We know from the what did you do for a living thread that we have experts from fields far and wide. I'm getting ready to plate my parts but I would like to have input from others. I have experience in brush cad and nickel from making aircraft parts and repairs. Stripping and replating are a little different. I tried to buy cad plating products and after a bit of going around in circles the sales mgr agreed to sell me some. But when I went to place the order the lady on the ph wouldn't let me due to it going to a residence. I explained this had been run through every channel including safety but they decided against it. So my question is what have some of you done in this area. I'm looking at CopyCad from Caswell.

 

Hello. Is this thing on? Is anyone out there?

 

Robert, we’re here. Only thing I know about plating is my guy does it. Neither item will plate well without disassembly as there are “blind” areas. I’m speaking of electroplating.

 

Same here, I am unaware of anyone here doing significant plating at home using commercial chemicals and supplies. I've had ammo shipped to gun stores for me as some will not deliver to a residence. Ask your friendly body shop to receive it for you.

Dan

 

I purchased the Caswell zinc plating kit and blue chromate for some misc hardware. I haven't yet tried it. There is a ton of youtube videos on the stuff. Looks like stuff comes out pretty good once you get the process down.

I used their steel black oxide set up to restore an old Hurst shift and worked super.

 

Sent all my cad and zinc out to van nuys plating.

 

On my last car I sent everything to Burbank Plating, yes that Burbank. They did a perfect job still looks great today. We have a local zinc plating shop but they don't do an acceptable job for me. I have a power supply so I want to do this myself. Where are you Bill?

 

I understand the Caswell kits are decent for small parts/ small batches.
Looking forward to trying it out soon. Will share my results.

 

Yep that's going to be my only option.

 

Regarding the Caswell System, I got excellent results once I mastered things...can be a learning experience. Several years since I used it a lot, My suggestions would be to have a plating rectifier for setting constant volts and upto 10 amps. At the time I found a digital display unit on ebay for around $60 to $70. Required plating amperage is a simple calculation based on surface area to be plated. IIRC seldom if ever did I use more than 5 amps and it only takes five to ten minutes of plating. Dependent upon the amount of "brightener" you add in your solution you can get results from dull to near chrome appearing items. If you want the gold appearing zinc you will have to add a process and buy additional chemical which is not an electro chemical process but a dip of seconds. I only used this dip process when I did my 2x4 carb choke and main bodies.

I used plastic 5 gal buckets for everything and believe at least 3 gal solution setup is best. For more consistent plating, use two zinc anode placing them on each side of the bucket. Yes, blind spots do not plate very well but you can rotate the item during plating and get very acceptable results. While plating my door window channels and seat tracks, only half of the item could be submerged. I found that you can plate half of an item then the other half and during the buffing process the overlap area polishes out and disappears. Just an after thought, I could have changed from a five gal bucket to a long piece of large diameter PVC pipe with cap on the bottom too. Point is that you can be creative for your plating "tank"..

The most time consuming and critical part of the process is prep before you plate. A perfectly cleaned pitted item will plate showing the pits...metal condition is a factor. To me, most items with surface rust only came out looking very nice. I would also recommend that you wrap your anodes in bandage gauze while plating. And, when finished, wash the anodes for storage until you use again.

Bottomline, I highly recommend the Caswell system. Hope this helps?

edit: Just remembered, temperatures and agitation play an important role also. I used some fish tank heaters and small fish tank pump for agitation.

 

I clean and blast all my parts and send them out
I let a professional do them and save the time
I now use Zinc Inc in Slinger Wisc
I just did a batch of seat tracks and 17 lbs of bolts
Couldnt be happier - Saves me time and $ and I can work on other items.
If you want to use Zinc Inc - ask for Sadie - tell her I sent you
There is also another forum member that used them with great results
I am working on a second batch to send them

 

If you think receiving cad plating products is hard, try getting some nitric acid some time!
(It can be used to remove organic impurities from stainless steel before painting)

 

I had a Caswell system for years and I did a ton of vintage motorcycle parts that still look great. As tgtexas02 said, it is not a plug and play system. I spent a lot of time experimenting with it before I got really nice results. If you are doing one car, I suggest sending the parts out. If you expect to be doing other projects, it is a good alternative and you do not have to wait to get your parts back. Doc

 

I brush cad plated parts for years. It's required on aircraft parts, on almost every part. I have a 50 amp plating rectifier so voltage shouldn't be an issue. I considered buying cadmium and using it for my anodes but I didn't want a call later asking what did you do with this cadmium and how did you dispose of it. Just don't need that kind of headache. So I'll go with the Caswell. I am concerned as to how long it lasts and the fact that is has to be 200*. Temperature never factored in to brush cad plating. Be got the stripping down I was very happy with the door latches, bare steel without blasting. Sandblasting gives a flatter finish when plated. I'm not looking for shiny or even original just a good job. Like Chris I sent every bolt on my GTO and had them cad plated. I don't like to see a mixture of bolt colors on a build. I also don't like to see just zinc plated hardware store or yellow zinc hardened bolts.

Bill, the videos show degreasing parts in a boiling solution. I didn't have to do that either in brush cad plating. If I have my parts stripped to bare metal completely clean and no rust do I still need to do this step?

 

Robert,

I separated my parts into those that would never be seen such as inner door items and those open to the eye such as a trunk latch cover plate. For those never seen I just wanted them cleaned and protected and I didn't really worry about dull versus shiny and so on. For the visible stuff, I was much more methodical regarding appearance. The more I experimented and used the system the more I could predict an outcome before ever going through the entire process. Consequently, I would start with stuff that will never be seen as you progress and learn.

The Caswell instruction book is a great read and if correctly followed the system works, is predictable and is repeatable. I actually did some pre-pre-prep. Before getting into the actual plating prep, I would do an initial degrease using water and arm & hammer washing soda in my sonic bath. I also bought a 5 gal propane turkey fryer and boiled larger parts in water and arm & hammer washing soda for roughly five minutes. After this I would glass bead blast removing the original plating and rust and etching the surface. Another degrease using the Caswell degrease solution followed by a "waterbreak test". From here, I would go to plating. While plating, you can remove the item to inspect and put back in for additional plating without any damage. The longer you plate the thicker the deposit. Once plated, I would buff items using fine steel wool. You will be surprised at how hard the plating is. Just remember that zinc plating is a sacrificial coating so it won't last for ever and its environment will dictate life span. To me, commercially plated items don't last for ever either.

edit: FYI it takes 0.14 amp/sq in of plating surface. You can see that 20 sq in of plating area requires 2.8 amps at a DC voltage which constantly maintains this. Not very much amperage or voltage.

 

Robert,

Since you are familiar with brush plating, I should add that I have gotten some excellent results with Caswell's Copy Chrome too. Using their "wand", my rectifier and their solution I have gotten excellent results on a lot of chromed items with very minor chrome blemishes such as instrument bezels or ***** or whatever...small pit(s) or peeled area. It is more of a nickel solution but can be blended much like feathering in a paint repair.

 

If time is not an issue, you can get good results from the Eastwood system. I did most of the small parts and cables for my '57 twenty years ago, and they still look good. But needed prep takes forever.

 

I used the Caswell kit too. My Dad worked in the electro-plating industry his whole career, I worked part time during college so I had some experience.
The parts came out very nice.

 

All I can say is be careful guys, and please be responsible when getting rid of your spent chemicals.
I do chrome plating for a living it’s a family business, industrial hard chrome plating.
I have been doing it now for 29 years but have been around it my entire life.
Zinc and cad are both a pain in the butt and not a lot of money in it, that’s why we don’t mess with it.
One thing to remember parts have to be perfectly clean and I mean clean, even oils from you skin will cause problems.