Plating springs

[DomP]

I'm doing as much plating of all parts on mymy CB550 as I can while I'm working my way through the rebuilding process, is there a way to replate springs that will get the plating onto the contacting coils?  I presume they would have been made from preplated wire originally.

[Johnny4428]

I would imagine if you could prop something in the spring to extend it slightly you would get between the coils?

[DomP]

I thought I could do something similar by putting wire between the coils to open them up

[Orcade-Ian]

Presumably you are talking about side, centre stand and pedal springs?  I've replated quite a few and they come out well closed up but if you are really concerned about plating in almost non existent gaps between coils you could use a pice of 1/2" ply  with a window cutout for the spring body and attach one end to the ply with a screw and then stretch very slightly and secure the other end. Perhaps capillary action takes the zinc ions into the gaps without the need for stretching?  Ash will know.
I did my 350/4 springs 20 years ago and they are not showing any problems between coils.
I wouldn't imagine the originals would be pre-plated due to the winding processes and heat treatment.

Ian

[Matt_Harrington]

Same here Ian, never had an issue re-plating springs when closed.

[DomP]

That's good to hear then, I did just pop some off cuts of copper wire between each coil to open them up and guarantee good coverage.  Seems to have worked well.