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Plating equipment and supplies to arrive soon

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billd View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Mar/12/2015 at 5:55am
motorcycles and the euro-cars are helping to fuel the supply chain for some of the chemicals that otherwise may not be available. Other than frame and seat and some aluminum parts, what isn't plated on the old motorcycles..........?
If I can get ramped up to make it worth my while, and MONEY, I can get more "professional" chemicals from a supply outfit I found not long ago but it requires a hefty minimum order of a drum of concentrate at a few hundred bucks. It would take years to make it pay but I may try to save for it anyway just to make things a lot easier than the home-brew baths I'm using now.
The home brew baths don't throw into the nooks and crannies as well as the professional stuff - you can get simply shaped parts done fine but complex shapes are tough, some require a lot of "hands on" - you have to baby sit and move the parts around, multiple times in the tank in different positions, hand "carding" with a wire brush or stainless wool in between each time.
At this point I don't make a cent on doing things with the plating, and a few I lose on, but hopefully that will change someday.
Once I retire (2 years, CAN'T WAIT!) and hit it more full-time it should get better and things move faster (now it's all done on the weekends and a few evenings when I can since I still have to work to pay the bills)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun/09/2015 at 7:59am
I received the sample I had sent to a lab to have checked out, and to have plated using their chemicals and processes. I'm going to have to sink some $$ into it all, but their process seems to be the most cost effective and I can buy smaller quantities from them than most other suppliers.
These were only SAMPLE parts - they weren't well prepped, in fact very little was done to some of them beyond a cleaning and hydrochloric acid bath to remove existing zinc plating.

There are two passivates used here -
one is much more yellow/green very little red, much more green;
the other has more hints of red in it, not so much green.
There are differences in the salt spray tests but in the case of AMC people, for that matter, most classic car people, they would be a bit baffled and uninterested in the corrosion test results, how many hours they endure in testing and so on. We're more interested in finish and color.

I still have some details to work out - and find a way to get the money (raid retirement account I suppose)
I'm also going to have to invest in some methods to heat some of the chemicals to about 150 degrees, especially the prep chemicals. The plating chemicals themselves will operate fine at about 80, the passivates have to be about 120 degrees, depending on the color I go with. The yellow/green will run at 70-100 ok, depending on the color wanted. The yellow/red needs 120 degrees.
But things are getting closer now - finally.

In this photo there are two 4300 choke plates - you'll note one of them has two finishes to it - I deliberately covered part of it while prepping to get an idea of how things looked with the different methods of cleaning and preparing, otherwise the two choke plates are finished to give an idea of the color differences and so on.


Again in this one I had them do the 2 different passivates to get an idea of the color differences - you can tell which was done with which method...........


For kicks I sent a Mitsubishi starter cover from a 4.0 starter to get an idea of how they'd turn out using my cleaning and prepping methods - the way I chuck them up and spin them while cleaning them up to make things more even, remove some pits and such - it came out nice. Now I know it can be done that way.
It was pretty nasty looking when I removed it from the starter for clean-up and prep.



And finally wiper motor frames - each with a different passivate chemical, note the different colors of the finish of each.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pit crew Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun/09/2015 at 8:19am
I really like the way the one on the left turned out. The finish turned out very nice. I am not sure how "correct" it is but for me that is the one I would pick.



73 Hornet - 401EFI - THM400 - Twin Grip 20
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 71SC360 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun/09/2015 at 8:35am
The one on the right looks a little too green but but it's a little closer to the original finish than the one on the left. Could be the lights giving the bottom two pix the greener hue because the top pic looks very close...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun/09/2015 at 8:52am
The color closely mimics the finish I've found on NOS parts. It's actually just a bit more "bright", but then years have passed, too. I'm comparing to two NOS wiper motors I have, one from the 1970 on up era, the other from the 1980s - the color is very good, the finish shouldn't be any brighter.

I think Joe is right in that the left color is good, the right finish is good. Not so much polish, but the color of the left.

And Joe is also right in that it's REALLY hard to photograph these finishes because  the various colors in the one on the left are due to - well, compare it to the rainbow effect of oil on water, and that's how you can see it's tough to photograph. It is actually cause by light refraction on the surface.
The passivate literally is acidic and eats just barely into the surface of the zinc giving it the color.
It also protects the zinc from oxidation by making it more "passive" thus the terminology.

PS - I DO welcome you fellow's input - that's one reason for the photos - get YOUR thoughts on it. I've seen what I've seen, but that's got to be more limited than what pros like you folks have seen over the many years you've dealt with AMCs and parts.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote myrambler Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/24/2016 at 12:13am
where in Iowa are you located? Im in cedar rapids, would like to visit with you and see your place.
Mike
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