Copper plated

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As seen on the internet in Kenny's shop. My wife would love this...really.

Copper plated
 
Leave it in copper color! The patina after a few years should be awesome.
 
Plating the frame may cause cracks as result of hydrogen embrittlement, something I would personally avoid.
 
Plating the frame may cause cracks as result of hydrogen embrittlement, something I would personally avoid.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia...are they wrong?
Steel with an ultimate tensile strength of less than 1000 MPa (~145,000 psi) or hardness of less than 23 HRC is not generally considered susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement.

like mild steel tubing of a commando frame and plates of the cradle
 
I have always thought, maybe incorrectly, that you are taking risks putting a stressed member (especially if welds are included) into an acid bath.
My logic is that these "cleaning" acids may etch along grain boundaries creating micro stress-raisers.
These micro-pockets will be filled with the copper layer, so you won't see them - but the copper has no real structural value, meaning a crack can start under the copper.
Chrome plating for vanity sake is, I believe, the bike equivalent of plastic surgery - there's a big chance you'll regret it later - maybe with fatal consequences.

Rob
 
Many highly stressed parts have for decades been routinely processed in acid baths, either for cleaning in preparation for other processes, or in the actual process, like electro-plating. Think fork tubes, shock absorber shafts, crankshafts (hard chrome in chromic acid), huge numbers of aerospace fasteners and parts (cad plating using nitric acid), including jet plane landing gear, etc. All sorts of critical parts are cleaned in an acid solution (pickling) before coating or painting. I find it difficult to believe there is any risk in doing the same to a Commando frame.

Ken
 
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