Zinc Plating.

[daza2020 2]

Just thought I'd post this up seeing as I couldn't find anyone local that would do small quantities or guarantee they wouldn't lose anything, I took it upon myself to give it a go and I must say after a bit of trial and error and getting the right chemical quantities I'm seriously happy with the results considering I knew naff all about chemistry a week ago.

 

I've only done the small bits as I'm replicating what peugeot originally did so not going mad with every piece I can find ;

 

 

And yes a good 20 seconds in the wire wheel before helps alot.

 

 

My somewhat jerry rigged outfit as the shed seems to be floating away.

 

So anyone else gave this a crack.

[calvinhorse 870]

Woooooah! That looks a nice bright finish

[welshpug 1,627]

intriguing, is it a Frost kit?

[B1ack_Mi16 67]

I guess you have to remove the rust by some kind of acid bath before you do the actual plating process?

[daza2020 2]

This is the kit that I've got; http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261391927219

 

Most of the rust I've removed by giving it a overnight bath in deox c, then there's some included acid salts which do the last bit of cleaning then rinse with water and plate the longer you plate it the better it is I've been working on a 5 minute plate per bolt which comes out nice.

 

Most of the eye candy is making it look good before plating just as painting its all in the prep.

[mowflow 67]

Timely post. I'm just starting to think about plating. My old man had a kit in the garage that some guy he bought a motorbike off of gave him. He's put it my way so I'm going to have a go. The only think I wasn't sure about was how clean I had to get stuff before hand. I already have some deox c so good to know that's more or less clean enough.

 

Stupid question but I suppose nyloc nuts are out of bounds for this.

[daza2020 2]

I only did it as I couldn't find anywhere else and it's nice to say that I'm doing as much as I can myself.

 

Basically I deox c'd stuff then gave it a wire wheel till it was shiny a dip in acid and plated, if it looks good before plating it'll come out looking good. You can either keep the silver colour by dipping it in a clear solution (passivate) after or if you want the gold colour you dip it in the yellow solution after but it is all very easy to do.

 

Erm nylock nuts not a clue I've got some bolts with plastic washers on and the pre plate acid doesn't seem to be eating it so I'd suppose it'll be ok for plating as it only affects metal I'll do a check tomorrow after work and get back to you.

 

In the mean time I think these are all ready now;

 

[mowflow 67]

They look very good.

 

I would probably just send the stuff away myself but as i'm getting most of the kit for free i'll give it a go (the bottle of yellow stuff got burst but it seems easy enough to replace). My only problem is that i'm not the most patient when it comes to cleaning lots of little fiddly bits.

 

I've experimented de rusting bit using a citric acid bath and the electrolysis method with mixed results. i read that deox-c was mainly just citric acid but the paste i have is certainly more effective than the baths I have used so I will get some of the powder to try.

 

Do you know what the pre plate acid you have is?

 

Someone mentioned to me that nyloc nuts could not be done as the nyloc is melted by the electrical current. I'll try a spare nut to test that I think.

[daza2020 2]

Neither am I all the bolts spent about 20 seconds in the wire wheel I didn't go ott with them.

 

I'm using dry acid salts and seem potent with cleaning metals but they won't take off paint or plastic the first which is rather frustrating on some items.

 

With the current I can't see how it would make enough heat to melt it none if my items have came out warm as the current is so low.