Silver Plated Brass Stock ???

[JoeLee]

I'm wondering if anyone has a source for silver plated brass strips or thin sheets like shim stock?
I have a small electrical restoration project in the works that requires a few silver plated brass straps that I need to make
The originals are cracked, must have been hard brass!! They are .010 thick x 1/2" in width. Either strips or sheets will do.
Why the silver plating you ask?????? My guess is silver is a good electrical conductor that won't corrode.

JL.....................

[ldbent]

Silver corrodes readily--hence silver polish. Gold is known as the incorruptible metal and also is an excellent conductor. Nickel over brass or copper may be your best bet.

[Arcane]

Silver plated? Possibly, but I think you will find it's been tin plated. I've seen lots of brass connectors/terminals that have been tin plated for corrosion resistance.

[JoeLee]

Silver plated? Possibly, but I think you will find it's been tin plated. I've seen lots of brass connectors/terminals that have been tin plated for corrosion resistance.

I've seen it too but this is silver plated for sure, not tin.

JL................

[danlb]

Silver oxide is conductive, and it cleans well from the contacts "wiping" against each other, so silver was often used for contacts.

Dan

[Rich Carlstedt]

Joe
When I made the clock face on my Monitor engine , I wanted to also have Silver plated brass, but could not find any.
I guess you could buy a silver kit from Caswell, but the price is high for such a small job.
There are "immersion plating solutions" much cheaper but they have no abrasion resistance
So what I did was flycut some flat brass to get a superfinished (mirror ) surface, and then fluxed the
surface and melted 50/50 solder and immediately wiped it off, leaving a beautiful silver colored surface
Here is a pic of the clock which is .500" in diameter
Rich


PS
The lettering on the steam gauge in the middle is only .018" tall

[Paul Alciatore]

Are you sure the silver plated metal is brass and not copper? I did a quick search and found many sources for silver plated copper for electrical and electronic use, but most silver plated brass is jewelry.

McMaster has silver plated copper bars:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#silver-plated-copper/=izyiyw

Of course, they will not be plated at any cuts or holes that you drill. There are many silver plating references on the web and I suspect that the normal practice is to make the part first from non-plated stock and then have it plated overall.

[macona]

If the part is moving and flexes it is probably silver plated beryllium bronze (copper). It is much springier than generic brass and copper.

[alanganes]

You can buy a wipe-on silver plating powder. Add water and wipe it on copper or brass. It is for plating electrical connections. One brand I've used is called "Cool-AMP". I can't recall where it was purchased from, google ought to help out.

[MrSleepy]

As Rich wrote, you can get a very shiny plate using some of the newer ROHS compliant solders

I use a bath of solder with a few flux crystals to plate my test pcbs.



You could also tin plate it with one of the Thiourea type plating solutions (but these have become quite expensive now).

Rob