Home plating kit

[RustyMojo]

Thought I’d chuck this question up… has anyone had any experience of plating plots and small metal items at home? Rather than sending off to a specialist. It looks like I can buy a kit for about £150. Which would likely pay for itself fairly quickly. I don’t really want to replace bits and bolts for the sake of it. It looks like a bit of a faff, but arguably would be a great deal of satisfaction.

So if anyone has done it before, care to share your experiences and set ups?

cheers

 

[JamesBryan]

@Jon Wright has possibly 🤔

 

[Mr Underhill]

🙋‍♂️ Ask away

 

[Andy_con]

sounds interesting

 

[Mr Underhill]

I bought this kit https://www.gaterosplating.co.uk/all-products?product_id=207 Then I bought more tank heaters, then a power pack, passivates etc. Don’t buy cheap tank heaters, especially through winter unless your garage is really warm. Really important to keep temperature of solutions around 25c.

Got good results but it does take a little time to get voltage right (which is dependent on the size of the part you’re plating).

My set up

Pros

Doesn’t take long to figure it out and you get good results. You can take your time and do parts as you go along.

Cons

It’s definitely cheaper in the short term to just bag a load of parts and get done by a commercial outlet. But there’s no fun in that.

 

[RustyMojo]

What set up did you use Jon? Did you buy one of the pre made kits?

 

[Andy_con]

I bought this kit https://www.gaterosplating.co.uk/all-products?product_id=207 Then I bought more tank heaters, then a power pack, passivates etc. Don’t buy cheap tank heaters, especially through winter unless your garage is really warm. Really important to keep temperature of solutions around 25c.

Got good results but it does take a little time to get voltage right (which is dependent on the size of the part you’re plating).

My set up

View attachment 1578418View attachment 1578419View attachment 1578420View attachment 1578421

Pros

Doesn’t take long to figure it out and you get good results. You can take your time and do parts as you go along.

Cons

It’s definitely cheaper in the short term to just bag a load of parts and get done by a commercial outlet. But there’s no fun in that.

what do you plate? we need photos

 

[RustyMojo]

I bought this kit https://www.gaterosplating.co.uk/all-products?product_id=207 Then I bought more tank heaters, then a power pack, passivates etc. Don’t buy cheap tank heaters, especially through winter unless your garage is really warm. Really important to keep temperature of solutions around 25c.

Got good results but it does take a little time to get voltage right (which is dependent on the size of the part you’re plating).

My set up

View attachment 1578418View attachment 1578419View attachment 1578420View attachment 1578421

Pros

Doesn’t take long to figure it out and you get good results. You can take your time and do parts as you go along.

Cons

It’s definitely cheaper in the short term to just bag a load of parts and get done by a commercial outlet. But there’s no fun in that.

I’m looking at one of these kits:

Superbright Zinc Plating Complete Kit with Blue & Yellow Passivate - Frost Auto Restoration Techniques

Superbright Zinc offers a highly protective corrosive resistant coating for IRON, STEEL, BRASS and COPPER items. The zinc layer produced can then be finished in various ways. This Blue & Yellow Passivate produces either a bright silver finish, or a gold iridescent finish. Available in 5 or 10...

www.frost.co.uk

big problem I have with sending them off is I only want to do a few things at a time, as an example my rear shock bolts. I have cleaned them up nicely, but they obviously now need some kind of protective coating and paint is s**t

 

[Mr Underhill]

My first attempt at zinc plating with yellow passivate. Voltage too high and didn’t appreciate how chemically clean the parts needed to be, hence uneven coverage.

Next attempt. Much better and as good as you’re going to get for a DIY kit.

If you want rid of the missus, chop her up and stick her in the acid pickle 😂 Nasty stuff if you breath it in or get it on your skin. Wear glasses, masks and gloves obviously.

 

[Mr Underhill]

what do you plate? we need photos

Patience 😂

 

[RustyMojo]

What did you setup cost in total Jon? Was it cheaper than buying a ready built kit?

 

[Mr Underhill]

What set up did you use Jon? Did you buy one of the pre made kits?

Yeah but I soon discovered you need a proper power pack with good voltage range and extra tank heaters. The passivate needs heating, the zinc solution needs heating and I also heated the de-ionised water. The pickle is essentially your cleaner which activates the part ready for dipping.

 

[Mr Underhill]

What did you setup cost in total Jon? Was it cheaper than buying a ready built kit?

I think I was in for a few hundred quid in the end but I’ll be using it again in the spring and zinc is pretty cheap. Long term much cheaper with a kit.

 

[Andy_con]

so you havent done any gold plating yet?

 

[Mr Underhill]

so you havent done any gold plating yet?

No I’ve no need for it but same principles really.

 

[Mr Underhill]

You will c**k up on your first attempts but you will get very good at it and produce very satisfying results.

 

[RustyMojo]

so you havent done any gold plating yet?

Do people gold plate parts of shitty old French hatchbacks? 😂

 

[Mr Underhill]

Do people gold plate parts of shitty old French hatchbacks? 😂

And therein lies the main problem. If your parts are too rust pitted after cleaning, they won’t half show once you’ve plated them.

I did this but it had too much pitting. Ended up buying a new one.

 

[Andy_con]

Do people gold plate parts of shitty old French hatchbacks? 😂

CS is full of ballers right?

 

[Andy_con]

so how much do you charge for plating

 

[RustyMojo]

CS is full of ballers right?

If by ballers you mean cargo short, merrell wearing virgins…then yes, first class baller status 😂😂

 

[VenomUK]

@DavidDave What is it you want to plate, and what kind of plating do you want mate?

I can see if I can get them chucked in with a batch of bits at work?

 

[RustyMojo]

@DavidDave What is it you want to plate, and what kind of plating do you want mate?

I can see if I can get them chucked in with a batch of bits at work?

I want to zinc plate some bolts buddy. With a yellow passivate finish. I only have two at the moment (rear shock bolts) but have been thinking of buying a kit so I can do everything as I strip bits off mate. But it would help massively if you could!

 

[VenomUK]

Is this for the rear beam refurbish? We've got some parts waiting in the job queue that will need zinc and yellow so I can chuck them in on that. The jobs are due for delivery on the 14th of April so the parts could be turned and milled end of Feb / start of March. Don't know how that fits in with your time scale of working on the car?

It's up to you mate? I can get it thrown in as a favour so won't cost anything but it all depends on how much you want the car back on the road?

 

[RustyMojo]

Is this for the rear beam refurbish? We've got some parts waiting in the job queue that will need zinc and yellow so I can chuck them in on that. The jobs are due for delivery on the 14th of April so the parts could be turned and milled end of Feb / start of March. Don't know how that fits in with your time scale of working on the car?

It's up to you mate? I can get it thrown in as a favour so won't cost anything but it all depends on how much you want the car back on the road?

Cheers mate, I’ll drop you a note if I need it doing. I will finish dropping the beam shortly. I then need to remove and clean up the beam pivot bolts and nuts. No mad rush as I’ll have to remove rust and treat the underside before refitting. So I’m probably a few weeks away at the least!

 

[Bankrupt_drunk]

Out of interest, how hazardous are the chemicals used for this? Do you need fume extraction? What about disposal of the fluids afterwards?

 

[Mr Underhill]

Out of interest, how hazardous are the chemicals used for this? Do you need fume extraction? What about disposal of the fluids afterwards?

Pretty hazardous. Mask, glasses, gloves and a well ventilated area are needed. I usually open the big door on the garage when i'm doing mine. The Yellow Passivate doesn't give off that much, you get some fumes off the Zinc solution during plating. The worst one is the Acid Pickle which gives off some nasty looking fumes when it's chomping away at the parts during cleaning. I've never disposed of any yet, but i'll probably stick them in an old oil container and take mine into work for collection.

 

[VenomUK]

Cheers mate, I’ll drop you a note if I need it doing. I will finish dropping the beam shortly. I then need to remove and clean up the beam pivot bolts and nuts. No mad rush as I’ll have to remove rust and treat the underside before refitting. So I’m probably a few weeks away at the least!

Need any advice or help mate, give me a shout. Lovely couple in Stonehouse have a great self use media blasting service where you can blast the beam clean in prep for paint or desired treatment?

 

[RustyMojo]

Need any advice or help mate, give me a shout. Lovely couple in Stonehouse have a great self use media blasting service where you can blast the beam clean in prep for paint or desired treatment?

cheers mate, I already have a beam blasted and powder coated…in fact I have had for about a year. It’s sat covered in dust and overspray in the garage now waiting for me to get my arse into gear 😂😂

 

[GrahamS]

I used a company called TSR vapour blasting for all my plating. About half of the parts they tumbled/plated and the other half were soaked in brown vinegar with hours invested cleaning up on the wire-wheel. The results from the tumbled parts were incredible and whilst the wire wheel parts were also good, they were certainly not as good and adhesion wasn't on par.

The tumbled parts are those below with a smoother and more pink tint (top photo)

Given the huge amount of prep labour I'd hand it over to a professional outfit and just make sure you have all the bolts included.

 

[obcuz]

A few years back did a few small zinc plated parts with a Heath Robinson set-up .

Cost about £25 for a pair of zinc anodes and chemicals, I already had a regulated PSU to supply the power.

The results were fine and quite pleased with the few small parts I did and they still look good after about 5 years, didn't do any passivating though as I didn't need that finish.

Still got the all the stuff around somewhere.

Good results take time and trouble with the prep, used all the usual things -tumbling, acid dips etc, and the parts must be chemically clean, most of the zinc plating turned out dull but it polished up great.