For the home plating specialist

Lassociety · Post by **Lassociety** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:50 am

Hi guys,

I've been lurking for awhile but this is probably my first post. Yesterday was a big classic bike show here in the Denver area, I took my unfinished CA95 but had a good response and a great time! As soon as I'm done with my CA95 engine, I already have a CB77 acquired to start on.

I was planning on using a Home Depot bucket with holes drilled in the side for a 1/2 inch copper water pipe hanger. I was going to make it a slight press fit, so I could put the lid on and store it between platings and not smell vinegar which is my least favorite smell in the world. (also might be slightly dust / spill proof this way?) I bought the Zinc roof flashing roll, which I planned on spiral lining the bucket so the zinc would fully surround the part to be plated. I was maybe going to put a bolt through the bucket into the zinc to hold it in place and act as a place for me to attach wires on the outside of the bucket.

I read this thread front to back a few months ago and have been stockpiling the supplies to do the plating. I've looked in this thread and googled the electrolyte formula and seen lots of different versions. So my question is what is the exact formula that has been giving the best results for you? I'm afraid that some of the stuff on Google might be leaving things out for simplicity sake for the high school teacher at expense of best results.

I have:
Epsom salts
Sugar
Zinc
Denatured Alcohol (Cleaning)
Phosphoric acid (dissolving zinc or Cadmium?)
Hydrochloric acid ( Cleaning steel? )

I know I need vinegar, but is there a specific type? Also the exact formula and ratios?

I only plan on plating nuts, bolts, spacers, hold downs, etc. No spokes or high strength stuff, though I am aware of the Hydrogen embrittlment issue and its relief method. Thanks for the info, I cant wait to get started on this.

Mike

Snakeoil · Post by **Snakeoil** » Fri Jun 07, 2013 7:57 pm

The formula given in this thread is what I use and works great. I have stopped using sugar as it does not appear to provide any value to the plating and makes the bath sticky.

Forget the HCL. Dangerous and you don't need it.

Acetone or Lacquer thinner are great degreasers and cleaners. Phos acid removes any rust as will bead blasting. Alcohol is not very good. Won't cut crude based oil or greases.

Don't store your bath in the bucket with the zinc. It will continue to eat the zinc until it is all gone. When you are done plating, simply pour your bath back into the vinegar bottle(s) and put the cap on. Make a funnel to fill the bottles out of an old quart soda bottle. The neck fits tight into the vinegar bottle making it easy to pour and no risk of funnel tipping and spilling bath all over the floor. Spilling the bath is another good reason to leave out the sugar.

Keep the voltage below 1.5VDC and the current below the max rating of your power supply. You will find that small parts will come out better with lower voltages. You'll have to experiment and learn as you plate things.

Have fun. Support group meets on Tuesdays.

regards,
Rob

Lassociety · Post by **Lassociety** » Sun Jun 16, 2013 11:31 pm

Well I finally got started on the plating with great results. Although I still had questions when I started it proved to be not too difficult.

I still wasn't sure of the right formula for the salt and vinegar, but I settled on 14oz/gal.

I wasn't sure how long to leave the parts in the phosphoric acid, or if the acid would/could eat away at the parent metal. I just left parts in the acid about 20-30 minutes or so.

I tried different methods of bead blasting, acid dipping etc. They all seemed to have similar results after plating.

I even tried not cleaning the parts of skin oil (post bead blasting.. in other words I handled with my bare hands before the plating process) and the results seemed to be pretty good.

The only thing I noticed was it seems to work best when I plated for a short time, took it out and polished it, then plated again. If I left something in for a long while, the zinc seemed to come off in sheets when I polished with a wire wheel. I didn't have this problem when I added layers slowly.

I had good luck polishing with a wire wheel, although it wasn't as nice as the steel wool, and one has to be careful not to get aggressive with it. I also have a vibratory tumbler, and although I didn't try it very long, Walnut chips didn't seem to cut the grey plating into a nice shine. At least it didn't very quickly, maybe If I leave it in there for awhile? I was hoping the vibratory tumbling would polish them without any hand work, but as usual, good results required a time commitment.

These are my initial impressions, I'm ready to start on some "real" parts now.

Lily73465 · Post by **Lily73465** » Mon Apr 30, 2018 3:25 am

Honda is very cool brand and I think academic essay editors are here that these cars are very qualitative. By the way, it is better to participate in such discussion and get the new news. Best of luck for everyone.

ahenthus · Post by **ahenthus** » Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:28 pm

Lily73465 wrote:Honda is very cool brand and I think academic essay editors are here that these cars are very qualitative. By the way, it is better to participate in such discussion and get the new news. Best of luck for everyone.

?

LOUD MOUSE · Post by **LOUD MOUSE** » Mon Apr 30, 2018 7:52 pm

I sent a message to MIKCHAEL that this may be a SPAMMER. ..............lm

ahenthus wrote:
Lily73465 wrote:Honda is very cool brand and I think academic essay editors are here that these cars are very qualitative. By the way, it is better to participate in such discussion and get the new news. Best of luck for everyone.
?