Honda-SOHC
SOHC.co.uk Forums => Anorak's Corner => Topic started by: DomP on October 03, 2023, 01:16:04 PM
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I'm thinking of getting a Gateros zinc plating kit but I'm cautious of going overboard and buying the full kit, is the basic 5ltr kit with out the power supply going to get me reliable results n smaller items like engine bolts and carb brackets?
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I have only every bought the chemicals and zinc electrodes, never the full kits. Had great results and experiences with them for many years. Tried pre-mixed zinc stuff from 'YouPlate' and it was sh*te finish. More like cad. plating finish than BZP. Gateros stuff is very good though and customer support is A1. Worth getting a digital multi-meter with 10A DC range on it, if you don't have one already for measure the plating current. I always work on 0.1A (100 milliamps) per square inch of the surface area. Make sure you don't get the polarity wrong, as if you do and try plating for a period of time, you get iron deposited into the electrolyte solution. Zinc electrode is positive, work is negative.
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Thanks Ash, I think I will order a 5ltr kit to get me started and go from there.
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Just seen my autocorrect title on this thread😄
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Wonerful ting treknology
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I was wondering where you could get a kit big enough to do gateposts...
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Today I've setup my plating kit which has worked really well except for inside the recessed heads of the engine bolts that have blackened, what can I do to get them plating as well as the rest of the bolt?
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I was wondering where you could get a kit big enough to do gateposts...
🤭🤭🤭
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I think it is most important to get in all nooks and crannies with the cleaning process. Maybe a dremel or such like with a wire wheel or proper attachment to get into those recesses.
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I think it is most important to get in all nooks and crannies with the cleaning process. Maybe a dremel or such like with a wire wheel or proper attachment to get into those recesses.
Yes I think that is the conclusion I've come to, it's only the places that would have been hard to get very clean, only a few botls so I'll just redo the affected ones and learn from it.
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Dom,
I've been using Gateros stuff ever since I came to Orkney (2005) as I didn't trust sending precious stuff away. Those recessed bolts can be troublesome if you just suspend them by their threads as you can create an air pocket as you lower them into the electrolyte. I use strips of that thin perforated building strapping and run a 6mm tap through the holes. Then you can screw the recessed bolts in sideways and suspend them horizontally. I also have various bits of thin plate with lots of 3,4 and 5mm threaded holes which I suspend from the cathode bar. It's a hell of a lot quicker than wiring each part separately.
Ian
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Just remembered a piece I put on my site in the early days before I hit on the strapping idea.
http://www.stallard-engineering.co.uk/Engineering/Zinc%20Plating.htm
Ian
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Dom,
I've been using Gateros stuff ever since I came to Orkney (2005) as I didn't trust sending precious stuff away. Those recessed bolts can be troublesome if you just suspend them by their threads as you can create an air pocket as you lower them into the electrolyte. I use strips of that thin perforated building strapping and run a 6mm tap through the holes. Then you can screw the recessed bolts in sideways and suspend them horizontally. I also have various bits of thin plate with lots of 3,4 and 5mm threaded holes which I suspend from the cathode bar. It's a hell of a lot quicker than wiring each part separately.
Ian
That's a really good idea Ian! I think you are onto something with the air pocket too, in my haste and excitement to get plating I overlooked that bit. I'm having issues with rough finish now which I think is down to over estimating the surface area of my bolts, again I would imagine a slow plate is better if a bit time consuming.
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Hello again,
Yes, the rough plating is usually down to too much current or too much time (or both) Don't despair, just put them back into the brick/path cleaner until clean again and re-plate at a lower setting. The air pocket does produce a dark surface. I use a 3" wire wheel in the pillar drill and grip the bolt in an old Jacobs chuck with arbor and clean them up that way. Sometimes I might just go round the internal wall of the recess with a scriber if there is stubborn crap there, then back on the wheel. Occasionally they end up in a dark corner of the workshop, only to be found years later when looking for something else!
Got to say, although time consuming, it's very rewarding.
Ian
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Yes it's certainly rewarding, I wouldn't say I've produced a perfect finish yet but I do now know why, tomorrow's batch should be somewhere near perfect I hope. I've ordered a small waterfeature pump from Amazon to save me having to agitate the solution by hand.
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You using just the zinc plate or the zinc/nickel plate kit Dom?
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You using just the zinc plate or the zinc/nickel plate kit Dom?
Zinc Nickel Ken, when they come out well the finish is excellent.
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Once I've mastered these bolts I can move on to the gate posts.
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The Gatepost (TM) plating kits certainly look good - I should have bought one when I was rebuilding my 400 but took my casing bolts to a local plating firm instead for convenience.
Santa might visit with one in his sack who knows - if nothing else they sound rewarding to use. ;D ;D ;D
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The Gatepost (TM) plating kits certainly look good - I should have bought one when I was rebuilding my 400 but took my casing bolts to a local plating firm instead for convenience.
Santa might visit with one in his sack who knows - if nothing else they sound rewarding to use. ;D ;D ;D
I bought mine as a 'science practical' to teach my 11 year old son😉 who might have managed 2 minutes in passing paying attention to it before Lego diverted his attention. Its infuriating ant rewarding in equal measure currently (pun intended) but I will swing it to the latter eventually.
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I think that if you have a trustworthy source nearby as I used to have, then it might not be worth the effort. Saying that, you don't want to be paying someone to clean a myriad of tiny parts prior to plating and that is more than half the work done. If you slot things in between other jobs, then it doesn't become a boring chore. Passivating is also important for longer term protection.
Also having an easily variable power source made all the difference to me but I've done quite a few of my own bikes plus many parts of other peoples. I've also made quite a few special tools over the years and plated those too.
Ian
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The Gatepost (TM) plating kits certainly look good - I should have bought one when I was rebuilding my 400 but took my casing bolts to a local plating firm instead for convenience.
Santa might visit with one in his sack who knows - if nothing else they sound rewarding to use. ;D ;D ;D
I would avoid the power supply they sell though Ted. Motoclassics in Hants used to own Caswell Europe and they asked me to evaluate one... which I naturally took to bits as it seemed amazingly cheap. The internals left a lot to be desired from a safety point of view and I found that the current and voltage control wasn't very good.
I am just evaluating this module which has both voltage and constant current control. Will post my findings.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/374348983612
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I bought the same Longwei controller they sell but cheaper on Ebay, you're right Ash it's fantastically Chinese and hard to set but better than guesswork.
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Well this is frustrating, my dry acid pickle has lost strength already putting a halt to my days plating.
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All good advice here on the subject of zinc plating. I've been doing that for quite a few years and usually parts larger than a couple of bolts. My method my differ from that used by others and frequently the parts are quite rusty.
Firstly the parts go in a vinegar pot, takes a few days to remove the rust and then on a rotary wire brush. Then in brick acid to remove any old zinc plating that remains, a rinse and then a polish with wire wool.
Electrolyte heat heated to 30c using a fish tank heater while that heating up the part goes in caustic soda, rinse and into the brick cleaner. Another rinse and into the electrolyte
The anodes are in sleeves which prevents tiny pieces on zinc floating around the tank and the item being plated is moved around the tank. Once plated they are passivated.
This little lot took all morning to plate having previously ben cleaned and then the electrolyte gets filtered though two coffee filters ready for reuse.
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I do the coffee filter thing as well, takes ages for it to drain through though. Used the vinegar trick before as well, does a decent job.
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Thanks folks, I've had some good results this afternoon having dug out the phosphoric acid I used to clean the inside of my xs650 tank. I think the point about coffee filters is quite relevant as I filtered my electrolyte today which resulted in a far better finish. I'm using a fishtank heater and a small indoor water feature pump to move the solution around, putting the zinc and nickel in bags would further improve my results I think.