Anybody do zinc plating here? Options

[gandalf_025]

I recently used :
Commercial Electro Plating
1937 S Cherry Avenue
Fresno, CA 93721-3305

$154 total
Shipping to them: $17

Zinc plating: $75 minimum charge (sounds like whatever fits into a 5 gallon bucket is the same price)

Oven bake afterwards: $50 minimum (they did the entire batch, only needed to high stress parts if you sent them all brackets and non-critical bolts no need for it)

Shipping back to me: $12

I sent them this:


and this is how they came back:

Like I said.. Not that difficult to send to a plater directly.

Wonder the price difference ??????

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Like I said.. Not that difficult to send to a plater directly.

Wonder the price difference ??????

We could only determine that knowing how much time he has in prep, what his time is worth and how many times it will have to be re-plated to equal the longevity of my plating.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Nice parts Shaun...prep work sucks, I stopped caring after a while and I just wanted to get my parts sent out!

My next batch for my 914 will be nicer for sure.

Thanks, and that's it in a nutshell. Prep work does suck. I actually enjoy it but most people don't want to bother with it. Some of my customers value their time more than my additional cost in doing the dirty work which makes sense.

In the end, like painting a car, everything is surface prep. You either love it or hate it, but the results are proportionate.

[jd74914]

Like I said.. Not that difficult to send to a plater directly.

Wonder the price difference ??????

We could only determine that knowing how much time he has in prep, what his time is worth and how many times it will have to be re-plated to equal the longevity of my plating.

Shaun-I assume you redid all of the plated parts on that 911S...would you mind sharing the approximate cost (and maybe the time it takes you to prep)? I'm really just curious as to the order of magnitude. Those parts look so nice!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Like I said.. Not that difficult to send to a plater directly.

Wonder the price difference ??????

We could only determine that knowing how much time he has in prep, what his time is worth and how many times it will have to be re-plated to equal the longevity of my plating.

Shaun-I assume you redid all of the plated parts on that 911S...would you mind sharing the approximate cost (and maybe the time it takes you to prep)? I'm really just curious as to the order of magnitude. Those parts look so nice!

Sure Jim. What I posted was a fraction of my work on the 73S and it was done in yellow cadmium, clear cadmium and black phosphate...part of what I offer is what parts should be plated how. Note that cadmium is about twice the cost of zinc. I'll try to post the entire picture set. I always do 10-40 pics per stage with a lot of close-ups and will post those later on.

The total bill was $3156 but qualified for a 10% discount so it was $2841. Note that this customer bought several "correct" bolts from me, some of his were wrong or not worth plating, a used heat control clamp and new door strikers ($100) that I pulled apart for the plastic and then installed in his. There were also 40 new, old style Norma clamps in there. You can also see extra latches in the pics. Note that ALL Schnorr, wave and lock washers, and many flat washers were new German hardware that is free but charged for plating. Same goes for all Nylocks.

This job took me an entire week to process and an entire day to pack, so about 50 hours. Every bolt's threads are individually cleaned by hand on a bench grinder. Everyone one.

First 5 pics, few more to come

[Shaun @ Tru6]

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Here's some work that turned out really well. Again, yellow cadmium. These are going on a true 73 RS that was once a rally car.

[gandalf_025]

I just spent time on the phone with 3 local plating companies.

2 were willing to do cad plating of auto parts. If you clean the parts to remove grime and rust,you save money.
They both had a minimum charge, if you clean your own parts, it is aprox. 150.00 for a batch.
Both chemically strip the parts of any left over plating when they get them and then plate them.
They do work for the Military and Aerospace Industry, so I don't think quality is an issue.
The 150.00 minimum cost would be about what could fit in a 5 gallon bucket.
Your results may vary..

Just takes some time to clean parts, get them to the plater... and a few phone calls.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

don't forget you need one of these. And at least 3 kinds of media.

[gandalf_025]

Actually, I asked specifically about tumbling..

They both said not necessary as they were going to chemically strip the parts anyway..

I've got all day...

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Clearly. You don't tumble plated parts, you get that, right?

Like I said, what I do isn't for everyone.

[gandalf_025]

My bad... you polish them real pretty after...

nice...

and yes apparently not for everyone...

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Well, no.

You prep the surface of the metal under the plating to get the desired plated result, both aesthetically (glossy, satin, dull) and in longevity.

You don't tumble plated parts. You tumble parts stripped of all plating. I hope we're clear on that.

[Mueller]

Clearly. You don't tumble plated parts, you get that, right?

Like I said, what I do isn't for everyone.

Dang, phenomenal work, I'd gladly send you my parts if I ever took my restoration* to the next level .

*who am I kidding, I'll never do a proper restoration! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Clearly. You don't tumble plated parts, you get that, right?

Like I said, what I do isn't for everyone.

Dang, phenomenal work, I'd gladly send you my parts if I ever took my restoration* to the next level .

*who am I kidding, I'll never do a proper restoration! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Thank you, appreciate it! It's funny, I put so much more time and care into my customer's jobs than I do my own cars. I just want a beat up daily driver with tons of patina. But it is nice working with "brand new" parts. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[gandalf_025]

I really want to thank you for coming here and taking your first posts educating us on what you do.

I hope we are clear on that..

Glad to hear you put so much work into customers cars.........

[Shaun @ Tru6]

If you read between the lines, there's a lot of valuable information in there for anyone wanting to do this themselves, which anyone can, just a matter of scale.

[raynekat]

Correct me if I'm wrong Shaun....but don't you individually wire each and every part? You don't tumble plate I'm pretty sure.

I remember getting back a load of plated parts for a Vespa restoration years ago from the local plater. He had wrecked the parts....I just threw them all away.....they were that bad.
[Wished I'd know you could have restored/repaired them at that time...]

There definitely is a dollar value added for someone that does the prep work and individual wiring of the parts.

It tells in your finished product.

In addition, I know you've spent a lot of time with your plater in getting just the right color, luster, etc.
You won't get that by just showing up at your local plater with a box load of dirty parts.

[jd74914]

Thanks for the details Shaun! Your work looks awesome!

You're certainly out of my price range, but all of the details on surface preparation is really handy.

[gandalf_025]

I was just on the phone with the shop that does Paul Russell
and Company's plating..

You think they do inferior work per chance ?

Nice people by the way..

Funny, I called Paul Russell Inc, and just asked who did their work..
They were more than happy to tell me..