Hardware Plating Prep by a Noob

[khamul02]

Originally Posted by pkabush

My understanding is that Cad plating has been all but phased out due to to environmental concerns.
That said if anyone knows of a place in the Seattle area that’s still doing it, I’m interested.

Cad plating is available all over the northeast and is much better than zinc. It's even available in batch processing. It is about twice the price though.

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by khamul02

Cad plating is available all over the northeast and is much better than zinc. It's even available in batch processing. It is about twice the price though.

Thickness for thickness, which is more corrosion resistant depends on the exact atmosphere -- cadmium is generally better for salty environments, and zinc is generally better for industrial environments. But a thicker layer of a zinc alloy will provide better corrosion resistance than cadmium in every case, and every effort should be made to use zinc or a zinc alloy and to get cadmium out of the environment. Good luck.

[khamul02]

Originally Posted by Dpmulvan

Thickness for thickness, which is more corrosion resistant depends on the exact atmosphere -- cadmium is generally better for salty environments, and zinc is generally better for industrial environments. But a thicker layer of a zinc alloy will provide better corrosion resistance than cadmium in every case, and every effort should be made to use zinc or a zinc alloy and to get cadmium out of the environment. Good luck.

What zinc thickness specification do you think will work best for our cars?

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by khamul02

What zinc thickness specification do you think will work best for our cars?

Typically, and per spec, zinc electroplating would be 5, 8, 13, or 25 microns thick based on whether the service condition was mild, moderate, severe, or very severe.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by mepstein

Shawn - True6 is a long time pelican member who does this service professionally. Outstanding work.

I messed up big time on a big batch. I sent 3.2 fuel rails to be plated. They must have held a bunch of acid because when I got the parts back, everything was corroded and damaged. It all had to be redone. That was all on me. I'll be sending those difficult parts to shawn for tlc.

Thank you Mark, and everyone else, I appreciate the kind words. And I love doing fuel rails, 928 shown here. A lot is in the prep but it's also your relationship with the plater. I give local restaurant gift cards to the guy that does my plating all the time because he always goes the extra distance for me.

For yellow plating, I only do yellow cadmium. Clear is a mix of a custom zing chemistry or cadmium

[lateapex911]

Hmmmm I see some of my parts in those pics! Absolutely thats my housing strap/ Looks better in person.

Shaun gets top marks for communication, honesty and packaging, as well as quality.
I think plating is kinda easy for him. Give him some Cerakote stuff. Challenge him

[john walker's workshop]

Originally Posted by pkabush

My understanding is that Cad plating has been all but phased out due to to environmental concerns.
That said if anyone knows of a place in the Seattle area that’s still doing it, I’m interested.

Try Electrofinishing in Kent.

[Discseven]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

Thank you Mark, and everyone else, I appreciate the kind words. And I love doing fuel rails, 928 shown here. A lot is in the prep but it's also your relationship with the plater. I give local restaurant gift cards to the guy that does my plating all the time because he always goes the extra distance for me.

For yellow plating, I only do yellow cadmium. Clear is a mix of a custom zing chemistry or cadmium

Beautiful plating Shaun.

[Dpmulvan]

Sean that looks like yellow chromate ( sodium dichromate) not yellow cadmium.

[khamul02]

There are definitely a few items I don't trust for batch plating and will send to Shaun @ Tru6 for period-correct cadmium plating.

[speedster911]

any suggestions for a place to Cad Plate in NO CA?

[AutoXer23]

Lots of good info

[pkabush]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

Try Electrofinishing in Kent.

Thx

[Antomero]

Shaun @Tru 6 did all my plating work. His work and attention to detail is outstanding. I wouldn’t use anyone else to do plating and restoration work. My spring plates and axles should arrive in the next few days from Shaun.
I’ll post some more pictures of his work :-)

[70SWT]

Originally Posted by Dpmulvan

Sean that looks like yellow chromate ( sodium dichromate) not yellow cadmium.

+1ish(?)...I thought that cad was basically nonexistent now due to environmental concerns. I was thinking that yellow/gold with the rainbow effect like an oil slick is now just zinc chromate.

I would love to be wrong, as I understand cad is more durable and I need some plating done.

Shaun, can you confirm that it's true cad with the gold/rainbow look?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by 70SWT

+1ish(?)...I thought that cad was basically nonexistent now due to environmental concerns. I was thinking that yellow/gold with the rainbow effect like an oil slick is now just zinc chromate.

I would love to be wrong, as I understand cad is more durable and I need some plating done.

Shaun, can you confirm that it's true cad with the gold/rainbow look?

Sure, both zinc and cadmium plating use a chromate conversion coating over the zinc and cadmium for a little extra protection. Colors include clear (sometimes tinted blue though I have access to old school clear chromate), yellow (gold), black and olive.

So yes, the plater I use has proper cadmium plating with a chromate layer on top. If I have to strip a cadmium plated piece, most times because I wasn't happy with the color or there was a flaw in the plating, it will sit in the bath for sometimes 20 minutes before all of the cadmium has been stripped. Zinc is always 2-3 minutes from start to finish.

Fun fact, everyone thinks 911 door handles were black anodized; anodizing typically applies to aluminum, magnesium, titanium, etc. I just got a call today to reanodize door handles actually. In fact door handles are die cast zinc and were originally plated with black zinc chromate. If you look at the back of a door handle in the recess, you can see the chromate rainbow effect which is part of the spec. For yellow, some times it's more green, or rose, and sometimes it's beautiful RGB tones across gold.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Both zinc and cadmium are silver or whitish silver in color. The clear chromate for cadmium has a different chemistry than for zinc so you can get some beautiful silvers with the right pre-plating processing.

356

















Ferrari 275 GTS brakes and such

[lateapex911]

I never really thought of plating like this as an art, but after looking at those pics, it sure feels like Shaun is an artist....

[Antomero]

Received some more restoration work from Shaun, that I assembled last night.
Excellent results! Great work!

Just realized that I put a washer on the driver side eccentric toe bolt. Need to address it today.

[1985-911Carrera]

Originally Posted by Antomero

Shaun @Tru 6 did all my plating work. His work and attention to detail is outstanding. I wouldn’t use anyone else to do plating and restoration work. My spring plates and axles should arrive in the next few days from Shaun.
I’ll post some more pictures of his work :-)

wow does that look amazing!!! So nice.
Tim