Hardware Plating
- Thread starter AltaNorton
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Thanks for those contacts I would have to pull mine apart, or at least the bits I want to cad plate. It looks much better then what I did, painted in high temp engine paint in silver. Only painted the parts that the Cad plate had worn off but found out even after heating it washes off with petrol. May be a job for when I retire in 2 years.
Ian
Ian
bmwbob said:
This is currently a hot topic as there are three plating threads going, unfortunately with mixed results. I was going to look into the Caswell or Eastwood kit until Dave said his is not holding up.
One of the other guys had issues with a commercial finishing process. Can you tell us how long ago you had the plating done and how is it holding up? Sunnyvale is a short drive.
DogT
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I think some of mine is not holding up because 1) I used a copper anode when I should have been using stainless, 2) the solution was getting old and 3) maybe I didn't get all the rust off with mecuric acid. I have some parts that are holding up just fine. I also have some parts that appear fine but I have small spots that apparently didn't get the plate because there are small rust spots on them. Cleanliness is next to godliness in the plating business. You've got to get all the grease/oil and rust off.
Dave
69S
Dave
69S
Hi DaveDogT said:
We find that we need to pickle in a cocktail of acids anything from an hour for fairly clean metal to as long as 48 hours for black steel, Then we scrub the component in a hot caustic solution then two rinses and on into the plating tank.
After deposition its two rinses and into the passivate for clear (silver) or on to the colour passivate for colour (gold) one more rinse in hot water then into the drying cabinet.
Naturally all paint and rust must be removed first.
The zinc can blister or go dull (burn) if the current is too high or if left in for too long.
PS. when I say "We" I mean They.
Regards Bob.
Irony is when you buy a zinc plating kit then get a job in a company that has a commercial plating plant!
DogT
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I think I went wrong when my stainless anode fell apart and I started using a copper wire. That probably contaminated the solution. Like I say, I have some pieces I did early that seem fine. As usual, follow the instructions. I wonder if the electroless nickel plating would have been easier, it sure costs a lot more.
Dave
69S
Dave
69S
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I was reading on a powder coaters website (probably the place I'm going to use for poser coating), that they offer a different type of hardware coating. They call it policoating, it seems to be like a film that covers the nuts and bolts. I would love to hear some opinions about it, and if anyones done it before, what's it like?
Here's the link:
http://www.topguncoatings.com/industrialcoatings.html
Here's the link:
http://www.topguncoatings.com/industrialcoatings.html
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Well, I still haven't decided what to do. I want to recoat with cad or zinc. There are places in Calgary that do both. So what looks shinier and lasts longer?? My dad wants to buy new stuff because he's heard that sometimes the plating thickens the threads too much so some nuts dont fit on bolts very well. I think that if they are clean enough to begin with, there shouldn't be a problem. Does anyone have experience with this?
Thanks,
Matt
Thanks,
Matt
Onder
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Im at the same point. Almost every fastener on my bike is in bucket
and Ive wire wheeled piece and chased all threads. Im wanting to go
with silver cad as per original.
If you are worried about material buildup on threads you can always
chase them again but the deposit thickness is very thin.
Im awaiting a quote from a company not so far away and Ill
post when I find somebody to do business with.
and Ive wire wheeled piece and chased all threads. Im wanting to go
with silver cad as per original.
If you are worried about material buildup on threads you can always
chase them again but the deposit thickness is very thin.
Im awaiting a quote from a company not so far away and Ill
post when I find somebody to do business with.
DogT
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Only experience I have had that was too much thickness was chrome plating the Candess fuel lid. When I got it back, the lever was too tight in it and I had to take a file and relieve it a bit to get the lever to fit. The holes for the press fit roll pin were too tight too, so I had to relieve that. I have heard that some people when they get bolts chrome plated, because of the copper and chrome plating, they then have to chase the threads because there is too much plating for the standard nuts. I doubt if cad or zinc plating would plate it too thick. I didn't have any trouble with the CopyChrome which puts on about 1 mil of nickel/hour of plating. However it is a pain and a long process, if you can get it done commercially without the thickness or expence, that would be good. It also depends on how shiny you want it to look or if you want an original cad or shiny chrome look.
My nuts and bolts were pretty pitted so I chose to replace the UNF/UNC ones with stainless and try to clean up the BSC/WW/CEI ones and the special items like the gearbox adjuster and fork top nolts (spelling on purpose, nut-bolt). To replace all the items in SS would have been another several thousand $$$.
Dave
69S
My nuts and bolts were pretty pitted so I chose to replace the UNF/UNC ones with stainless and try to clean up the BSC/WW/CEI ones and the special items like the gearbox adjuster and fork top nolts (spelling on purpose, nut-bolt). To replace all the items in SS would have been another several thousand $$$.
Dave
69S
Hortons Norton
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The guys I used did a great job! I had the the parts done in cad and the parts came out great, I had no problem with fit or the nuts or bolts.
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Thanks for all the help. I think I am leaning towards cadmium for sure. Ive found a few different places in town that offer cadmium, maybe one of them offers chrome as well so they can chrome some parts for me at the same time.
Matt
Matt
Onder
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Bit of an update on my plater search. I posted question
on parts a day ago:
...the reason Im asking is that I contacted the plater
http://www.qualityplating.com/ I think Debby used and he offers
a quite reasonable 75 bucks for all my hardware BUT he says
nothing over 7" long or nothing "hardened that requires hydrogen
embrittlement, springs, hardened bolts" baking.
So now I must ask must I bake? Seems to me the answer is yes
and esp the axles and iso thru stud and springs.
I have a local(ish) guy who will do the whole lot with baking
no problem with size for 250.
Any guys out there you can point me at? Seems to me all
my stuff can fit into an express mail box which goes out
for about 10 bucks. I shipped my brake rotor to Old Britt in one.
on parts a day ago:
...the reason Im asking is that I contacted the plater
http://www.qualityplating.com/ I think Debby used and he offers
a quite reasonable 75 bucks for all my hardware BUT he says
nothing over 7" long or nothing "hardened that requires hydrogen
embrittlement, springs, hardened bolts" baking.
So now I must ask must I bake? Seems to me the answer is yes
and esp the axles and iso thru stud and springs.
I have a local(ish) guy who will do the whole lot with baking
no problem with size for 250.
Any guys out there you can point me at? Seems to me all
my stuff can fit into an express mail box which goes out
for about 10 bucks. I shipped my brake rotor to Old Britt in one.
Cad plating is usually .0005 to .0007" thick, silver finish is unpassivated & yellow is passivated.
Any high tensile steel requires stress relieving before & de-embrittling after, usually within the hour of plating.
It depends on the strength & hardness of the steel to what temp's & lengths of baking required.
I prefer Cad. to Zinc, but prefer Nickel to Cad.
Cad. & Zinc will always come off again.
Any high tensile steel requires stress relieving before & de-embrittling after, usually within the hour of plating.
It depends on the strength & hardness of the steel to what temp's & lengths of baking required.
I prefer Cad. to Zinc, but prefer Nickel to Cad.
Cad. & Zinc will always come off again.
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Onder,
Thanks for that info, hopefully I can straighten out that stuff with the guys near me.
Matt
Thanks for that info, hopefully I can straighten out that stuff with the guys near me.
Matt
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I have been re doing a T-140 that needed a good cleaning. I found that using a product called "Evaporust" in an ultrasonic cleaner for about 45 min. returns the bolts & nuts to like new.
Bruce MacGregor said:
Bruce,
Does the Evaporust leave any type of coating to protect from the elements?
I have been looking into this topic and I think the million dollar question is will the nuts and bolts stay like new. I think the cleaning is the easy part but keeping them rust free is another story.
Gary
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Strange as it seems, they come out looking like they were just cad plated, not bare steel.
I did the carbs in water with an ounce each of Dish washing detergent & CLR calcium, rust stain stuff and they came out as new in about 30 min.
I did the carbs in water with an ounce each of Dish washing detergent & CLR calcium, rust stain stuff and they came out as new in about 30 min.
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