Bright Zinc Plating Advice

[wheelysteve]

I am looking to get a load of bolts, brackets, spindles, chain tensioners, spacers etc bright zinc plated.

How should I prepare the parts before sending them to the platers in order to ensure a decent finish. Obviously hammer rash and abuse needs to be dressed but what about the old finish?

I have heard of bits being acid cleaned and polished. Is this necessary? If so, what acid and method is best?

Also , anybody know of a good zinc platers in the South East?

Any other relevant advice gratefully received.

Cheers, Steve

[z1bman]

i always use ali shine diluted 50/50 with warm water then if there is any flaky stubborn rust i pop them in the bead blaster to Finnish them of

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-cle ... Sw14xWO4CB

[PAULJAC47]

Just had a load done,turned around in a day,cleaned off grease and crap with old petrol,any heavy corrosion and oxidation with scotchbright wheel,cost £20 for any amount,Bargain, came out first class..

[z1bman]

the more preparation you can do yourself the better the end result will be as most plating company's work is all new shiny bright & new steel before it goes in their plating tanks

[PJ]

Just had a load done,turned around in a day,cleaned off grease and crap with old petrol,any heavy corrosion and oxidation with scotchbright wheel,cost £20 for any amount,Bargain, came out first class..

Who did you use Paul?

[chrisu]

this made me think - has anyone used one of those kits (e.g. Caswell) you can buy to do your own BZP plating ?

any good ?

[wheelysteve]

How long do the bits need to be in the ali shine as I've got some of that in the garage but never used it?

[ruffle]

this made me think - has anyone used one of those kits (e.g. Caswell) you can buy to do your own BZP plating ?

any good ?

I've used the Gateros kits and had good results.

If you're doing a whole bike's worth then, unless you have loads of time on your hands, it'd be a PITA as each nut or bolt has to be cleaned, wired up, acid cleaned, plated and passivated. It's not hard but can be time consuming.

However for those bits that didn't go to the plating shop because they were hiding at the time or the occasional one-off part it's a handy thing to have available.

Here's a horny nut that had the DIY treatment (BZP and yellow passivate):

[relisysxx]

this made me think - has anyone used one of those kits (e.g. Caswell) you can buy to do your own BZP plating ?

any good ?

I did half the bolts/screws on my bike with one of these kits, the finish was mostly excellent but it was very time consuming and the fumes from the chemicals will turn everything in your garage/shed rusty.
Probably better to pay someone else to do it in hindsight

[z1bman]

if the ali shine is industrial strength dilute it 3 to one with hot water not boiling water & leave it for about 15 minutes shaking the bucket in between

[GPRD]

When I've had plating to do I send it to the local platers. I do have a kit, which works well, but as people have said, its very time consuming.
Anyway, preparation is key, as someone has said too. I prep mine stuff by using a wire wheel to take all the rust and old paint off, which gets them very clean, then they go in an acid bath, I use brick cleaner from B&Q. When they stop frothing I take them out, rinse in cold water then back on the wire wheel. At this point they look good enough to use as is.
I use cold water and wire wheel as this keeps the flash rust at bay for a lot longer then if you don't.
I hope this helps.
Cheers

[RALPHARAMA]

Your best bet for a perfect job is to send it to Mikey!

I have a Gateros kit and it's OK and they are very helpful, but it's never as good as the results from a professional setup.

[flateddie]

+1 on mikeys plating, He did a great job on all my carb bits