Plating

[Solly]

Hi,
Does rhodium plating damage a ring if carried out too frequently? I was told that before replenishing the plating the remnants of the old worn plating has to be removed by abrasion, and this usually takes a little of the gold substrate with it. Is this true? How much gold can be lost in this way?
Kind regards,
Solly

 

[Enerchi]

uh oh... I don't know the answer to this and am eager to learn what the knowledgeable men and women of PS have to say. I just sent mine back to the jeweller to examine a scratch and replate it. hmmm....

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Not that I have ever heard, I have had my ER over 5 years and have it replated annually. I actually watched them do it and there was no stripping of the old rhodium that I witnessed. I saw it go in one liquid bath with bubbles and then another, very science experiment looking.

 

[Enerchi]

Remember this? "Bill Bill Bill Bill... Bill Nye the Science Guy!"
I think I remember watching a youtube video on plating, now that you mention it, and it was a 'bubble bath' so to speak. I am interested to learn if old plating has to be removed for new to adhere.

 

[stone-cold11]

Depends. Usually a cleaner surface will be better for a better plating result ( last longer, less chance of peeling, etc) and less contamination to the bath ( contaminated bath usually leads to worse plating results and discoloration ) but slightly more work involved ( cleaning, sanding the old surface ). So depends on what the jeweler choose to do.

Disclaimer,
From knowledge of general engineering, might be different for jeweler.

 

[Mike R]

You will find many jewellers plate over old plating and without removing any scratches first but this doesn't give a very good finish and the plating will not be durable.

Every jeweller has their own way of plating with different levels of finish, the golden rule is you get out of it what you put into it.
90% of a great rhodium plating job is in the prep, for the best most durable results the piece must be very clean, no oils/ dirt/ old plating can be on the piece and it should be polished beautifully first also. The area where the plating is being done must also be kept clean to surgical standards to avoid contamination of both the solution and the piece being plated. ( contamination will result in a dull surface possibly with dark shadow spotting and the plating will not last long)

During polishing you will loose some metal, how much metal you loose will depend on how deep the dents and scratches are on your ring.
If you do not remove the dents and scratches first you will see them through the plating just like you would see dents in your wall if you didn't fix them before re painting.

Hope this helps.

 

[Solly]

Ok,thanks very much for the help guys. It sounds like it needs to be treated on a case by case / jeweller by jeweller basis.
Solly