Well I pulled the trigger on a electroplating kit as I just love refinishing bits . Probably the greatest sense of achievement is going to be getting some bits even close to looking like a factory job.

So the kit came in the mail:

Firstly to setup the electrolyte bath then to source copious amounts of Deionised water to fill it up ( luckily its cheap , because the kit aint)




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Simonw
Brisbane QLD
1st car - 1964 Mini Panelvan 850
Previous - 1978 Leyland LS 1275 Gold
- 1969 Mini K

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Simonw
Brisbane QLD
1st car - 1964 Mini Panelvan 850
Previous - 1978 Leyland LS 1275 Gold
- 1969 Mini K

Clean is key :

Preparation is paramount , with the shinier the surface the better the outcome.
Oils must be gone.
The more care taken in prep the better the result . My quick attempts were rewarded with bad finishes
Also learning the art of chromating after the initial zinc coating .
I put a batch through yellow chromate for tooo long and now have nice orange bits.....might have to redo them




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Simonw
Brisbane QLD
1st car - 1964 Mini Panelvan 850
Previous - 1978 Leyland LS 1275 Gold
- 1969 Mini K

Very nice Simon

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Find a job you love and you will never have to go to work !

Thanks Phil!

I will update tomorrow with some very average attempts at some bigger items like brake rotors.

It seems my little 5 amp rectifier is no match for things this big as I cant seem to keep a good plate or at least its patchy with black slag on sections ... will show pictures soon.

Hopefully this thread helps anybody else going down this road.

I love the fact I’m going to be able to do all my little carby bits in this too and not have them lost.



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Simonw
Brisbane QLD
1st car - 1964 Mini Panelvan 850
Previous - 1978 Leyland LS 1275 Gold
- 1969 Mini K

how are you cleaning these? Also are you working out amps/volts to area per part? I have tried a few and get varying results. Some advice on how your doing yours would be good

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1964 smooth roof panel van
1967 Mk 1 X-Police cooper s
1970 mini k
1975 leyland

Hi Carter

I use Hydrochloric acid to get rid of any old plating.....it will fizz and bang for a while ..
You can even soak a bunch of bits in a diluted mix (just add water) to around 5%, for about 5-10 mins to bring back to base metal.

Now here is the trick I learnt today. If you use these bits now, they are dull and the plating will come out dull and rough. Not a problem if all you want is a zinc coating , but ...
if you want the shiny results particularly if you’re chromating yellow or blue , then you have to ‘polish’ the piece.

Have a wire wheel ? Use it . Bench grinder whatever , get that thing shiny.

Now there is still the degreasing to do.
Crock pot or pot on gas and degreaser and boil those suckers.
Not too much that you tarnish and dull the piece again but maybe for 3 or 4 mins so the oils are dissolved.

You can do a water shed test after using a spray bottle with water. Beads?: not clean enough !
Sheets? Good to go.




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Simonw
Brisbane QLD
1st car - 1964 Mini Panelvan 850
Previous - 1978 Leyland LS 1275 Gold
- 1969 Mini K

As far as amps go :

That yellow carby plate in the above picture was done at around 2.7 amps for 20 mins

I was plating longer because that’s what my manual said to do...45-60mins. But it was too long and I found I was getting good coverage and tone with a minimum 20 mins.

Now I might be stooging myself with plate thickness by not leaving them longer but I have no way of judging that.

Bigger pieces or multiple pieces may need more juice like 3 or more amps.

Turn the piece around every once and a while too ... direction plays a huge part in coverage.

Yellow chromate dipping is an art am yet to master. My mix yielded the above carby plate in 8 secs. Any longer in the dip and I get oranges and even darker copper tones.




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Simonw
Brisbane QLD
1st car - 1964 Mini Panelvan 850
Previous - 1978 Leyland LS 1275 Gold
- 1969 Mini K

So all your bolts etc you have been cleaning with hydrochloric acid than hitting them with a wire wheel followed by a rinse than off to the plating bath? Because I have been sandblasting mine than hydrochloric acid followed by a rinse and varying results. So I need shiny pieces to get shiny results

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1964 smooth roof panel van
1967 Mk 1 X-Police cooper s
1970 mini k
1975 leyland

Correctamundo, finished surface has everything to do with prepared surface

You have a good system . Just wire wheel a few pieces and see if that changes it for you.


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Simonw
Brisbane QLD
1st car - 1964 Mini Panelvan 850
Previous - 1978 Leyland LS 1275 Gold
- 1969 Mini K

Just thinking, will adding a layer of zinc to the ball joints and ball joint nuts cause them to wear off the coating and get loose quickly?

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Hey Timmy ,
Was thinking about that too. I think lapping them in setup should make it all good.
Zinc has 1/3 toughness of steel , so yes it will wear quicker.

Good spot though


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Simonw
Brisbane QLD
1st car - 1964 Mini Panelvan 850
Previous - 1978 Leyland LS 1275 Gold
- 1969 Mini K

That's why I would resist plating items like ball pins and sockets, and other parts with a load bearing surface. I guess it's a personal decision.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

I don't have any real technical knowledge to back my warning other than being told by others who do know:
plating of high tensile items like suspension ball pins and special application fasteners can cause "oxygen embrittlement" to the surface of the item and lead to stress failure. That is why most high tensile head studs, ball pins etc are not plated other than a coating for storage etc.

Properly made threaded fasteners come in several dimensional specifications. If the fastener was not intended to be plated, the clearance between the threads of the fastener and nut are closer than parts intended to be plated, to allow for the thickness of the plating. That's the reason why nuts and bolts you have plated often bind when first reused. They run together better after being tapped and using a die to clear the threads.

Otherwise, simonw's exercise is a good one. The finished products look very professionalThe cost of outsourced plating is becoming very expensive and the kit should pay for itself quickly.

I think you might be referring to Hydrogen embrittlement Bill . An often misunderstood phenomena .
Most hydrogen reactions tend to occur during the acid pickling process used prior to electroplating. It’s not the electroplating itself that causes this .
So be cautious about how long and what strength acid is used to prepare a part.

Interestingly there are a lot of zinc plated bolts on a mini subject to high stress.
Subframe comes to mind.


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Simonw
Brisbane QLD
1st car - 1964 Mini Panelvan 850
Previous - 1978 Leyland LS 1275 Gold
- 1969 Mini K