Rob, funny that this all should come up! I have had spokes replated in cadnium, and have not had any problems with them. I just bead blasted a set of CB77 front spokes, and have plated about 10 of them so far. The zinc sticks fine, I don't use any acid when cleaning. I have also been using Buchannons SS spokes for years, and have never had a problem with galling. They include a little bottle of what looks like a cross between gear oil and grease. It's usually enough to do about 3 sets of spokes. I use the left overs on wheels I do with replated spokes.
Davo
For the home plating specialistDavo,
Do we know if the plating on the old Honda spokes is cadmium or zinc? If it is cad, you should probably use a good respirator. It would not hurt for you to bake your zinc plated spokes as soon as you get them out of the bath and rinsed off with distilled water. A little toaster oven on the bench would probably work fine for this. I realize that a lot of the cautionary stuff that is published today regarding toxic chemicals and such is normally extremely conservative. I know they pump those lab rats full of stuff when they are trying to determine the effects of things. I tend to think that if you gave a rat that much of anything, it would prove fatal, including air. But to be on the safe side, it is always good to err on the side of caution. Steve McQueen died at 50 from Mesothelioma, which is a cancer caused by asbestos. Steve always maintained it was from stripping asbestos laden pipes on ships when he was in the service after WWII. regards, Rob Hello, my name is Davo, and I'm a plateaholic!
I've been watching these plating threads, and wanting to try it myself. I went out and bought all 3 of the ingedients, about $12, a 50ft roll of zinc, $28, found a suitable container at the house, no my wife has not seen it yet, and started plating away. As others have stated, the zinc need to soak in the solution for a day before it really starts working well. The parts come out of the solution looking blue / grey. I scrub them with 0000 steel wool, and for the larger parts hit them with Mothers for an even shinier finish. I admit it, I'm hooked! Here's some pics of the results. Davo
davomoto
64 CB77 63-7 CB77 Cafe' 67 CL77 64 CL72 66 CL77 big bore flat tracker Many others! Davo,
Really glad to see you are enjoying yourself. I'm guessing everyone will be getting zinc plated Christmas presents this year. Parts look good. I see you did the bale wires on your carbs. I need to do those myself. Thanks for the info on what Honda used to plate their spokes. I would think that all you would have to do is degrease the spokes well and just replate, without stripping the old zinc off. Reading thru the Caswell plating forum, they said plating over old zinc is fine as long as it is degreased. While on the subject of Caswell, I read thru quite a few of their FAQs and it appears there are a number of folks having problems with blisters forming in their plating. Caswell said it is trapped grease. Caswell said you need to thoroughly degrease prior to any blasting because the blasting drives the grease into the steel. All I did was wash my parts in semi-clean min spirits prior to any that I blasted. I would dip them in acetone just before plating. I've had zero problems. It looks like when you buy those high tech plating kits, they come with high tech problems. I've always maintained that the KISS principle should be followed in all endeavors. This homemade plating set up bears that out, once again. Now I'm going to rethink my wheels. I'm in the process of polishing them. Was thinking of getting the rims powder coated to hide the rust pits. I spoke to a local plater and he said minimum would be $250/wheel to rechrome and maybe more depending on how much work as to be done on them. I'd rather spend that money on Excel shouldered alum rims and have lighter wheels. Powder coater said $50/wheel for solid colors. They have a near chrome, that looks a lot like polished aluminum that is $10/wheel more. Since I can now replate my spokes and sleep at night, I might just go that route for now. I can always strip off the powder coat and have the wheels rechromed if I hit the lottery. Don't forget to get your wife a new assortment of platic kitchen containers for Christmas this year, Davo. And don't discount the local diner for an endless source of half and 1 gal plastic containers. I'm sure they have them stacked up like cordwood. Welcome to the support group Davo. We are here for you. Can we get a nice "Welcome Davo" from the group. I suspect we are the only support group that actually encourages their members to continue with their addiction. We should be expecting a call from Oprah once the word gets out. regards, Rob
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