u/Throwaway383744

Started about 4 hours ago, I'm sure there will be others like me just interested in general and wanting to see immediate results without spending any money at all. (Or before they spend money)

Tools I used:

-6 AA batteries

-Mini glass dish

-Masking tape

-Copper wire out of old cable

-Malt vinegar

-Table salt

Best (poor mans) method I have found:

Strap 5 batteries together with masking tape and copper wire. The negative will bubble and turn very dark. Stir it about every now and again and wipe the residue off both negative and positive.

Wait for the liquid to turn into gatorade.

Swap to 1 battery setup. Take item you want to plate and attach to negative side. Stir it the entire time or it'll just wipe off.

Turn a 10p coin copper (mostly) i only left it in for about 2 minutes because I kept knocking my setup by stirring too aggressively.

I am sure there are many more effective ways to do this and I would be super keen on learning them, tutorials I found online have at least a few purchases required.

Next goal is to scale everything up and use conductive spraypaint to turn a plastic prop helmet into copper

Edit: did the 10p for another 10 minutes and by golly this bad boy is truly plated now

After becoming interested by wanting to plate some larp gear I wanted to do a test of some description, I'll probably just plate some random items.

Here's my little test rig anyway, composing of random stuff I already had, its not pretty, But its working!

Edit:spelling