Restoring and prepping hardware for plating - the "easy" way

[inline6]

I thought I would take content from a post in my "build thread" and share it more broadly here.  I've been working to prepare almost all of the hardware for my 6/1971 240z for re-plating, and have learned some, improving my process along the way.  Here is some example hardware I ran through the process this week:  

    

These hose clamps are in pretty average condition after 50 years.  Note that the less rusty one has some common damage on the phillips head.  It has been mangled a bit.  Something I have learned is that you can restore most philips screws with this type of damage by tapping the area with a hammer.  I place the bottom end of the screw on the flat surface of my vise, and then use a hammer with a smooth face to tap on the top of the screw, working the metal back down where it belongs.  I chose this one as an example to show that even when mangled this badly, decent results can be achieved (more pics below).

So, here is a description of the process.  

1. Use these glass beads from Northern Tool and Equipment, important for size of grain, and bead blasting at 90 psi with a 1/8th inch nozzle to remove all rust, and to establish a consistent finish.  I use one of these baskets and find that putting a variety of hardware (big and small) is great for trapping the parts in place so I can blast them without them flying around too much.  For large parts, you don't need to use the basket, and you can then go back over them with the pressure at 50 psi to put a smoother finish on them.  This smoother finish allows "second stage prep" by hand with less work. 
2. After glass bead blasting, all hardware (bolts, washers, nuts, screws and odd small bits) then goes straight to tumbling in one of these vibratory tumblers.  I now use a stainless steel media (bought from Southern Shine Tumblers on Facebook).  See pic below.  It consists of tiny little bits of stainless steel that are good at getting into tight spaces, like between threads, phillips head recesses, etc.  And I now use it dry.  I was using water and a bit of citric acid, but I think that is best for doing brass shell casings.  I was fighting keeping the parts from starting to oxidize/rust, and have found that the media works better and faster dry... to put a nice finish on the hardware.  Minumum time in the tumbler is about 2-3 hours.  You can add 2 to 3 times that and get an even nicer finish.
3. For large parts that I can't tumble, I use a Dremel tool and the little wire wheel brush attachments after the glass bead blasting (first) step.  For final, more consistent finish, I follow that wire brushing by hand rubbing the large parts with #0000 fine steel wool.  It doesn't take a lot of work at that point by hand, but the combination of using the Dremel followed by fine steel wool by hand does end up taking some time.

After hammer and top of vice on the screw head, then after glass bead blasting - with comparison to head that was not damaged, and lastly, close up of bead blasted texture:

    

 

After tumbling, the hardware has a dark grey look to it.  After wiping with lacquer thinner, the repaired screw in the second and third picture here is notably lighter in color.

    

 

Sanding the top of the screw briefly with 320 grit or 240 grit would have been a good idea before tumbling, as I see some surface imperfections, but the screw looks pretty good compared to its initial state.  Most of the screws I have done this to were not in as bad a starting point as this one.  

 

If you want to get the same media, send an email to Southern Shine Tumblers first to inquire on pricing and availability:  southernshinemedia1@gmail.com  They accept PayPal.

Edited August 9, 2021 by inline6

[Diseazd]

Three minutes in Muriatic acid does wonders. Eats rust off......not so much grease. The stuff is cheap and you can do a large batch at a time. Bolts and parts come out clean.......ready to plate.  IMO

Edited August 7, 2021 by Diseazd

[Patcon]

I believe the plater will acid dip all the hardware prior to plating. So any residual rust will be removed. Although the cleaner it goes in the cleaner it aught to come out.

Also, as a note, I have found that JIS screwdrivers will still easily turn screws with this sort of damage. JIS screwdrivers are the proper screwdrivers for all Nissan screws

[AK260]

My secret sauce is bottled lemon juice and a table spoon of salt in an old ice cream tub. Soak between 2-12 hours depending on how rusty and they come out perfectly. Just make sure you neutralise it quickly when you take out of the solution.

Before and after on a TR6 water pump!

[zKars]

First I respect the level of effort put into your process. The results are enviable.

I will use the screw head reforming idea, thanks for that. Another day, another new thing learned.

I am very lucky. I have a plater that does all the prep work for me.  I feel like a cheater now…

[Namerow]

It is a special group of true believers (perhaps slightly mad) that decide to do their own parts prep and plating.  If I had it to do over again, I think I would build a Shinto shrine next to the garage so that I could visit it and ask for the gods' blessing before committing my parts to the plating bath .

[Patcon]

I would prefer to plate everything in house but it is so slow!!!

I also just don't have the correct power supplies or large enough ones. So I am going to send a batch out. I will hold back a few things I can do in house that they might mess up. Hoping for good results

[inline6]

I don't think I am exaggerating when I say I have probably 20 weekends of time invested in fasteners: going through all of my labeled zip lock bags, measuring and writing down details regarding nearly all of the fasteners on the car, identifying any non-original hardware that was on my car, replacing it from my 510 fastener collection (I was young ok... and I wrecked a couple!).  I may have more than two hundred hours of glass bead blasting, lots of hours of dremeling, and a dozen hours of polishing with #0000 steel wool - all "invested" in prep for plating at this point.

Today I spent a bunch of time going through all the boxes of parts on my shelves looking for any fasteners I missed.  I found a couple of clips for side marker lights.  I found a couple of clips that hold the chrome tail light trim bar to the lens.  I found that my throttle rod that Paltech did is just ok, not great - so I will have it redone.  I found a few other odds and ends.

Soooo...  

I'd love to find out that my time spent glass beading and tumbling and steel wooling... was completely unnecessary.  I am tired of it.  And my restoration is just dragging on.  I thought I had a chance at getting the car painted last August.  Now it is this August, and I haven't done any additional bodywork since last year.  I've got a 510 sitting in the corner of the garage that will go through a similar level of restoration sometime after I finish this car.  It would be great to just dump all the fasteners in a couple of boxes and send them off, and have them come back like new.  It sounds like that may be possible based on a few of your comments here.

I plan to use http://tfcplating.com/.  I forget how I heard of them.  Anyway, if anyone can share more detail about their platers, maybe some before and after pics, then maybe I can discover the even easier way than my "easy" way of getting good results. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by inline6

[Patcon]

Have you contacted them to inquire about their process steps?

I would expect:

Degreasing

Pickling - which will remove rust

Plating

Chromating

Possibly a post plating baking to remove nitrogen

Some platers might also offer abrasive stripping services. I am planning on using the same plater motorman7 uses. We'll see on the results. They told me all the paint needs to be stripped and rusty parts might be pitted...

So I inferred they don't do any abrasive stripping. I have been using the SS media. It actually has a little paint thinner in it from me cleaning it. That helps when tumbling. I wont go to the level you have because I'm not sure it will matter. Pickling tends to dull the metal and can change the surface finish. It all depends on how the plater handles it.

I have spoken to TFC also. I would be open to using them too.

[mailnome]

I feel ya, it’s a lot of prep and you are doing it the easy way compared to me.

I’ve just been using a vinegar bath and then wire brushing them by hand and repeat if needed.

If the pieces were not rusted/pitted much they could probably go straight to the plater but most of mine will need some more work which I have not decided how to tackle yet. I guess it’s Dremmel wire brushing and some hand sanding and steel wool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mailnome]

Sorry, double post

[inline6]

23 hours ago, Diseazd said:

Three minutes in Muriatic acid does wonders. Eats rust off......not so much grease. The stuff is cheap and you can do a large batch at a time. Bolts and parts come out clean.......ready to plate.  IMO

I watched a couple of Youtube videos of using muriatic acid.  Looks like that stuff has some pretty serious fumes.  And it can cause "everything in the shop to rust" if not stored properly.  Can one simply store in a sealed plastic container?  Do you typically use it outside instead of indoors?