Topic: DIY Plating~Pros & Cons For Hobbyists vs. Professional Restorers

[67gtasanjose]

Reading through several other threads found on this forum, watching several Youtube video and the likes, it sure seems reasonable to send "Batches" out to the Pros in the Plating Business, while for single items or small batches, to have a DIY kit on hand too. #understood

Now, I doubt I have future plans (at least at present time) to do much Restoration Work past my current project so I suppose, there are others in such a scenario. I bring this discussion up because of minimal available time and minimal available funds, more or less forcing me to only "CRAWL" my project towards completion, making it difficult to assemble a "single batch" in each type of plating yet I wish to have essentially everything "READY" when the body color is completed. Am I clear as mud yet?

Basically, a large portion of my fasteners are still in the baggies with notes inside with them (of contents) and for the sake of simplicity plus trying to avoid being overwhelmed, I'd much rather do small batches of two-or-so baggies of items at a time.

Would it be a consideration to perhaps choose certain LARGER items and send those out while working individual baggies of items myself? Every car is different in the Mustang world so there is no "canned answer" on what to assemble as "batches" and I am hoping to avoid years of extra work of restoring my original hardware too!

I probably would consider just sending EVERYTHING to one place and say "Here it is, I have a 67 GTA Coupe built 11/2/66 in San Jose, please plate it all as the factory did and send it back with a list of "missing" "incorrect"or damaged" items... is two weeks enough laed-time?

[Bossbill]

It's not very time effective, but I do it your way too!

I have a number of small boxes labeled 'Fenders', 'Gas tank area', 'Undercar misc' and I go through them one by one and group them into very specific things like 'Motor Mount bolts'.
I research the finish, clean them and apply the appropriate finish (if I can).
I then baggie up the assemblies of fasteners required for an area like the M/M bolts and combine them in one baggy.

If I don't have enough to do a batch I'll keep searching for stuff to PO (for instance) and clean enough to do so.
I also have separate containers into which I throw a detailed note card and fasteners to be Caded, or other finish. I keep all the nuts separate from bolts separate from misc ...

Plus, when a certain thread comes up and entails a box of bolts I haven't gone through I'll dig it out.
This explains why my posts are so varied and seemingly all over the place.

I also have a few Costco chrome wire racks on which I place parts into marked baggies. The nut and bolt rack is divided into front, middle, rear of car and sub-divided into mechanical versus general fastening.

It's been a few decades since I tore the car apart -- the why is another long, long story -- so I remember very little of the details. I did keep a detailed list of fasteners, markings,  length so I pretty well know what is what.

[Chris Thauberger]

This is the setup I built to plate parts less than 21 square inches.



I know sounds funny, why 21 square inches? Because that is the limit of my 3A constant current/constant voltage power supply. Sound technical? The power supply is key to obtaining excellent results. You cannot plate with a car battery or cheap transformer. I would highly recommend having a plating station when attempting a concours restoration. My concern wasn't so much about losing parts or paying for expensive plating. I just wanted to understand what the process was all about. I also looked around on this site and only found discouraging comments. So I just decided to figure it out for myself.

It takes some practice to get the finished product just right. One thing I should mention is this is a science not an art. Surface area being plated is calculated using formulas designed for common shapes like cylinder's and squares. Sometimes you have to calculate the area using several formula's (all available as online calculators)

Surface preparation is key to having the finish look right. That is why I also invested in a vibratory tumbler. I already own a media blasting cabinet.



The process goes like this: Degrease, media blast clean, tumble finish, plate. My setup allowed me to finish cad/zinc as well as yellow and black chromate. The use of chromic acids(yellow and black) as well as hydrochloric acid require the necessary PPE. A full face respirator with acid cartridges as well as the fume hood is a must.



Additionally, access to a clean running water source is highly recommended in case of an acid spill. Temperature of the tanks is crucial as well as the ph level of the plating tank. Guessing will lead to erroneous results. I can't stress this enough, this is a science not an art. Follow the instructions and practice. Keep notes about every attempt and after a while it seem easy.

Chris

[67gtasanjose]

This is the setup I built to plate parts less than 21 square inches.



I know sounds funny, why 21 square inches? Because that is the limit of my 3A constant current/constant voltage power supply. Sound technical? The power supply is key to obtaining excellent results. You cannot plate with a car battery or cheap transformer. I would highly recommend having a plating station when attempting a concours restoration. My concern wasn't so much about losing parts or paying for expensive plating. I just wanted to understand what the process was all about. I also looked around on this site and only found discouraging comments. So I just decided to figure it out for myself.

It takes some practice to get the finished product just right. One thing I should mention is this is a science not an art. Surface area being plated is calculated using formulas designed for common shapes like cylinder's and squares. Sometimes you have to calculate the area using several formula's (all available as online calculators)

Surface preparation is key to having the finish look right. That is why I also invested in a vibratory tumbler. I already own a media blasting cabinet.



The process goes like this: Degrease, media blast clean, tumble finish, plate. My setup allowed me to finish cad/zinc as well as yellow and black chromate. The use of chromic acids(yellow and black) as well as hydrochloric acid require the necessary PPE. A full face respirator with acid cartridges as well as the fume hood is a must.



Additionally, access to a clean running water source is highly recommended in case of an acid spill. Temperature of the tanks is crucial as well as the ph level of the plating tank. Guessing will lead to erroneous results. I can't stress this enough, this is a science not an art. Follow the instructions and practice. Keep notes about every attempt and after a while it seem easy.

Chris

Care to take on some plating work?

[mtinkham]

Can you include some pictures of the results....very interesting.

I also was going to ask where did you get the cool www.concoursmustang.com T-shirt......

[J_Speegle]

This is the setup I built to plate parts less than 21 square inches. ....................

Nice set up. Thanks for sharing

[jwc66k]

Do you have a cost estimate? Can you do "gold zinc" plating? Can you do "dull zinc" plating?
Jim

[CharlesTurner]

One of the issues with the DIY plating setups is that I've seen zinc plating turn 'cloudy' or 'dull' once exposed to humid environments.

Would be interested in knowing if you've had these issues and what was done about it.

Also, I've had very inconsistent results with the Caswell 'copy cad' kits I've purchased in the past.  It was most likely operator-error though.