Currentless coating - coating surfaces without electricity and with few accessories or creating conductivity

Our category 'Currentless plating’ combines different methods among each other. Their common feature: little or no prior knowledge is required for the easy handling of coating without electricity. Moreover, apart from protective equipment and containers, no other accessories are usually required. Application and processing of the products are therefore very easy! With the help of our conductive lacquers, conductive (metallic) surfaces can be created on non-conductive materials with an additional galvanic step, which in turn can form the basis for further galvanic coating processes. This makes it incredibly easy to coat 3D printed, organic or non-conductive surfaces yourself. Our user-friendly Star products are like magical alchemy and almost magically create decorative gold and silver coatings on certain non-ferrous metals with little effort! Chromation provides corrosion protection and visually attractive results on zinc and galvanised parts and is therefore particularly popular in the automotive and restoration sectors.

Why electroless coating?

Easy to use
Create conductivity
Without previous knowledge
No accessories necessary
Cost-effective alternative to electroplating
Varied product selection

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Create conductivity

If you want to create metallic surfaces on non-conductive materials such as glass, ceramics, plastics or other polymers, our conductive varnishes will help you. Our conductive varnishes are becoming increasingly popular, especially in the field of 3D printing. While 3D prints are cheap to produce, conductive varnishes can be used to create monumental works of art, replicas or jewellery. Note that a galvanic step is required for full conductivity. Our conductive lacquers can also be used for automotive or interior decoration.

Electroless refining of non-ferrous metals

Our Star products such as Silver Star and Gold Star enable uncomplicated metal deposition on certain non-ferrous metals in an immersion bath, without electricity and other aids. For this reason, this type of coating is particularly well suited for ornamental and decorative objects. If your surface is appropriately pre-treated, firmly adhering and shiny silver and gold coatings can be created without electricity and accessories. In addition to electroless coating baths, you will also find paints and lacquers that serve as a primer for artificial patina effects and other metalworking techniques.

Chromating for motor vehicles

For zinc parts and zinc-plated surfaces in the automotive sector, our chromates offer an ideal finish! With the help of immersion coatings, it is easy to create impressive colour shades on zinc parts that also protect against corrosion. Our aim is to replace industrial chromating with chromium(VI), which is no longer permitted in Germany, with a more gentle process. In this way, we give users the opportunity to passivate zinc parts yellow or blue without any risks. Our chromate coatings are very popular in the fields of automotive, classic cars, classic car restoration and tuning.

Coating motor vehicle parts

Metallic coating of 3D prints

Coating non-ferrous metals

Electroless gold and silver plating: simple application - great effect

Gild your living room with our Star products! Our Star products Silver Star and Gold Star easily create shiny silver or gold layers on your decorative objects. What do you need? Nothing really. Our Star products effortlessly deposit a thin, decorative layer on selected non-ferrous metals. The deposition of a gold or silver layer is simply carried out in an immersion bath. No previous knowledge or electroplating equipment is necessary to deposit shiny precious metal layers on jewellery, art objects or decorative elements made of copper, brass, nickel or palladium. The application of our Star products is primarily intended for decorative elements. For objects that are exposed to increased wear, we still recommend classical electroplating.

Create conductivity on a wide variety of surfaces

3D printing has become an established process in surface refining in recent years. Why? Because it makes the production of art objects, replicas, functional parts etc. conceivably easy and cheap. However, 3D printers cannot directly print different metals. For this purpose, we have developed our professional conductive lacquers, with the help of which non-conductive materials of almost any kind can be refined or electroplated. In this way, you create a conductive layer on materials such as 3D printing (PLA), plastic, glass and many other materials. Note that with our conductive lacquers, a further step with galvanic coating is necessary to create a fully electrically conductive layer. This in turn forms the basis on which the object can be further coated in any metal. We also offer other conductive lacquers that can be used, for example, for model making or repairing rear window heaters. Of course, our conductive coatings can also be used simply as a decorative element.

From automotive to decoration - the wide range of electroless plating

Our products and processes for electroless plating are as simple as they are versatile. While Gold Star can be used to gild copper, brass and nickel, our conductive coatings can be used specifically in the automotive sector, for example to repair the rear window heater. In a similar vein, our chromating creates corrosion-inhibited layers on zinc objects or freshly galvanised parts - and looks dazzling at the same time. Moreover, yellow chromates based on chromium(VI) are no longer permitted in Germany. Our yellow chromating is based on chromium(III) and is therefore far less dangerous. This makes our chromates as sought-after as they are unique - especially in all application fields that have to do with tuning, classic cars and vehicle repair or restoration!

Frequently asked questions

Can non-conductive materials such as 3D-prints be electroplated?

Yes, this is possible with the help of our conductive copper varnish. The object is sprayed or brushed with copper conductive paint or copper conductive lacquer spray, which first creates a metallic layer. The object is then given its final conductivity in a galvanic bath with acidic bright copper electrolyte. This creates a continuous, conductive copper layer that can then be further treated like any other copper layer, e.g. by silver plating.

Can the Rust Piranha rust remover be painted over?

Rust Piranha can normally be painted over or treated further. However, please check on an inconspicuous spot whether the rust converter is compatible with your paint colour.

Can silver gel and Silver Star be used on silver?

Our products for electroless silver plating only deposit on copper and brass as a base, as the products can only deposit silver with these materials. Accordingly, the products for electroless silver plating can NOT be deposited on silver. If copper or brass are coated, a thin silver layer of 200 - 300 nm is produced, which is intended for decorative purposes only. If you want a thicker silver layer on your object, the only process left is electroplating!

Can silver be gold-plated with Goldstar?

No, unfortunately that is not possible with these products.

Can aluminium be gold-plated with TIFOO products?

In principle, it is possible to gold-plate some aluminium alloys with the Gold Star, but so far this only works with a few compositions. The success of the application can therefore not be guaranteed for all aluminium alloys.

How does the pre-treatment work in yellow chromating?

The zinc object must be clean and free of residues such as dirt, oil or particles. The object is then degreased, e.g. with the TIFOO Galvano Degreaser. Depending on the size, the object is immersed in the yellow chromate for a few minutes. 3 minutes is a good guideline.