Electroplating Project

[Nessism]

Bought a Copy Cad & Zinc Plating kit from Caswell's Plating and tried it out this weekend. http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/zinc.htm Cleaned the pieces by bead blasting followed by sanding/polishing the visible surfaces with sandpaper. Each piece takes about 20 minute to plate. The finished plating is coming out a little dull and requires a brief polishing with Mothers to bring out the shine. I think, hope, that once a proper power supply can be sourced that the finish will improve.

The kit was about $150 plus I bought extra stuff to make the yellow chromate look and black. The hardware should have good corrosion resistance since zinc is pretty resistant. Been playing around with using a motorcycle battery and/or a couple of trickle charges to push the ions. To set the current I'm using a GS550 IP harness with a series of light bulbs - more bulbs in the circuit makes the system draw more current.

So far so good.

 

[tlg1100]

thats cool,

 

[Dreef1999]

Hey Ed. I got a cheapo computer power supply that is collecting some dust. It can definitely pump 12v DC for you but it would take a little extra to get the amperage where you wanted it.

Just a thought. Looks pretty cool though.

 

[salty_monk]

The yellow passivate (if it's the same as commercial plating) greatly increases corrosion resistance. Takes it from about a 20hr salt spray rating to a 90hr one from memory.

The black is not quite as resistant as the "bright" if I remember correctly.

Dan

 

[rapidray]

Bike is looking good Ed. Ray.

 

[Guest]

I'm sending you everything!

 

[Nessism]

I'm sending you everything!

Only if you come down and do all the polishing.

I'm going to look for a computer power supply to try; from what I've read the plating works best with voltages in the 1 volt range. A computer power supply has a 3 volt rail that may work better than the 6/12 I've been using. The goal is to find a way to brighten up the finish without having to do a post plating polishing. Once I figure it out, I'll be open for business.:dancing:

 

[Guest]

Only if you come down and do all the polishing.

I'm going to look for a computer power supply to try; from what I've read the plating works best with voltages in the 1 volt range. A computer power supply has a 3 volt rail that may work better than the 6/12 I've been using. The goal is to find a way to brighten up the finish without having to do a post plating polishing. Once I figure it out, I'll be open for business.:dancing:

I've got a box full of old computer power packs.

 

[Nessism]

I've got a box full of old computer power packs.

I used to too...but cleaned out the storage area to make room for GS parts. Now I have to scramble.

 

[Dogma]

I used to too...but cleaned out the storage area to make room for GS parts. Now I have to scramble.

Time to turn in your pack-rat merit badge... tsk tsk.

 

[Griffin]

Careful. With that setup, one of your neighbors might turn you in to the DEA on suspicion of "home brewing" something that isn't legal. :-\\\

Bike's looking great, be the way.

 

[posplayr]

Ed,
Very Cool ; I have browsed the Casewell site and they obviously had a lot of stuff going on there. Great you are figuring this stuff out. The Gs1000 is looking great.
Jim

 

[alke46]

sweet looking engine

sweet looking engine

Bought a Copy Cad & Zinc Plating kit from Caswell's Plating and tried it out this weekend. http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/zinc.htm Cleaned the pieces by bead blasting followed by sanding/polishing the visible surfaces with 320 grit sandpaper. Each piece takes about 20 minute to plate; it could be done faster but I don't have a proper power supply yet. The finished plating is coming out dull and requires a brief polishing with Mothers to bring out the shine. I think, hope, that once a proper power supply can be sourced that the finish will improve.

The kit was about $150 plus I bought extra stuff to make the yellow cad/zinc look and black. The hardware should have good corrosion resistance since zinc is pretty resistant. I'm using a couple of trickle chargers running in 6 volt mode to drive the juice. To set the current I'm using a GS550 IP harness with a series of light bulbs - more bulbs in the circuit makes the system draw more current.

So far so good.

Ed, just how did you get that engine looking so much like a brand new one? Is this something that we could all do to our own GS's?
That picture just blew my mind when I saw it and would love to get mine to look even close to that nice.

 

[Matchless]

Ed,
Outstanding! That frame and engine looks like new!! Well done!:dancing:

 

[Calvin Blackmore]

beautiful work Nessim.............
the plating vat soes resemble a hybrid Beer and plating setup.....

 

[salty_monk]

Ed's work always look brand new... I suspect the engine got that way with some excruciating hours of cleaning followed by prep & painting.

Dan

 

[scrapper]

What kind of volt / amps power supply do you need, or what range would work best? I was wondering is the engine been plated or painted? Looks great, lots of WOW!!!

 

[Nessism]

What kind of volt / amps power supply do you need, or what range would work best? I was wondering is the engine been plated or painted? Looks great, lots of WOW!!!

For those that asked...I rebuilt the engine and painted everything while it was apart. The engine cases were sandblasted and then painted with POR-15 engine paint. Engine covers were polished and then sealed with POR-15 clearcoat to protect the finish. The frame was sandblasted in the rusty area and scuffed up otherwise before epoxy primer was applied followed by Por-15 Hardnose paint.

Regarding the power requirements for plating, from what I've read the best results are obtained with less than 3 volts. The current is set based on the surface area being plated - .18 A/sq.in. or something near this. I did some parts early in the week and they are turning out better. Going to play around some more with it this weekend.

 

[sonnygs1100]

Only if you come down and do all the polishing.

I'm going to look for a computer power supply to try; from what I've read the plating works best with voltages in the 1 volt range. A computer power supply has a 3 volt rail that may work better than the 6/12 I've been using. The goal is to find a way to brighten up the finish without having to do a post plating polishing. Once I figure it out, I'll be open for business.:dancing:

ive been using that set up for about 8 years and have never found a way out of polishing it at the end . are you gasing your parts in maratic acid first ?

 

[Nessism]

Getting the hang of this plating business...

Did some yellow chromate parts; the finish turned out with the proper colored patina although the photos don't show it very well.

It's taken me a while to get a handle on how to best prepare the parts for plating as well as post plating clean up. So far so good.