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Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 4:20 pm
by Jim Wayman
Some had asked for pictures of finished products. Attached ate four pictures. One shows a 911 latch and bolt in yellow zinc. Another shows a 911 Fan part and bolt in silver (clear) zinc (note that the small black line on the bolt is from the wire used in individually plating each piece, which will show on only some of the pieces depending how they are suspended). Another picture shows a super 90 valve cover. Finally a picture showing some fuel petcock parts and a distributor clamp. Notice that there is not any blue hue on the clear parts like you get from some platers. Pricing for regular nuts, bolts, washers and screws or items of similar size will be at an introductory price of $ .50 per piece. Larger items will be quoted individually. Normally there will be a minimum of 20 pieces, but on an introductory basis, that will be waived so that those interested can try out the service. If any one is interested or has questions, you can contact me at hiway9999@hotmail.com. Any questions that will further enlighten potential users will be posted here.

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:57 pm
by Martin Benade
The door latch was done fully assembled? Was it all plated or just the visible areas?

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:37 pm
by John Brooks
That is a good price based on small parts.

Here is a step by step re-plating of a complete 911 done at home. Lots of work and planning to get set up, but I have had good luck with this in the home shop. Mike did a hundred or so videos of this 911. its extremely well narrated and easy to follow. if you have a couple days to kill and thinking about doing or having a restoration done, this will give you and idea of what you are getting into. He did this entire car in his carport at home. its 4 years of work.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 5xfS9jufR8

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 9:15 pm
by Jim Wayman
I would be interested in how many hours he spent cleaning, prepping and plating his parts. Quite a commitment. I know that many of us would rather do something ourselves rather than send it out, for whatever reason. I am familiar with the Caswell process. It uses different chemicals than commercial platers use, but ends up with a zinc deposit on the pieces. The end result of his work is nice. As I mentioned in my earlier post on this subject, plating is only as good as the work done on the pieces before plating.

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 10:06 pm
by Jim Wayman
Martin

Yes, the latch was done fully assembled. I don't restore door latches or disassemble them. It is all plated - no shadows. Here is a picture of the other side.

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 10:22 pm
by Jim Wayman
I commend Mike for taking on a job of such magnitude. It is obvious by the many steps he took that his goal was a quality product. There are some differences between his process and mine. First, I am not comfortable in washing parts with gasoline. If a part is really grungy, I will clean it in the parts washer first. Normally, I degrease parts in an ultrasonic cleaner. If necessary, I next soak them in a rust dissolver. The next step is a wash in a mild acid solution. The main purpose of the acid wash is to remove any prior plating (not chrome, nickel or copper) and I rarely leave the parts in for more than 10 minutes or so. I neutralize the acid with a wash in a solution of water and baking soda. Water alone does not neutralize it only washes. Parts are then media blasted with a fine media. If a sheen is required on the finished part, it is next wire brushed or hand smoothed with 000 steel wool. I use a brass wheel, not a steel one. As for caliper halves, I usually recommend that they be sent to Eric Shea at PMB. They do a great job. If I do a caliper, I do not soak it in acid as part of the process. Before media blasting, the bore surface is lined with a special blasting tape to protect it from any abrasion. It is also protected during the plating process, as a zinc finish is not a smooth as the original surface. I don't feel I am giving away any secrets and encourage anyone who is so inclined to try the restoration of hardware themselves. If not, I am here.

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 11:18 pm
by John Brooks
Jim

When you blast your parts, have you ever tried “hydro blasting” using water and media. I made one “with a HF cabinet” and a sump pump, I could not believe how well it works. It was pretty cheap and you can change out the media in 5 minutes. It’s does both wet and dry media in one cabinet. Dry side will run on a cup of media, or a box of baking soda.

https://forum.abcgt.com/filedata/fetch?id=105452

https://forum.abcgt.com/filedata/fetch? ... 1559437380

https://forum.abcgt.com/forum/main-foru ... ions/page3

356 head from hydro blast
https://forum.abcgt.com/filedata/fetch? ... 1559363415
Pretty clean for first try.
https://forum.abcgt.com/filedata/fetch?id=105356

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 9:14 am
by Jim Wayman
John

Very interesting. I have not done that with my setup. I usually send out things like heads and cases.

Jim

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:43 am
by John Brooks
Jim

I have some small glass beads (40micron). They are used in industry to equally space adhesives between composite panels. I use them on the wet side. The mods to the cabinet were pretty simple. The gravity feed for the dry side makes the media feed easily adjustable. It also allows the use of small amounts of media. The vacuum and dust collector set up also is very cool. It reduces the dust in the cabinet and the rust ends up the the collector and media stays in the cabinet. I have a tall box cover on the end so the air has to travel up in the tunnel, the media is heavier than the derbies and looses velocity on the lift and falls out, but the dust is lighter and goes into the cyclone.

The wet side works on any material but is best for softer metals. Does not leave any roughness on the surface or effect rubber or gasket material. The collection tank catches the water so it recycles. When finished let the media settle and siphon off the water, let the media dry out for next time. 3–4 plastic tubs of different media make changes super easy.

I built this a couple years ago use it all the time, it only takes a few minutes to go from dry to wet blasting. I also use the ultrasonic cleaner for carbs brakes parts and final cleaning. I set up electro plating for small stuff also. I live on an island so I need to do most of the stuff myself.

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 12:35 pm
by Mike Wilson
Jim, what's a typical turn around time?

Thanks,

Mike

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 12:59 pm
by Greg Bryan
This is good news - I've been taking hardware to Fine Quality in Long Beach that does it in batches. I have to hold my breath the whole time they have the stuff to make sure it's not lost. So far so good, but on the last batch I got a few extra parts back - which I returned to them ...

PS - I have had lock assemblies plated fully assembled and it seems to work fine. I think the plating is only a few microns thick and doesn't affect the moving parts, and it seems these types of assemblies are designed with looser clearances.

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:24 pm
by Mike Wilson
Same past experience with Fine Quality which us close to us. A couple of recent batches done for a friend have been good. I think I'm going to try Jim's shop with a small batch.

Mike

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 3:50 pm
by Jim Wayman
Typical turnaround would be about a week, depending on volume.

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 3:51 pm
by Jim Wayman
On a related note, if anyone out there has a hoard of 356 Porsche hardware they want to part with, I would be interested. It could even be a form of payment for a batch they want plated.

Re: Hardware Restoration

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:14 pm
by Mike Wilson
Thanks, Jim.

Mike