Has anyone experience of Zinc plating at home

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David Austin
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Has anyone experience of Zinc plating at home

#1 Post by David Austin »

I was wondering id anyone has tried zinc plating small items such as bolts and screws at home. Here in the UK you can buy a kit to do the job which is quite inexpensive.
I would love to hear from anyone who has tried themselves.
Many Thanks
David

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John Brooks
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Re: Has anyone experience of Zinc plating at home

#2 Post by John Brooks »

David

I do it, its not too hard to set up, I have done Copper, Nickel and Zink. You need pure alloy Anodes for the best finish, eBay has them and Youtube (home electroplating) has a bunch of videos on how to do it. The DC power supply and chemicals are not too hard to find. You can set up a plating station for small parts like bolts and brackets for about $150.00~200.00. Its not too hard and is allot of fun saving the original parts.
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Dan Kalinski
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Re: Has anyone experience of Zinc plating at home

#3 Post by Dan Kalinski »

+1 on what John has to say.

The following is a U Tube video from "Mike M" who is restoring a 911 and is doing a masterful job. In this video, he discusses the Castwell products for plating.

https://youtu.be/hTupOgImpWo

Happy New Year.

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: Has anyone experience of Zinc plating at home

#4 Post by Harlan Halsey »

Check out the Eastwood Zn plating kit. I have been using one for a few years now and it works well, powered by a couple of D cells.

David Austin
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Re: Has anyone experience of Zinc plating at home

#5 Post by David Austin »

Dan, the video is inspirational thank you.
Is it possible to chrome small parts in the same way?
David

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John Brooks
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Re: Has anyone experience of Zinc plating at home

#6 Post by John Brooks »

David
Chrome really takes three coatings, copper, nickle and then chrome.

The castwell kits are not too expensive, you can assemble your own for 1/2 their cost, but they are turnkey and pre-assembled. They make good stuff.

You can do the Copper and Nickle at home pretty easy. The top coat of chrome is a little harder and the chemicals have cyanide in them and that makes it a little harder to handle. I grind the pits, then fill them with a solder, sand and smooth. Then I copper plate and then sand and polish. When I get it back to the surface I want in copper, then nickle plate over that, polish that coat, clean it wrap it in tissue. Then take it to a chrome platter to do the top coating. That only takes a few minutes and cuts the cost of re-plating to about 15% of the cost of having the platter do it all the work. I have the hangers and everything ready for the final coating. The guy I use can turn a part around in a hour or so after I drop it off.

Most of the platters cost is in the labor for filling, polishing and sanding. The pot metal parts like door handles and front turn signals are a real pain since the little dots are actually exfoliated deep into the metal, the little pits become caverns. Filling them takes patience but it is all doable.
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Matthew Devereux
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Re: Has anyone experience of Zinc plating at home

#7 Post by Matthew Devereux »

This guy also has a nice set-up for zinc and yellow zinc plating. He has been doing it awhile and has some good tips. He says it cost him about $1000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmn94B5 ... gAmQzNKmpw
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David Austin
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Re: Has anyone experience of Zinc plating at home

#8 Post by David Austin »

Matthew,
Thanks for another great video.
Looking forward to having a go.
David

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