Plating Cost

[Longballa]

Hey guys, I used to use Hy-tech plating but they went away when covid hit. They were in Northern California. I could send them a big box of dirty old bolts and latches and they'ed come back perfect for a very reasonable price. I'm in Oregon so who do you all recommend I should try now? In the West would be best. Thanks, -Scott

[Carl S.]

It has got to be faster to take a bucket of parts to a shop. Doing it by hand, and only a few pieces at a time is very time consuming. I am still going to trudge on and perhaps if I can not keep up, I will drop some off at at plater about 2 hrs. away. I have to visit for the first time and maybe after that I could mail off the pieces.

Here is my weekend bounty of plated parts. I know, it's not a 5 gal bucket full. Please don't make fun of me, I am very sentimental about my little progress, but, I did it myself and I sure do know where each bolt goes. Found a few missing washers. Need to check the media in the blasting cabinet.

[flat6guy]

It will most certainly be faster to drop off a bucket of hardware. What it won't be (at least for me) is perfect. You have the ability to control the final products. If you're not happy with color or sheen, you can do it again. As for laughing at taking all weekend to do what's in the pic, no way would I laugh. I've done this as well. It's an overwhelming amount of work. It's also an accomplishment you can be proud of.

What's you're method of etching the zinc plating before dipping into the yellow chromate?

[Carl S.]

Thank you Flat6guy,

Very simple,

Once plating is complete.
Dip in distilled water
Dip in muriatic/distilled bath (5% acid) until I see bubbles.
Then to Yellow Chromate for 30 seconds
Double dip in Distilled water afterwards
Tap on paper towel to remove excess
Hang in front of fan to dry.
Next day - ready to go.

[Carl S.]

Thought I'd post a pic I found from a while ago.

Tried some powder coating as well.

Not too bad for a novice!!!

Before:



After

[flat6guy]

Hey Carl. You inspired me to dig my chemistry set out again. I plated some parts for this 912 engine I’m working on currently. The parts I did tonight came out reasonable. A little to shiny but good enough as these parts won’t be clearly visible. Think I added a touch to much zinc brightener to my solution. Now waiting for it to dissipate.

I also had an ahhh haaaahhh moment. I have my rectifier set to 5.0V. In the past this is where I had it set as well. The current was adjusted for each piece that was being done. I never made the connection that the voltage dropped as the parts were lowered in. Tonight I figured out that if I adjusted the current so that the voltage dropped from 5.0 to 0.9V, the parts plated nicely without blistering or taking forever.

By adjusting the current to achieve the .9V, I do not have to do any math to calculate surface voltage. So much easier. I’ll have to continue with my work to see if the outcome works on all sized parts. Hoping it does.

Next challenge is to get away from the bucket and find a vessel long enough to accommodate the throttle cross bar and throttle rod between the trans and engine.

Ignore the mess. My shop looks like a Porsche bomb went off.

[davep]

Carl, I see that you are plating the Schnorr (serrated) washers under the Allen bolts on the suspension cap. Those should be black oxide, but are usually considered one time use, especially when used wit the CV bolts. Is that a brass brake line banjo I see?

[stephers]

Hi Carl
-
Nice stuff, from your last picture, if you had run those thru the crushed walnut shells, they would look even better If you only have one vibrator, just get another bowl and swap bowls Not sure what size that you have but the best deal is buy the Harbour Freight one , they have the smaller bowl separately but if are running the bigger one ( 15 ib one ) the only place to get an extra bowl is from Eastwood. I used to use this great stuff from Eastwood , a liquid that mixed in with water and the green pyramids but they don't sell it anymore. The stuff I use now in from Geishwin., not as good but stops it from foaming up too much and does help to clean hardware I will get the correct info for you tomorrow when I am at the shop When I take stuff in, it is done thru barrel plating but at the shop, I do up to only 4-5 things at a time, if they are small, larger items get done 1-2 at a time I have even done relays and they still work A good way to close off things where you don't want plating, use silicone, the chemicals don't harm the silicone And it usually is not that hard to remove later

I also do my own powder coating as well, love all the different colors and textures. Do something in chrome and then use a translucent color over top Eastwood also make a black called hot rod black that comes out like a 180 grit sandpaper finish, great for some interior trim items I now have over 50 different colors and textures Eastwood is good to buy from cause you can just get the small plastic container of powder that don't cost much if you want to try something out Prismatic powders have countless colors available as well. Next step is to get some Cerakote and try that out

I started doing all this in my own shop because it was really getting expensive to farm it out and nobody wanted to do just one or two thing, now, I can do all my own when I want or need to AND IT IS FUN,to take something that looks like crap and plate it, powder coat it so it loos like new gives pretty good satisfaction

I really like your silver stuff, is that straight just bright zinc?

Thanks, Rick and happy plating

[Carl S.]

Flat6guy, I will try the .9 V method. I found the calculating the surface area was not so easy and I did not have good results with it. Say for instance a bolt. How much increase in surface are is due to the threads?
I simply turned off the pump and current. Lowered the piece in and slowly turned up the current until I saw little bubbles. Not to much, just noticeable, then plated for 10 min or so and spun and plated another 10. I would go for about 15-20 min of plating on the larger pieces.

What about a piece of plastic gutter and end caps to make a trough?

Devep, I did plate them. I was not able to see that they were black when removed. Everything was a mess. Thank you. I do have black chromate. I can replace with new when ready.
Yes, that is a brass banjo, just wire brushed, it is with the brake parts for storage.
Unfortunately some of my pieces it is hard to tell what color they should be. Be nice if it was listed in the parts manual along with the part number.

Stephers, I have the large Eastwood vibrator. I swapped out my 80 grit glass beads for some 120 mesh garnet. I get a better finish now. I will try the walnuts. My vibrator came with the shells as well.
I am curious about the powder coating chrome. How does it compare to real chrome? I need to redo my horn grills and some other stuff. I found a local guy who does chrome plating. I have not reached out to him yet as to how much it costs. I assume it is not cheap.
I hear ya on the convenience and satisfaction.

The silver is blue chromate. it looks awesome!! amazing how a 52 year old part can be made to look so good again. Love it!!!

I have a quart of Cerakote, Have not tried it yet, was planning on doing the air cleaner at some point. Maybe over the summer.

Thanks guys for the support and advice.

[davep]

Unfortunately some of my pieces it is hard to tell what color they should be. Be nice if it was listed in the parts manual along with the part number.

Sometimes the parts book includes a DIN identification; looking up that spec would tell you. For some parts it is a guessing game. The part finish could change over time, by supplier, and if a production part as opposed to a service replacement part. The best you can do is to research each part, and then post the information for peer review. That way your effort will not be wasted, and we all learn something.
Have you ever tried brake calipers? With the piston bore and bolt & fluid passages I wonder how well the internals get plated.