Nickel Stripping and Plating

[AllAlloyCup]

Special Bits pid='2185' dateline='1506940684']Excellent results!

If its the same company, Classic Plating are based in Teignmouth, Devon,  where I live. I popped in a few weeks ago to have a chat and found the owner extremely helpful and knowledgeable. an interesting aside to our conversation was that they do a Cadmium Nickel anode, which gives a more chrome like look, and is apparently considerably tougher than pure nickel.

I shall be attempting to plate some parts for the Grasshopper in the next few months, including the windscreen frame and the Radiator cowl, once we have a metal one. Obviously the amount of electrolyte required will be considerably more, but even so the cost of DIY plating is still considerably less than sending it away to be done.

Hi there 
I'm just wondering if it's your Car bits that are special?
Yes is the same firm , bigger parts might need more current
Than a battery charger might provide, plus you have to heat the electrolyte...

Commercial platers also have pretty hefty polishing facilities, plus you'll need
Copper, Nickel and Chrome Plating kits ideally if it's a Grasshopper?

Regards

Bill G

[Timothy P]

Can't believe I hadn't commented on this before. 
The parts look great Bill, you must be rightly chuffed with the result.
Always nice when a job goes to plan.

[AllAlloyCup]

Bill,
If any of your members want to try their
hand at plating tell them to mention that they from the Austin 7 Forum and
we'll give them a 10% discount for web site (www.classic-plating.co.uk) or
telephone sales 01626 879233


regards,

George White
Classic Plating Ltd
+441626879233
www.classic-plating.co.uk

Visit the new Plating Forum. for technical advice and guidance

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Nice work Bill!

[geowhite]

Excellent results!

If its the same company, Classic Plating are based in Teignmouth, Devon,  where I live. I popped in a few weeks ago to have a chat and found the owner extremely helpful and knowledgeable. an interesting aside to our conversation was that they do a Cadmium Nickel anode, which gives a more chrome like look, and is apparently considerably tougher than pure nickel.

I shall be attempting to plate some parts for the Grasshopper in the next few months, including the windscreen frame and the Radiator cowl, once we have a metal one. Obviously the amount of electrolyte required will be considerably more, but even so the cost of DIY plating is still considerably less than sending it away to be done.

Thought I'd better put the record straight and  correct the information on "Cadmium Nickel". The plating refered to is a Nickel Cobalt alloy. It looks more like chrome and is hard, not scratching as easily as Nickel.  http://www.classic-plating.co.uk/Replica..._Kits.html This product is sold as Replica Chrome.

There is also a Zinc Nickel alloy plate. This will buff up quite bright, like nickel, but has the corrosive resistance of zinc. This plate will take a yellow, clear, satin black or olive drab passivate for even better corrosion protection.

Hope this helps.

George White
Classic Plating Ltd

[Roger]

This was the end result of my efforts at nickel plating.
I started with the petrol filler cap, which was a success on the second attempt.
I then progressed to the windscreen opener which went well, even the steel part was easy to plate.
I then needed to replace the windscreen glass, the next obvious item to plate was the windscreen frame.
The odd shape of this item and it’s size meant I had to use plan “B” which was to apply the plating by using an electrode wrapped in a J cloth. This was then soaked in the nickel solution and was applied to the frame by gently rubbing it along the area to be plated, I calculated 30 minutes of this monotonous activity would provide a good thickness, to allow for many future years of polishing. The J clothe must be kept moving otherwise it burns the plating. Each face was done in turn.
I was so pleased with the results that I was then keen to try it on an old radiator surround I had.
The worst part of this was removing the old chrome an polishing out the heavy corrosion marks beneath.
I finally had to resort to acid for the Austin logo which worked well but was not pleasant to perform.
The same method of applying the nickel by hand was used.
The most important lesson I learned was to ensure the surface to be treated was very clean and highly polished.I used acetone to clean the parts as I had inherited a bottle of this from the previous occupant of our house.
The total cost of all this was £12.00 for the three nickel electrodes from eBay.


   

[Howard Wright]

Hi Roger

That is excellent!

Cheers

Howard

[Roger]

Howard,
Thank you, I forgot to mention that the work also needs to by washed in water to remove any chemicals as they will corroded the new shiny surface.
 
Roger

[Howard Wright]

Hi Roger

That is excellent!

Cheers

Howard

[Duncan Grimmond]

That is very impressive work, crack on!