of making a shiny copper sulfate solution using small quantities of ammonium hydroxide as a surfactant, tiny quantities of sodium hydroxide as an emulsifier, and hydrochloric acid for a small chloride solution etch.
Say, do you guys think I should make another thread for this?
This is an electrolysis thread, so a de-anodizing tutorial and electroplating thread would be great.
Because I’d rather make a thread in which I put up tutorials on how to:
- De-anodize effectively and safely .
- Prepare diverse copper/nickel plating solutions, and other materials if deemed necessary.
- And most importantly, how to recycle plating materials for safe disposal.
That last one is especially important.
Before disposing of my sodium hydroxide solution, I actually thought about running my electroplating setup in reverse using a carbon rod to get the copper out of the solution.
And I managed to get a pure sodium hydroxide along with some pure copper.
Sounds good. Perhaps with links to your other threads.
yes :-), so you can document your thoughts and link to them from here
Yes. A new thread would make it easier to find. 
Sorry to revive the old thread but its quite hard to find people with a similar interest in this chemistry.
I’ve done some testing here involving copper deposition on aluminum based on a video by Simpletronic.
Uses only ferric chloride (muriatic acid, steel wool, hydrogren peroxide), copper sulphate and salt.
I’ve achieved some minor success here. The shiny portion is good copper that sticks properly on the aluminum. When put into a copper electroplating bath, that area is plated fine, although the surrounding area is dirty brown that only accumulates clumps of copper goo. Need to repeat some test why that particular area is so successful. I suspect I will need to sand, clean, lye dip, rinse to achieve minimal contamination.
