Please read all of the areas to get a good idea of what you want to do before you jump into it. Decide the size, type of metals you want to plate and how many cleaning solutions you will have. It keeps the frustration level down and life happy! REMEMBER........Go slow, enjoy putting together your setup, and avoid the temptation to just start throwing things together. Decisions like that will be regretted later on down the road.     1. Figure out how big you want to make your electroplating baths. This is dictated by the size of the parts you want to plate. Don’t make it so you have to jam the part in a container or touch the sides. You want to leave at least 2 inches all the way around the parts for anodes, heaters and movement during plating. 1 gallon or 5 gallon buckets with lids work great. 2. Decide what metals you want to plate. Nickel, Copper, and Chrome? This will tell you how many Electroplating tanks you will need and how many tanks for cleaning and acid etching you will need 3. It is best to have a separate area to do your plating. The reason for this is you will be working with Acids, metal salts (in the bath), strong cleaners, You need to have a safe place to store these items away from children, animals, and unsuspecting others. If you can’t find a separate space, then make an area where you can at least lock up your baths and acids for safety.(link to setup page) You will feel better about yourself and be able to keep your little corner of the world clean (much needed in plating). I would suggest that you recess your containers in a cabinet top or make a small stand to keep from knocking them over. Picture of stand 4. Once you get your basic area how you want your setup, start to set up your buckets and anodes. Remember you will be using DC voltage IE: Battery or Power supply. Your anodes will be hooked to the POS. side of the power supply. If you are using two anodes 180 deg. apart from each other (suggested) they will have to be wired together to transfer the power to the other one not connected directly to the power source. I use a #4 gauge wire to connect the two anodes. Pix of container 5. After setting up your electroplating tanks (empty right now). Move on to your cleaning solutions. Again plastic buckets are probably the most useful for these solutions. If you plan on heating them Thrift store pots and pans work great! Please view the cleaning solution page to decide what solutions you want to use. 6. Now on to the acids, They burn, corrode, and smell gross so use them safely and with care. Plastic buckets again. View the acids/cleaner page to decide what acids to use for your particular setup. (SAFETY NOTE: Always, always, always add acids to the water. NEVER add water to acid. The reason is that when the water hits certain strong acids they splatter and heat up. You will be splattering full strength acid all over. The splatter is decreased a lot when you add the acid into the water. It still reacts but minimally.) 7. Find and make up your anodes for the baths. 8. Time to decide on your power supply and how you want to regulate it.     <REVIEW> At this point you should have an idea of the types and size of metals you want to plate. Also an area where you are setting up. Your buckets are ready for their solutions. You have the plating tanks wired for the anodes. The type of power supply you will use, how to regulate it and you have read your MSDS   9. Make up your cleaning and acid solutions. 10. Make up your electroplating solutions. 11. Getting closer to the end can ya feel it! Time to test your work. Yup I said test. You really didn’t think you were going to just throw your good part in some acid solution without practicing did you? Noop! We must practice first! SAFETY NOTE: do not use the wife’s jewelry for this.)