Spot gold platiing on pc boards

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GizmoWizard

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Spot gold plating on pc boards

I'm looking for a practical way to add a layer of gold on homemade pc board traces that are used as part of switches with the "pill" buttons on a rubber keypad.

The Plug n Plate electroplating type systems would work well except that the gold solution has a shelf life of only 4 months. I don't make enough pc boards that require gold plating within the span of 4 months to justify the cost.

Does anybody have experience with this? Another way to plate, or another method to keep the copper from oxidizing?

Thanks
 
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could you just put a light layer of solder over it? that should keep it from oxidizing
 
Gold ? How about silver. The silver nitrate is much cheaper and has a longer shelf life. Dont't buy it from Merk or so and check if the silver nitrate isn't on the "whatched chemicals" list in your country.
Also Ni is a solution for plating and u can use diferent Ni salts.
 
Gold plating is only required where you need good quality low. Rubber pad switches have a very high resistance so gold plating the PCB is a waste of time.
 
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