Home Plating Kit, Works Pretty Good! Options

[Qarl]

I bought a home plating kit from Caswell Plating called Copy Cad.

It's a Zinc/Cadmium Electroplating kit.

It works pretty good. Next, I will dip them in yellow chromate to duplicate the factory yellow/iradescent finish on the parts.

http://www.caswellplating.com

[Qarl]

Headlight pivot bracket up close

[Lawrence]

That's pretty cool... shoot a pic when you get the finished product?

-Rusty (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smoke.gif)

[Qarl]

Lawrence...

I see plating in your future...

You're already bead blasting and powder coating.

This is next!

[Lawrence]

Here's the irony in all this...

By the point in life I have the time to build a concours perfect (at least in condition, if not color) car... I'll be too old to really enjoy the benefits of such a babe-magnet.

-Rusty (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smoke.gif)
(disclaimer) Not that I need a babe-magnet, of course. I have a Toolwench that I'm very happy with.

[maf914]

Karl, Great looking results. Your car is going to be really nice.

Does the home cad plating process add enough material to affect the fit of nut and bolt threads? I know most nut and bolt hardware ia originally cad plated but wonder if there is any difference in the process.

Also, in a previous post where the writer showed his beatiful cad plated hardware, some one posted concerning embrittlement of metal due to cad plating. Is this still a problem with the home process?

Mike

[Qarl]

You can add as little or a much as you need. You can plate whatever you want. If you don't want it plated, don't immerse it in the solution.

Embrittlement will occur with any electroplating process.

I will not do this to structurally important bolts and nuts that are under load (suspension bolts). I will only do this to decorative or accessory nuts and bolts because of embrittlement.

[914Timo]

Karl, looks wonderfull !!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/boldblue.gif)

Could you show more about the equipments and tell how you do that. Lawrence´s powder coating show was excellent. Could you do something like that too. I am sure there is many like me who dont know anything about plating, but sure would like to know more. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

[tod914]

wow turned out real nice. what did you have to do to prep the surfurce before dipping?

[Qarl]

Damni it!

I should have taken pics before I packed everything up.

Maybe I can rebuild the lab next week.

It's essentially a 2 1/2 gallon bucket with a supersaturated zinc concentrate solution in it plus 2 gallons of distilled water.

You place two zinc plate electrodes on either side of the tank and connect them together with gator clips.

You have a copper hanger bar over the top of the tank from which you suspend parts to be plated.

The copper bar is connected to the negative lead of a 1.5V power back. The zinc plates (annode) is connected to the negative lead.

You adjust the amperage of the power depending on area of the part to be plated. 0.25 ma per square inch!

I bead plast the parts, soak them for a few minutes in diluted acid (battery acid) to pickle, rinse and then plate. Do not touch for 4 hours (wear gloves) or the acid on your skin will blacken the plating.


I rinse them and dry them in the oven (not really necessary). I place the convection oven on warm. The warm air and fan help dry the part and prevent spotting.

[Lawrence]

Is there an issue if the parts are touching one another, or is that okay?

[Qarl]

The parts can touch each other, but you may get some built up between them. This can be buffed out.

You can hang several parts from the bar at once.

[HarveyH]

Technically, items touching is not a good idea. There's a real art/science about placement of items in a plating bath. The shape of an item produces areas of higher and lower current density which will affect plating deposition. The higher the current density, the more material will be deposited. For highly critical applications the plater will make shields on the corners to decrease the current density, and rig auxiliary anodes closer to large flat areas or inside curves to even out the plating. If the application warrants, you can intentionally make the plating thicker in one or more areas, and thinner in others.
For 6-7 years I worked in a small electronics plating lab. We made multi-layer PCB's and plated electronics chassis.

Harvey

[Qarl]

Cool Harvery... you can be the resident plating expert.

I've been at it a whole 24 hours. Experimenting was fun. I did place two annodes on opposite sides of the tank. The parts were centralized vertically and horizontally between the plates. Wearing gloves, I did remove the part, reposition the part on the hanger clip. I also did this to reduce marking from the clip attached to the part.

I also airated the tank to keep bubbles from depositing on the part.

The setup was not "pretty" but it was effective for a first-timer.

Harvey is right, the current travels through the solution along current lines, much like you would see on "magnet" diagrams. You can get areas that are in the field stronger than others.

[HarveyH]

Depending on the specific application, they may use aeration or mechanical motion of the parts to keep bubbles from adhering to the surface.
Generally, the farther the anodes are away from the part, the more even the deposition and less critical the use of shielding (current thieves) and auxiliary anodes, but the slower the rate of deposition.

Gloves are always a good idea when working with chemicals, also safety glasses and/or face shields.

Bigest problem is getting your parts absolutely clean to prevent flaws in the adhesion. A good method is to use a reverse current setup (reverse the polarity of the connections from plating, part becomes the anode) in a hot caustic bath with stainless steel cathodes. A strong solution of lye is good for this. Rinse well and follow up with a rinse in mild acid to kill any remaining caustic, rinse again, and then into the plating bath.

One of the reasons for the high cost of commercial plating is disposal of used chemicals. Lots of poisons, acids and caustics. Chromates are very dangerous, and easily detectable in the low parts-per-billion ranges. Gold and silver plating use cyanide complexes and can easily give off HCN (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hanged.gif) if you mess up.

Harvey

[Qarl]

I chromate a few parts. Here is a pic. (Sorry, it's got a few finger prints on it), but it has the correct yellow/irridescent finish!)

[Red-Beard]

Don't apply the plating to parts which may get very hot (Over 400 F). Cad and Zinc "soak" into the grain structure of steel at elevated temps and they become very very brittle.

[Qarl]

I don't think this headlight pivot bracket will get beyond 100 degrees!

I'm not plating anything that is under heavy torqe (i.e., suspension bolts). Those are being reused or replaced with new!

Mostly just cosmetic stuff!

[URY914]

Karl,

That stuff is so preeeeety!!!
But I have no use for it what so every on my car.
You know, too much added weight.

Paul

[redshift]

I don't think this headlight pivot bracket will get beyond 100 degrees!

I'm not plating anything that is under heavy torqe (i.e., suspension bolts). Those are being reused or replaced with new!

Mostly just cosmetic stuff!

!Xtreme Restoration!

I am really impressed, that is going to be one detailed car.

I was thinking about doing a little plating of my own, but I don't think most people here would like it.

Ever seen heavy gold with a fine patina? Holy Fuch!(s)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)


M