Home Zinc Plating before and after

[PorscheGAL]

Gents,

I wanted to provide a review of zinc plating at home with a Kit. The kit I used was from Caswell and I have no affiliation with them. They have many kits, but I wanted one that would most look like the yellow cadmium coated parts we find in our Pcars. Therefore, I chose the Copy Cad and Zinc plating kit.

Since I'm rebuilding the motor in the 911, I am also rebuilding the fuel system. I wanted to re-zinc the fuel components and various parts that are reusable, but needing a facelift.

Here is what I found after my first day.

Before:



After:


The whole process includes the following:

1. Very clean parts
2. Rinse in distilled water
3. Dip in 5% acid bath for 3 seconds
4. Rinse in distilled water again
5. Place in the plating tank heated to 110 degrees F. Keep object in there for 20 minutes at proper amperage. Amperage set based on square inch area of object.



6. Dip in acid bath for 3 seconds again.
7. Rinse in distilled water
8. Dip in iridescent yellow chromate heated to 80 degrees F for 30 seconds. The longer it stays in the darker yellow it gets.
9. Rinse in distilled water

Let dry for 4 hours and the object can be touched. As you can see above, I have not perfected the process. The yellow cad coloring various in intensity. I do feel the parts are protected better and look better than before the process.

I have used professional zinc plating companies on other parts and it looks different. The truth is they are using the original process and this is just a copy. I have decided to do this myself because those companies have treated me poorly and now I can do this on my timeline.

Hopes this helps someone out there!

[Traveller]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

I have not perfected the process. The yellow cad coloring various in intensity.

Is there any chance you can take close-up shots and post bigger pics of the "after" items?

I've considered going with one of Lance Caswell's kits and we've e-mailed back and forth a few times with Q&As. Then for about $50, a local plater will plate whatever I can put in a small 6 inch cube box and I've seen the results. But the fun is in doing it yourself.

[Ronnie's.930]

Those look good!

One question - won't this process (water/acid) damage the diaphram in that vacuum pot?

[Tippy]

Very good. Way better than the paint system Eastwood sells.

[PorscheGAL]

Here are some more after pictures.





Here is a picture where the clamp on the left is after the process and the one on the right is yet to be done. The one on the left looked similar to the on the right.

Originally Posted by Ronnie's.930

Those look good!

One question - won't this process (water/acid) damage the diaphram in that vacuum pot?

I thought of that as well. I found other people using this process on similar parts for other cars and not having a problem. I wasn't worried about the water as the acid. I tested just on water to see how fast water would enter the space. The air pocket inside the cavity didn't allow the water to enter as long as I didn't keep the pot in there too long. The acid dip is so fast the acid didn't enter the cavity with the diaphragms. Now, I could be wrong on this and will find out soon.

[Traveller]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

Here is a picture where the clamp on the left is after the process and the one on the right is yet to be done. The one on the left looked similar to the on the right.

It certainly is an improvement, but I'd like to see a bright yellow zinc.

BTW, as for sealing off parts, you can always "cap off" the ports on your part shown in the post above. A simple rubber washer under the cap will do...we're not talking about any pressures here.

[timmy2]

Looks good. Have you tried buffing/polishing them a little after treatment to get a little more shine?
Look a little dull in the pictures, but you are taking the pics over top of a very reflective surface in the background.

[BryanM]

Hi
It looks ok, but you can get it way better. You will get better with some practice. I've been doing this for several years. Well- I was. (Haven't really had a need in a while)
Are you using an acid wash to remove all of the old plating? It is really necessary.
Once that is done and no signs of the old plating remains I like to polish with a wire wheel on a bench grinder; followed by some steel wool by hand to even out the swirl marks created by the wire wheel. It also looks like you may being a little shy with the zinc brightener.
I think a smaller gauge wire to hang the parts might help the current too. I bought about 10 feet of stranded wire from home depot. When stripped and unwound each individual wire is about the gauge of a twistie tie wire.

Good luck. Looks like you're having fun so far.

[Tippy]

Those look great Bryan!

[timmy2]

Those parts look really nice Bryan.
Just like painting a car, it's all in the prep work and methods of application, and lots of practice....
Any thoughts on very light sandblasting to remove old plating?

[BryanM]

media blasting works, but it can be difficult to distinguish if the plating has been completely removed. if you're doing parts that have die cast integrated into it; where it becomes too risky or tedious to separate steel parts from die cast, then you have no choice. the acid will dissolve the die cast (pot metal; aka cast zinc) rather quickly and ruin the part.
i've really found about a 20 minute bath in a 1:1 acid water to be most effective. this is, of course, after cleaning and degreasing.
Double check the manual, but iirc the 3 sec sulfuric acid dip should be done after the zinc plating just before you dip the parts into the yellow chromate.
I'm starting to remember why I don't really do it anymore =D

[frankc]

This is a very timely thread for me. I just dropped off my second batch of parts to be plated last week, and I'm sure I'll come across a few more that will require a third trip before I'm done. It would be so much more convenient to be able to do this at home as long as the results were satisfactory. I searched for home kits a few weeks ago and saw the "Copy Cad" system, so thank you for posting your experience with it so far.

Around here, it is also getting more difficult to find a plating shop that will take non-commercial jobs. The shop I used for the first batch (couple of years ago) now no longer will take them. I called around to all the local shops and same story. The shop I ended up at is about 45 minutes away, but the owner is very nice and a "car guy" himself, so he is happy to do this stuff on the side for folks.

[chrismorse]

I have acqured the casswell copy cad kit and the black chromate wash. still need the rectifier and the yellow cad chemicals, then after finishing candles, i will set up a plating effort in the costco canvass garage.

Any advice on a rectifier for stuff the size of the spring plates, discs & calipers???

Thanks,
chris

[BryanM]

I found an old "Jewelers" rectifier on ebay a few years ago for about $100. It absolutely makes a difference in the quality to be able to control the amperage with a dial.
So that would be my advice I guess; when you're searching ebay or craigslist etc.- include jewelers or jewelry in the search criteria.
With cad or zinc you're typically working in miliamps, so pretty much any rectifier will be able to produce an adequate load.
Chrome is a different story and requires a lot of amperage.

[blee]

Would a battery charger work?

[BryanM]

Someone much smarter than me could probably adapt one to work, but...
realistically there is way too much voltage and amperage.
Before I had a rectifier I used various AC adapters from old phone chargers and stuff. It was very tedious. You're not only limited to how many things you can do at once, but how few things you can do at one time as well. (because the voltage and amperage is fixed) They also tend to blow up in short order.
That being said AC adapters work well and will get you started. They probably won't work for larger items, but for nuts, bolts and washers the job gets done.

[PorscheGAL]

Originally Posted by chrismorse

Any advice on a rectifier for stuff the size of the spring plates, discs & calipers???

Thanks,
chris

I bought the rectifier from Caswell and it should handle a part that large.

I still cannot get to BryanM's quality. I did a redo of several parts and cannot get it as shiny as his work.

[irl]

Cool thread! Suscribing in hopes this keep on going in discussion.

[BryanM]

Don't be discouraged PGal.
I cannot tell you how many hours it took me to get it down pat. My first day I spent 8 hours before I got one piece to look right. Without you standing next to me it would be really tough to describe. Don't stick to the manual. It is a very basic guide. It is helpful, but also tries to make you think too much. One of the things that helped me most in the manual was the trouble shooting guide. Go over that and figure out what adjustments you can make.
1) Which rectifier did you get? I see they have several options now that weren't available in 2005.
2) Lets use the pictures of the clamps held with the needle nose pliers as an example. The on on the right was not cleaned nearly enough. The one on the left is not far off the mark. I would suggest more of the zinc brightener solution. It takes a fair amount of brightener at first. One the bath is saturated with enough of the brightener, then it doesn't need much to be added each time you add more stuff. I don't think that is made very clear in the manual iirc. Also try polishing with steel wool prior to the bath.

[toddu]

I found a great company in SC (a bit far from you however) that did a whole batch of my stuff for me for $50. It was a no brainer. I had the parts media blasted prior and then the zinc plater did their cleaning process on them. I'll definitely take any additional pieces to them.

Todd