For the home plating specialistEverything I've ever read about doing real chrome plating tells me it is too dangerous for the average boob. The stuff the call decorative chrome is not the same as show chrome from what I understand. The decorative stuff is not as toxic. The good stuff is the hexavalent chrome (remember Love Canal?) and that is the one that the Feds control with a vengence. Screws up your nervous system, I believe, plus probably other stuff.
Years ago I worked in an atomic power lab. One of my sidelines was making retirement gifts for folks. There was a guy in a specialty shop in the lab that had an acid solution you could use along with a battery charger that would make normal stainless steel hardware look just like it was chrome plated after a few minutes. He said it removed all the non-chrome stuff on the exterior of the part and just left the chromium. I've tried for years to find out what that acid solution was. Ray, the guy I knew is lons since retired and probably dead by now. I was a kid when all this occurred. If anyone knows what might have been used, it would be interesting to try. We did keep the glass beaker under a vent hood because it did off-gas something. You used a stainless steel as the anode in this case as the part being electro-polished is what was losing material. It would turn the stainless anode black and you would have to clean it every so often. regards, Rob Just went out and bought a box of zinc roofing strips. Had to buy the whole stinking box, which is probably more than one lifetime supplies. So, I'll probably be willing to sell individual strips if anyone wants to try this. It will be simply a matter of what I paid per strip plus shipping. I can cut or fold the strips and put in an envelope. Otherwise, I'll just hang onto them for when I have my roof redone.
I'm going to plate the rear axel adjuster plates this weekend. If it turns out like Wilf's stuff did, then I'm probably about to become a zinc plating fool. Picked up the epsom salts and vinegar on the way back from the roofing supply house. regards, Rob I'm game....PM me your minimum order and payment instructions & I'll give it a try. When I went to my local building supply place they just gave me a blank stare and pointed me to some aluminum in the guttering section! 66 dream, 78 cb750k, 02fz1, 09 wing
The link below has a great article from Classic Motorcycle Mech from Nov 98 I believe on how to set up a zinc plating operation at home. It looks easy
http://cb750k2.tripod.com/Technical/plating.html I let my fingers do the walking. Phoned all over town until I found them. I actually have a friend who owns a major roofing company. Called him first, but it appears he has banker's hours.
It won't be much. Something like $4.00 a strip plus postage. And that's a round number. Let me try it first (not that Wilf is not giving us the straight skinny) and see if I run into any snags. I save every stinkin' charger from any piece of junk that I throw away. I have cell phone chargers galor, and charger for electric lawn mowers going back to the 80's. Only the batteries go bad, the charges last forever. Need to see if controlling the current is necessary. I don't think you can control the current, just the voltage (I'm a flange head not an arky-sparky type) so we'll see. I actually have an old plating kit I bought years ago to do gold, nickle and silver plating. It is a brush plating kit and uses cyanide as the agent for dissolving the gold. It works great and I've replated gold triggers on Brownings. But the fumes are probably deadly. It was from Texas Platers and my guess is they are long gone. Going to do some plating tomorrow. Will post the results. If you don't see a follow up from me, assume Wilf is a Taliban operative and just killed another blue-eyed infidel with his infamous zinc plating bomb. Postumously yours, Rob
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