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Electroplating a vise?

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zippy1981

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I'm in the middle of stripping a Royal 417 Vise. I was thinking instead of repainting it, why not electroplate it? A thick enough coating should last. I won't plate the jaws of course.

I never electroplated anything, but I understand its got to be very clean before you start. I've got brake cleaner.

It seems cheap enough to buy a solution of chrome looking nickel or whatever. I'm not picky about the color, so I could probably get something cheaper/harder than something specifically designed for partial electroplating of existing tools. I mean I'm sure I could find an old chunk of nickle. I'm not at all trying to "correctly" restore it, and it would be easy enough to reverse electroplate it if I ever wanted to powder coat it a proper redish-brown. I don't want to electroplate the jaws.

Any issues with the anvil being electroplated? Should I remove or prevent that part from being electroplated or just apply BLO on top of it? I have biger vises so its not like I plan on using that vises anvil much.

If I needed to paint over the chrome in the future (e.g. electroplating was failing vise was rusting, and I didn't have time to do a proper restore) would a can of standard rustoleum stick to it, or would I need to prime?
 
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Hammer1963

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You know, a nickle/cadmium vise would look nice and should be somewhat durable as well. You may be on to something .....
 
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zippy1981

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Hammer1963 said:
You know, a nickle/cadmium vise would look nice and should be somewhat durable as well. You may be on to something .....
Click to expand...

As far as I can tell so far the catch is cast materials can be hard to electroplate, and I'm pretty sure most vises are cast.

The other catch could be that's a lot of surface area to plate. OTOH, this is a small vise.

I feel like there has to be a catch if no one tried it.
 
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2oolhound

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There have been photos of a polished chrome vise on here. It was a 6" wilton bullet done at the factory for some commemorative thing. It was cool as hell.

Here's the link: Chrome Wilton
 
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seber

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You will want to copper plate first. Consider that nickel is very hard and brittle. There will be no beating on this if you want it to hold up. How about zinc instead. By the way, cadmium is very poisonous. Stay away from it. Same for chromeate conversion. This is not an outdoor product so there is no need.
 
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zippy1981

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seber said:
You will want to copper plate first.
Click to expand...

Are you saying I should practice electroplating with copper first or I should electroplate a copper layer on the vise and then electroplate something harder over it?

One one hand, besides the jaws and the anvil, the vise won't take much of a beating. On the other hand, I'd be doing a lot of work for an inferior finish.

Would it be possible to electroplate it and then use some kind of clear protective coat? End up with a "satin metal" finish?
 
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kelpaso1

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Unless the vise will be a trophy or show piece what it the point? If it is used as most people use a vise it would not be my first choice.
 
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zippy1981

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kelpaso1 said:
Unless the vise will be a trophy or show piece what it the point? If it is used as most people use a vise it would not be my first choice.
Click to expand...
Well, honestly, something super smooth to repel chips of whatever I'm sawing, filing, drilling etc seems utilitarian. Also, it was more of a once I get the paint off of this, what do I replace it with.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
 
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rsanter

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I have thought about doing the same exact thing several times.

I send buckets of bolts and small car parts to be cad plated. If you sand blast the item you get a frosty appearance that some might think may be raw aluminum. If you wire wheel the hell out if it you get a smoother shiny finish just like the new grade 5 bolts

You also have the option to,have them do gold cad like a grade 8 bolt and black cad
 
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zippy1981

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rsanter said:
I send buckets of bolts and small car parts to be cad plated.
Click to expand...

Ok if your doing this with bolts then you're either made of money or its relatively affordable I'm going to look into that. If you happen to be near Union County, NJ, can you recommend a place there?
 
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jrsavoie

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I have some stuff I'd like to electroplate.

Some is very rusty.

Can you electroplate with solder or silver solder? As opposed to copper.

What do you use to create a galvanized coating?

Or I would just use copper.

I had a friend that used to plate a lot of stuff. But he croaked several years ago and took his secrets with him.

 
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jrsavoie

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Snip's said:
McMaster Carr, ebay, Amazon

When I would make zinc countertops, I'd get my sheets of zinc from Roto Metals
Click to expand...
Ok. It seems my friend used to use common parts and stuff we had laying around. Or were easily sourced.

What I've read so far, talks about using a 6 volt battery.

I was thinking he used a battery charger.

Can a 12 volt battery or battery charger be used?

 
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seber

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jrsavoie said:
I have some stuff I'd like to electroplate.

Some is very rusty.

Can you electroplate with solder or silver solder? As opposed to copper.

What do you use to create a galvanized coating?

Or I would just use copper.

I had a friend that used to plate a lot of stuff. But he croaked several years ago and took his secrets with him.
Click to expand...
You can electroplate any metal over any conductive surface. But some metals adhere better than others. Solder ,IE lead, besides turning black, will wear off in very short order. Silver will do better over copper. I would use pure silver or sterling rather than silver solder just because I know what it is. Silver solder has proprietary ingredients depending on the manufacturer.
 
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jrsavoie

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seber said:
You can electroplate any metal over any conductive surface. But some metals adhere better than others. Solder ,IE lead, besides turning black, will wear off in very short order. Silver will do better over copper. I would use pure silver or sterling rather than silver solder just because I know what it is. Silver solder has proprietary ingredients depending on the manufacturer.
Click to expand...
Is there a fast an easy way to clean scaly rust off of something like a log splitting wedge before coating it?

I have some items that got left in a bucket that got filled with water. They are soaking in white vinegar now.
I hand wire brushed a little before my soaking.
 
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neophyte

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jrsavoie said:
I have some stuff I'd like to electroplate.

Some is very rusty.

Can you electroplate with solder or silver solder? As opposed to copper.

What do you use to create a galvanized coating?

Or I would just use copper.

I had a friend that used to plate a lot of stuff. But he croaked several years ago and took his secrets with him.

Click to expand...
A galvanized coated requires appropriately cleaning the item,
Then dipping the item in a molten bath of zinc.
While you might be able to do this in a home shop, it would be way easier finding a commercial galvanizer who runs small object thru on occasion.
While the hot dipped zinc provides a protective coating, zinc is known for “galling”, (ie. Becoming “sticky” sort of like trying to cut a cheesecake with a knife.)
The galling issue would make a galvanized coating crappy for the vise slide and opening were the vise slide travels, requiring those areas to be coated to prevent galvanizing in the galvanizing bath, or special lubricants if galvanized, to prevent galling, and these lubricants would likely attract abrasive particles to cause wear on the vise slide.
Also, cast iron is actually a decent vise material for wear areas, since cast iron has graphite and carbide elements within the iron that reduce wear. ( this is the reason cast iron was used for machining equipment.)
 
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neophyte

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As far as silver plating goes, the usual method is to copper plate the item, then polish the item, then thoroughly clean the item, then silver plate the item.
There are pastes you can purchase that you simply rub on metal, that will plate the metal with silver.
I’m not sure how well the currently available pastes work, or how well the pastes would work on cast iron, but the pastes do work.
This is one version I haven't tried.
The version I used years ago was different.
 
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Garcky

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zippy1981 said:
I'm in the middle of stripping a Royal 417 Vise. I was thinking instead of repainting it, why not electroplate it? A thick enough coating should last. I won't plate the jaws of course.

I never electroplated anything, but I understand its got to be very clean before you start. I've got brake cleaner.

It seems cheap enough to buy a solution of chrome looking nickel or whatever. I'm not picky about the color, so I could probably get something cheaper/harder than something specifically designed for partial electroplating of existing tools. I mean I'm sure I could find an old chunk of nickle. I'm not at all trying to "correctly" restore it, and it would be easy enough to reverse electroplate it if I ever wanted to powder coat it a proper redish-brown. I don't want to electroplate the jaws.

Any issues with the anvil being electroplated? Should I remove or prevent that part from being electroplated or just apply BLO on top of it? I have biger vises so its not like I plan on using that vises anvil much.

If I needed to paint over the chrome in the future (e.g. electroplating was failing vise was rusting, and I didn't have time to do a proper restore) would a can of standard rustoleum stick to it, or would I need to prime?
Click to expand...
Try it. Post photos.
 
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neophyte

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A good plating for a vise might be electroless nickel, maybe with the silicone carbide addition.
The plating would provide corrosion resistance,
The electroless nickel is naturally wear resistant, and can be made more so with some of the additives.
It also might eliminate, or severely reduce the need for lubricants on the vise slide, which can further limit wear, since abrasive particles tend to get stuck to lubricants.
 
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AreBeeBee

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You know, if all the plating work doesn't pan out, try taking off all the paint and leave it as bare metal coated with a clear shellac (or varnish) coating.

See the Craftsman/Columbian here. (BTW, it's still as you see in the pix — I never did (re)paint it.)
 
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metlmunchr

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On a vise I'd go with electroless nickel. It plates evenly while chrome tends to build up on corners and not plate into holes. EN is also cheap as compared to chrome.
 
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Jim greengo

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zippy1981 said:
Are you saying I should practice electroplating with copper first or I should electroplate a copper layer on the vise and then electroplate something harder over it?

One one hand, besides the jaws and the anvil, the vise won't take much of a beating. On the other hand, I'd be doing a lot of work for an inferior finish.

Would it be possible to electroplate it and then use some kind of clear protective coat? End up with a "satin metal" finish?
Click to expand...
That's what Chrome plating is used for,to protect the nickel.
 
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rsanter

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zippy1981 said:
Ok if your doing this with bolts then you're either made of money or its relatively affordable I'm going to look into that. If you happen to be near Union County, NJ, can you recommend a place there?
Click to expand...
The reason that Crome plating is so expensive is the prep that it takes, the labor hours not to mention the skills.
If you are just having them to the actual plating then it cheap, espocally basket plating. This is where the bolts, brackets, whatever are just dumped into wire basket then acid dipped to clean them then put in the plating tank. They may shake the basket a bit and put it back in but you can get some spots that don’t plate (tiny spot) but not too often.
Then things that you care more about they will wire and dip in the tank seperatly which costs just a bit more.
I’m paying around $150 for a 5 gal bucket of bolts and brackets. This removes light rust and gives a silver plating (like the same as grade 5 bolts).
If you want a more frosty cast appearance then you sand blast the parts. If you want a more smooth shine finish then you wire wheel or grind/sand the surface so it looks like new clean metal.

For all the bolts, small brackets and such I would rather pay the $150 than clean each up individually
 
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