Zinc plating and metal prep...

[myredracer]

I have a couple of cars I'm restoring and will need to zinc plate various nuts/bolts and parts & pieces. I know it's been discussed on this forum a lot. Doing some googling also, I find all sorts of pros/cons, cautions, recommendations and that make it kinda like trying to nail jello to a wall... This guy on the AlfaBB forum seems to have a pretty good detailed how to thread here: http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/car-restoration/188194-zinc-electroplating-guide.html

Is it simply easier to just take a bucket of stuff into a plating shop and let them do it? Is there much of a cost advantage to doing it yourself? I hesitate to buy more "junk" that will take up yet more space in the garage and I hesitate at the amount of time it'll take to figure it out and to get it done right. Doesn't sound easy to make sure you get the right mil thickness of plating on surfaces. If I were to buy a kit, they look costly and it sounds like you may get some things you don't need or many not get some you do need. Not sure if getting a shop to do it is expensive or not.

Does anyone have a link to a good read(s) or video on zinc plating of car parts that might be better or have additional info. than the AlfaBB thread? How about a good source for individual things you'd need if plating yourself like zinc plates and chemicals?

If I get a shop to do it or do it myself, the pieces are all going to need cleaning to bare clean metal. Been thinking of some ways to accomplish that. A vibrating tumbler sounds nifty but can cause damage to some parts like bolt threads for ex. Muriatic (HCl) acid is an option but is dangerous to work with and will cause flash rust. Many parts will already have cad or zinc plating and does that need to be removed and if so, muriatic acid would be good for that. Ospho is another option but not sure if it will interfere with plating like it does with paint/primer. What about glass bead blasting? What I'm not sure about is, does cleaning to bare metal by any method (except phosphoric acid) all result in flash rust anyway? If so, just do a quick application of Ospho right afterwards?

I used to have a neighbor that restored high-end vintage cars for wealthy clients and he said the best thing to do is just toss everything into a bucket and take it to a plating shop. Easy for him to say tho. considering what he'd be charging clients for projects.

 

[K13]

I would say your neighbour was right but if you want to do it yourself Caswell Canada is the place to get supplies.

https://www.caswellcanada.ca/

I have heard that Dependable Plating in Burnaby does nice work at a "reasonable rate" which these days might not seem so reasonable. LOL

 

[4 FN 27]

Any good plating shop can barrel plate the hardware items. Other things ike brackets might have to be racked. In out area typical lot charge is $60-75. And don't be surprised if they turn you down. Typically people drop the parts off thinking they will look like new when they are done but as I will mention below plating over rusted parts has issues. And typically car guys are more picky than manufacturers looking to coat parts.

Cleaning...I degrease everything then hardware I typically set a bucket out about 50 feet from anything I don't want to turn rusty and drop the parts in and let them soak. Once clean I rinse them in another bucket of water letting the soak fro a couple of minutes. The hotter the water the better. This will make them dry faster and less flash rust. Then just soak them in WD40. The plating process will get rid of any flash rust and the oil.

Do not use acid in your garage. Anything in the area that can rust will rust. And only use plastic containers (buckets). I have friend that made the mistake of using Muriatic Acid in his garage leaving the parts to soak over night in a Galvanize drip pan. Everything in his garage turned to rust. Even his Garage Door tracks.

Brackets is where it gets tricky. If there is any pitted rust, no matter how small the pits you will see it in the plating. If you sand blast you parts will be dull after plating too. I found Yellow Zinc to show less of these issues as compared to Clear Zinc.

Zinc is just like chrome or paint. Any imperfections before the process will be there after.

I am all ears if anyone has better ideas on this subject.

 

[gtsgarage]

Having recently moved and had to dispose of a bunch of acid and phosphate materials I will not be doing much in my garage in the future. That stuff is nasty! I picked up an old bottle of acid and it collapsed in my hands. Luckily I had gloves in but it was a mess and pain to clean up. The toxic stuff is gone these days.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

I've done a few items for my current restoration. I think I would probably box up everything and try to find a local plater if only for the time savings. It's fascinating and actually fun to do yourself, but the fun quickly wanes when you have a lot of stuff to do. It's worth it for one off items, but if you're doing more than a few or have the option to have all the hardware loose from your project and away for a bit of time, go commercial.

It's still fun to do. Just not in bulk.

Also, unless it is a specialized fastener you just cannot replace, it's not worth your time to do fasteners. For my Spitfire, I have found it's fairly cheap to get grade 8 bolts in bulk online in different sizes and just replace any and all bolts as I come across them. Stronger than the originals, already plated and ready for install. Much more convenient.

 

[Lelandwelds]

For my Spitfire, I have found it's fairly cheap to get grade 8 bolts in bulk online in different sizes and just replace any and all bolts as I come across them. Stronger than the originals, already plated and ready for install. Much more convenient.

Best response so far!

Platers are a PITA. Hot galvanized shops are worse.

Does it need to be period correct? I like moly resin but durakote or cerakote can match more colors.

 

[joe--h]

Zinc? Or cad? Cad plating is pretty easy to get done, take your bucket in & pick it up when done.

Joe H

 

[softailgarage]

As a former gold & nickel plater (as well as tin lead, zinc & copper) I would say take it to a Plater (we're not all PIA's). Plating equipment can get expensive, can be very dangerous and you need some experience to do it right. You can read all the books you want, but the slightest bit of contamination could screw it up and cost you a buttload of time and money fixing it. I've considered building a small plating line in the garage and backed away, too many variables and consequences, and thats after many years of experience.

 

[racingtadpole]

You can do silver zinc yourself at home relatively easily, and with nothing more than readily available house hold chemicals some zinc plates you get off eBay for not much more than beer money and a power supply.

The trick to a good finish, like most things is the prep. The cleaner the better. Tumbling, blasting or even a wire wheel is the preferred means. Try to stay away from acids for stripping and cleaning, they are quick, but they leave behind residue that will leave an uneven finish. I use a fabricobbled tumbler with a soft media in it like glass bead after I get the worst off with the wire wheel.

You don't need a heap of expensive chemicals from Caswell to do silver zinc plating. Search it up on youtube, there are lots of videos on the subject, wont take you too long to figure out the right way to go about it.

Clean a few small parts up, have a crack and see if you are happy with the results. Its actually pretty hard to **** it up, but you will need to experiment a little to get it spot on. Its kind of therapeutic watching it happen the first couple of times you do it

I used to put all my stuff out to a shop to do it, but there are now very few of them left in my area, and the ones that are still around aren't interested in my buckets of bolts or small run stuff because they are swamped with commercial orders. The one remaining one that is close enough to drive to after work that will do it charges like there is no tomorrow and has ridiculous turn around times.

Hope that helps

 

[Retlaw 66]

I do my own plating using the Caswell setups. I like the convenience of being able to do a couple of parts as I need them. Also easier to keep items categorized as to their original location instead of having to document a whole bucket's worth of parts.
For prep, I blast with fine alum oxide to remove rust, but that can leave a rough surface which will make the plating look dull. If I want a nicer finish, I'll buff the part on a wire or nylon wheel after blasting and before plating.
For racking, I'll either wire a couple of parts together for hanging in the plating bucket, or screw them into a piece of hardware cloth or screen.

For musclecar restorations, AMK products has a huge inventory of original fasteners.
https://www.amkproducts.com/

 

[6PTsocket]

I've done a few items for my current restoration. I think I would probably box up everything and try to find a local plater if only for the time savings. It's fascinating and actually fun to do yourself, but the fun quickly wanes when you have a lot of stuff to do. It's worth it for one off items, but if you're doing more than a few or have the option to have all the hardware loose from your project and away for a bit of time, go commercial.

It's still fun to do. Just not in bulk.

Also, unless it is a specialized fastener you just cannot replace, it's not worth your time to do fasteners. For my Spitfire, I have found it's fairly cheap to get grade 8 bolts in bulk online in different sizes and just replace any and all bolts as I come across them. Stronger than the originals, already plated and ready for install. Much more convenient.

Triumph Spitfire, as in old British sports car? I had no idea they were put together with SAE fasteners. When you said grade 8 I was scratching my head. I thought they used Whitworth or BS but not American fasteners. I have no idea what strength numbering system they used, if any. I suspect it is not that convenient to get replacements. I guess you could use SAE if it is a nut and bolt pair and is just a daily driver.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[38Chevy454]

Zinc? Or cad? Cad plating is pretty easy to get done, take your bucket in & pick it up when done.

Joe H

Not cadmium, that is very hard to find and expensive. Cad is carcinogenic, so what you are getting is zinc. The chromate conversion coating over the zinc is either clear (actually has very slight blue tint usually) or yellow/gold. There is also olive drab and black, but clear or yellow are the most common.

Old days cars did have cadmium with the yellow/gold chromate, but everything now is zinc.

For the OP, I would certainly do some rough cleaning and degreasing if you can without too much trouble. But the plater will chemically clean and derust your parts as part of the process. The key is as stated, whatever your surface finish is what you will get after plating. Plating is very thin, less than 0.001 inch typically. It won't fill pits or smooth anything.

 

[Pluribus]

I've done a few items for my current restoration. I think I would probably box up everything and try to find a local plater if only for the time savings. It's fascinating and actually fun to do yourself, but the fun quickly wanes when you have a lot of stuff to do. It's worth it for one off items, but if you're doing more than a few or have the option to have all the hardware loose from your project and away for a bit of time, go commercial.

It's still fun to do. Just not in bulk.

Also, unless it is a specialized fastener you just cannot replace, it's not worth your time to do fasteners. For my Spitfire, I have found it's fairly cheap to get grade 8 bolts in bulk online in different sizes and just replace any and all bolts as I come across them. Stronger than the originals, already plated and ready for install. Much more convenient.

Yup.

I'll add that you'll be hard pressed to find a shop that doesn't have a minimum order charge. Even 20 years ago, most of the shops I dealt with had minimum charges of $150+. That won't work well if you're not able to have all of your parts ready to go at the same time.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

Triumph Spitfire, as in old British sports car? I had no idea they were put together with SAE fasteners.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Imperial fine thread bolts are used for most bolt holes. It has been really nice reassembling the chassis and other bits with clean perfect nuts and bolts.

 

[mikegt4]

I agree with racingtadpole, it can bee done with relatively mild and inexpensive chemicals. The biggest expense is the power supply but if your do enough pieces it is worth it.

As mentioned by the OP a lot or marque specific forums have threads relating to DIY plating.

http://www.southsandia.com/forum/website/zincplating.html
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?14392-DIY-Zinc-Plating-for-Donor-Nuts-and-Bolts
http://www.fordcapriforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49382

interesting but lengthy thread
http://www.honda305.com/forums/for-the-home-plating-specialist-t6584-14.html

 

[gtsgarage]

I second AMK love their stuff. I have almost their entire bolt kit on my ‘67 Mustang.

 

[navin]

I usually run hardware through a vibratory tumbler before sending out to the platers.

 

[pop pop]

You first need to decide if your hobby is plating or restoration. Chose how you use your time.
Here's my experience on Corvette parts:
The plater always acid cleans parts before plating, but....
Started out sandblasting parts, especially fasteners, then had them cad plated. Rough surface came back sparkly or dull.
Next attempt was degreasing with solvent, then wire brush. Did not get parts really clean and plating was marginal satisfactory.
Third process I'm now doing is solvent cleaning grease, then soaking in Evaporust. Rinse thoroughly and then lightly wire brush with fine wire. Unless the part is pitted it will come back like new.
Downside.
Cost to have plating done is similar to purchase of new parts, but quality is better on original parts and local plating. Almost every part is available for an old Corvette.
Plater has a minimum charge, so you have to group parts accordingly.
Tracking items for reinstallation is difficult.
Turn around time will vary with shop's workload.
Pitted parts can be salvaged, but requires sanding and multiple trips for plating.