DIY Zinc Platting

[cw240z]

I wanted to share my recent success with zinc platting my own hardware with anyone who's interested in doing this yourself. 

 

 

 

 

Here are just a few things I've done recently. Once you give this a couple of tries it becomes a very easy and oddly satisfying job to do! It only cost me around $200 in materials and supplies to do this, which should last long enough to plate everything possible to your car. 

 

 

 

List of what you'll need and where to get it: 

 

1. Chemicals 

 

The basics of this setup include platting your hardware in a solution with pure zinc. The zinc coating is necessary in order to apply the colored chromate finish which is what gives you that yellowish, greenish, purplish color.

 

Chemicals include:

 

• 1 Pack Copy Cad®/Zinc Part A & B (Makes 1.5 Gals)
• Zinc Brightener
• Yellow Chromate 

 

All of this can be purchased from http://www.caswellplating.com/

 

They sell a complete kit with a ton of extra stuff that also includes this. These are the bare basics needed to get started. The kit is overpriced and as long as you aren't doing this outside in freezing weather the tank heaters are not necessary. 

 

2. Power Source

 

The way this system works is by using an adjustable DC power supply where your parts are suspended in the Copy Cad solution hooked to the negative terminal of the power supply and a piece of pure zinc is submerged and connected to the positive terminal of the supply. You're essentially stripping the zinc off and platting it to the hardware surface. It's all based on surface area. The power supply I use is a cheap lab setup I got on eBay. 

 

Once you connect the two terminals and complete the circuit you adjust the current according to the surface area being platted. For each square inch use 140 mA. So a bolt with 2 square inches is set to 280 mA, 3 inches 420 mA, and so on. I purchased a power supply like this one here http://www.ebay.com/itm/30V-5A-Precision-Variable-Adjustable-Digital-DC-Power-Supply-Regulated-Lab-Grade-/380937875451?hash=item58b1aaaffb Don't worry about the voltage, it will fluctuate as you plate parts and will adjust as you tune in the current. 

 

Now you're almost ready to plate your own parts! 

 

3. Metals 

 

- Pure Zinc 

- 1/2" Copper Pipe

- Welding wire

 

Now that you have a power supply and chemicals to plate parts with, you need the zinc to get the job done. The cheapest way to get a bunch of 99.999% pure zinc is picking up a roll of zinc roof moss prevention strips. This comes in a roll of 50 feet. I thought it would be an easy find at my local Lowes or Home Depot but that wasn't the case. Amazon (or eBay) has it and for a decent price. You can get it here http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Roofing-Products-Strip-Preventer/dp/B00LSJ4SQ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448767533&sr=8-1&keywords=zinc+moss

 

 

I also found it useful to grab a 1/2" copper pipe and use that to hook parts to when platting. More on that later.  

 

 

4. Buckets

 

- 3 plastic buckets

 

We now have our chemicals, power source, and metals needed to plate some cool parts. The chemicals come in 1.5 gallon quantities, so go pick up some plastic tubs/buckets bigger than 1.5 gallons that have lids and can be stored with the solutions inside of them for later use.

 

4. Distilled Water 

 

You need several gallons of distilled water to mix the solutions up in and clean the parts with. I'd get at least 6 gallons to start with. 

 

 

 

 

Here's some more info from the company that offers a complete kit http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/images/PlateIt.pdf

 

 

For me my setup to platting parts first begins with preparing the hardware. I like to let anything I want platted soak in Evaporust for at least a day. This gets rid of any rust and also gives you a clean bare surface to work with. If you want the parts to have a deep shine to them, wire wheel them before platting. 

 

Now is a good time to grab a set of rubber gloves to keep grease and hand oils from messing up the platting. While the zinc platting system is very resilient to impurities, it's helps keep your hands from getting stained in the near future when you mess with the chromates.  

 

Next we need to prepare the solutions. When you receive the chemicals they should have the correct amounts on the bottle to pour into your tubs. One tub should have the two part Zinc solution and brightener, one with just distilled water, and the other with the chromate. Set them up with the distilled water tub in the middle to keep from cross contaminating.  

 

Grab the 1/2" diameter copper pipe and cut it into manageable lengths that can span the length of your tubs. We'll hang parts over this later.  

 

With your gloves on, grab your favorite degreaser like Simply Green and hose the parts down. After that take some welding wire and wrap what you want to have platted leaving enough wire to hook over the copper pipe and suspend the parts in your tub. With that ready, dip the parts in the distilled water a few times to remove any degreaser and hang them in the solution. 

 

Now cut yourself a strip of the zinc plate and submerge that in the solution surrounding the parts being platted. Make sure a portion of it is out of the solution so you can hook your power supply to. 

 

Parts and solutions are all setup and ready to go! Now here's the part that includes a little math. We need to guesstimate the surface area being platted. Give it your best shot, it's gonna take a few times to get it right. Adjust the power supply accordingly, 140 mA per square inch. When you get it right you should see the parts start to bubble all over. Negative terminal on the parts, positive on the zinc. 

 

It's okay to pull the parts out and check on them. I usually leave them in there for 7-12 minutes, it's not going to hurt it if you leave it in there longer. 

 

Once a good zinc finish has been applied, removed the parts and dip them a few times in the distilled water to prepare them for the chromate. Once dipped suspend them in the yellow chromate for 20-30 seconds. Longer you wait the darker they get. 

 

Immediately remove them and dip them in the distilled water to stop the reaction. 

 

I like to hit the parts with a heat gun to dry off any extra chromate and speed up the process. You'll need to set them aside and not touch the parts for a few hours. 

 

After that you should have some awesome looking hardware ready to be installed back on the car! 

[Draker]

YESSSSS!!!!!

 

 

Thanks for posting this.

[Draker]

Your parts came out really nice.

[cw240z]

Your parts came out really nice.

 

Thanks!! If you need any extra info on this just let me know.

[flatcat19]

Good info.

[Lockleaf]

Caswell plating also has an extensive forum on home plating and powder coating

[Busta Nut]

Sweet post.....

[MicroMachinery]

This is great!

[difrangia]

Needs to be pinned on the forum ???

[Draker]

I vote for pinned. I'd like to see others post their results. It's probably too cold to do this here without a heater.

[Draker]

How long can you store these chemicals?

[datzenmike]

What's the yellowish? gold plating on most stuff like the brake reservoir caps. Is that cadmium? That would really look nice.

[Draker]

I'm not entirely sure.. but it's the 'yellow chromate' that he mentioned.