Plating ?

Thanks Gord, that's what I thought.

I plated a few small parts today (A knob, threaded washer, & spring for a toolbox cover) & they look great. I used a 12volt, 6amp battery charger. Time will tell how well they are plated. I am not sure how well they are plated because I think all the cleaning & polishing could make the bare metal look good. Like I said....time will tell. I need to find a better zinc source than the sheet metal I used...it didn't last long & I got a lot of black slimey film coming off of it floating around my solution.

The black slimey stuff sounds like contamination. I got that in my set up yesterday afternoon as I tried to do stuff too fast and didn't have it clean enough. I let it sit overnight to settle and threw the very bottom of the mixture away.

I tried a cell phone charger for power as I had read about that. It had 4.5 volts DC with 1.6 amps. The product looked OK, but this afternoon I went back to the D-cell batteries and it came out looking a whole lot brighter. Could be the Eastwood solution is set up for lower voltage. I don't know but..............more experimenting. I did go buy all the ingredients for the vinegar, salt and sugar solution. Party on my frens.

Yes, that would be contamination. Here are a couple of tips that I think will help. I use a battery charger with 6 amp, 12 amp and boost.

Key is to clean your parts real good. If they are chromed than I remove the chrome with muratic acid bath with water. Then dip in a solution of baking soda/water to neutralize acid. I even dip parts after plating in the baking soda/water solution (Seems to keep the part from dulling after removing the grey haze/polishing).

The 6 amp/ the 12 amp works good. On larger parts like the axles/kickers/seat brackets etc....... The boost setting seems to work good. Not sure of reasoning but I think it is due to current going through the metal.

With using Gords mixture. I have let a part sit out for several months and it has not rusted. It has dulled some but still looks good.

darty, What is the ratio of muratic acid to water that you use to remove chrome? Also, the ratio of baking soda to water to neutralize the acid? Also, how long do you let it sit in the muratic acid? Stupid question probably; long enough to see that the chrome is gone?
Thanks

Gord

Yes long enough to see chrome gone.

I will look up ratio I am using.

I use about 1/4 of small box to gallon of water for baking soda. I know when it works when the part fizzes when it hits the water. I stir it occasionally before putting part in solution. Sometimes baking soda settles to bottom.

12V Gord plated very nice
does anyone have the formula for 24K Gold
obviously I am trying to save a few bucks

The black slime film came off the zinc plate after it had been used for a while (toward the end of it's usefull plating life). Could be that it's cheep zinc coating on the sheet metal.

Gord

Using 1 part muratic acid, 2 parts water. Make sure you dump acid into water and use it outdoors so you don't breath it.

You'll know when chrome comes off, won't fizz. Then dip in baking soda solution , bead blast, etc....

Thanks darty. Happy to see everyone is having good luck and fun with their plating projects.
We'll work on the 24K gold next!

I just bought one of these to try out. From what I have read they work.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/DIAL-Eva...u=100575324&ci_kw=&ci_gpa=pla&ci_src=17588969

That looks like a better source of zinc than the 24" X 36" zinc sheet metal http://www.homedepot.com/p/Crown-Bo...Zinc-Metal-Sheet-47230/202183492#.Ungl92so7IU I bought. I cut it into 3" X 12" strips.

This is what we used: http://www.amazon.com/Zinc-Armor-1-...0/ref=pd_sim_sbs_indust_1/183-2110373-5453943
Didn't get any contamination from it. I asked my buddy about the anode and his thoughts were; the anode is not 100% pure zinc. There could be other materials in it that might float around in the mix.

Cool stuff Gord. I think my contamination came from nuts as there may have been deposits in the threads that wouldn't come clean or can't be seen easily. Everything else seems to be fine. I think I may get a plumbing combination wire brush for cleaning fitting to remove residue in the threads.

Couple of battery terminal cleaners work great.

Hey Gord, I tried the swamp cooler anonde today numerous times and had no problems whatsoever and the parts came out a little shinier. I was skeptical but it seems to work just as good as the sheet zinc I have. For the $9 I am sold.

Chayzed

Thanks for the input Chayzed......that's what I'm going to try next.

Great! Glad the anode worked.
For what it's worth I just tried to remove the chrome off an Ossa clutch actuator arm to plate it; the first time with 1 part muriatic acid and 2 parts water. 2 days and nothing. Then I went to straight muriatic acid for 24 hours and still nothing. Lots of fizzing and bubbling. It also ate in to the metal areas where the chrome had come off with my blaster. Finally I took it out and sanded the chrome off.
I'm sure this method works on some chrome plated parts, but not this one.

Would reversing the polarity on the plating set up pull the chrome off the part? (& send it to a dummy steel anode)

Interesting Gord,

I know that I have used the muratic acid thing couple of times now and it removed chrome.

Only took an hour or a couple, so maybe it had something else on there like hard chrome?