My Hand at Plating Options

[ww914]

I have read where others have done some plating on this site, but here's my picture account of my experience. The kit I ordered is the Copy Cad kit from Caswell.

Here is the set-up. Much of this stuff you have to get from the hardware store.
Top shelf: 3 amp rectifier
Below shelf: copper bus bars and thermostats for heating elements
Bottom shelf - left to right: degreaser in old crock pot, bottle of distilled water for rinsing, muriatic acid dip, cad-zinc dip (notice negative copper bar for hanging parts, yellow chromate dip for the bright yellow shiny look




Crock pot with degreaser


Nuts and washers in cad-zinc pot hanging with brass wire (negative side) The rectangular piece in the back of the bucket is the cad (postive anode) Also in the bucket is a water circulator, thermometer, and heater.




This bucket contains the yellow chromate solution for the yellow shiny look



Parts drying. Notice basket with wired mesh bottom. Great for small parts



Completed parts with yellow chromate



Completed parts on first batch. I sent this picture to Caswell for evaluation and they said I need to be sure of my surface area for amps used and to clean parts really good before the process. As you can see, some parts came out better than other parts. The lug bolts were not dipped in yellow chromate. The lug bolt at the top of the pile was buffed out. The caliper in the upper right corner was done by Eric Shea of PMB Performance. Put it in for comparison.




This may not have been the most cost effective way to get my parts done, but it was sure a lot of fun. Going to play around wth black oxide next. Oh, I asked how long my cad-zinc solution would last. They said what the sent me would do 60 sq ft. Guess I'm good for awhile.

[Lennies914]

That is a good looking set up.

The plating looks good too!

Great idea with the crock pot too. I'll be checking the local thrift shop for one of those. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[tod914]

Very nice! Would definetly be interested in having some parts done in black oxide once you get set up. What degreaser are you using, if you don't mind me asking?

[Mikey914]

The black oxide is not as good at preventing corrosion. I'd stick with what you're doing. Unless you're just having fun.

[76-914]

Cool. Thx for posting this. What is the heater's role?

[ww914]

tod914 - The degreaser is called SP Degreaser that Caswell sent in the kit.
76-914 - The cad-zinc bucket needs to be 110 degrees and the yellow chromate needs to be 80 degrees.

[HarveyH]

You can electrolytically clean the parts by using a Stainless Steel plate (Negative) and the parts (Positive) in the hot cleaning solution. It is more aggressive than the heated solution alone, so you have to be careful. It should also remove rust. You can also clean aluminum this way but it is usually VERY aggressive and you must do it quickly to avoid damage. The tank must be non-conductive so the Crock Pot will work fine. An additional note is that ceramic glazes 'tend' to be attacked by alkaline materials so you might want to not store the cleaning solution in the Crock Pot when its not in use.

Lots of information online if you Google Electrolytic Cleaning.

Harvey