Caswell Plating

[Patcon]

I am hesitant to go down the home brew plating path, especially after Namerows problems

[Namerow]

33 minutes ago, Blue said:

1 bottle White vinegar as the acid base for the plating solution

5T Epsom salts (table salt creates chlorine gas - "Epsom" is magnesium sulfide) to improve conductivity

Both Grannyknot and I have tried this 'poor man's' strategy.  Actually, I tried it a few times and have a cellar littered with empty vinegar bottles to prove it.  I won't try to speak for Grannyknot, but I can say on my own behalf that (despite best efforts re parts cleaning and prep) I wasn't satisfied with the results and finally decided to cough up the $$ for the Caswell chemicals -- along with borrowing Grannyknot's adjustable power supply. Although the vinegar/Epsom salts/fixed-output power supply strategy didn't cost me much money, it did cost me a lot of wasted time and effort.  I now wish I'd gone the Caswell route in the first place.

[grannyknot]

I'm almost at the same conclusion but want to give the vinegar/epsom salts one more try to see if I can use all of the hard won success tips from John and Charles. That is if I ever get my power source back from some guy who borrowed it,

[Patcon]

If you're good with electronics I have a 5 amp'er  that doesn't work quite right, but shipping might not be worth it...

[Namerow]

15 minutes ago, grannyknot said:

That is if I ever get my power source back from some guy who borrowed it,

I know, I know.  Last batch goes in the tank tomorrow, so I plan to take a run up north on Sunday to return it.  You seemed to be having so much fun with your MegaSquirt adventure that I thought you wouldn't notice the bare spot on your storage shelf.

Note that my regular email isn't working right now, so this site is the best way to get in touch with me for the time being. 

BTW, you're probably going to need to order a bottle of blue chromate and a bottle of brightener from Caswell to get the look you're after.  I've got a bit of the blue chromate left over, but it won't make a bath big enough to cope with anything other than quite small parts (see Patcon's comments from earlier today -- too dilute a mix doesn't get the job done). 

As for using sugar as a brightener in your electrolyte, I'd say, 'caveat emptor'.  From reading I did earlier this year, I learned that some sugar-based brighteners make a mess of your bath and might even poison it.  Only glucose-type sugars were said to work, and a specific type of corn syrup (high-glucose) was recommended.  I tried that in my vinegar/Epsom salts solution and it didn't seem to do much.  In fact, it was right around that point when I started to experience terminal plating problems with the set-up.  Don't know if the corn syrup was the culprit or not.  I was also suspicious of contamination on my wire wheel.  That's the problem with this process -- when things go wrong, it's really difficult to figure out why.  Too many variables.  If you run into trouble, the only safe option is to clean or replace everything and start all over again.

 

[Patcon]

It's been a year so I am back at it again. I did some plating a week or so ago and the parts are serviceable but not like I have been able to do in the past.

The parts were dull and didn't brighten well in the Blue Chromate

So I filtered my plating bath today and checked Ph's on all of the tanks.

My plating bath is at 4

Which is a little low on Ph so I have to bring that up some. It needs to be between 5.5-6

I wired the plates to shine them up some...

Old blue Chromate is 2.5

Yellow chromate is 1.5

My pre-treat pickle is 0.5

New blue is 2.0 but much darker than the old blue, we will see...

I added a post plate acid dip to try to brighten my plate but it didn't help much.

I also ordered a larger size of blue chromate and made up a fresh tank of blue chromate

Unfortunately I was planing on plating next weekend but I left my crock pot of degreaser on for a week!!!!  Made lava rock out of that solution. I am not even sure I can get the crockery clean..

[Namerow]

FWIW, I found that I had to keep 'doping' my bath with the Caswell's 'brightener' liquid to keep my zinc plating coming out shiny.  It worked really well.

[Patcon]

10 hours ago, Namerow said:

FWIW, I found that I had to keep 'doping' my bath with the Caswell's 'brightener' liquid to keep my zinc plating coming out shiny.  It worked really well.

I wondered about that. You can overdo the brightener too which will evidently make your plating dull. I haven't seen or figured out a way to determine which side of optimum my brightener level is at currently...

[Patcon]

10 hours ago, Namerow said:

FWIW, I found that I had to keep 'doping' my bath with the Caswell's 'brightener' liquid to keep my zinc plating coming out shiny.  It worked really well.

Did you ever finish all your plating?

[Patcon]

@David F

Feel free to post your experiences here...

also Blue chromate helps the parts maintain their corrosion resistance without leaving raw zinc exposed, not need for lacquer...

[motorman7]

I always do a 30 second blue chromate dip before the yellow chromate.  The blue chromate helps give the plating the nice rainbow effect and helps the yellow to attach better.

 I also use the brightener at the start of each plating 'session' or after an hour or two of plating.  I usually add about 2 or 3 teaspoons

[Patcon]

24 minutes ago, motorman7 said:

I always do a 30 second blue chromate dip before the yellow chromate.  The blue chromate helps give the plating the nice rainbow effect and helps the yellow to attach better.

 I also use the brightener at the start of each plating 'session' or after an hour or two of plating.  I usually add about 2 or 3 teaspoons

So you are using a good bit of brightener!? How much liquid in your plating tank?