Home Zinc plating

[Donald H.]

I'm seriously considering buying a set up from Caswell to do my own plating. I'm going to start a full restoration of my 1966 coupe soon. I finished a complete restoration of my previous car, a 1960, earlier this year.

For the 60, I sent everything out. As most know, zinc and cad plating is very inexpensive IF and that is a big IF you are able to batch a lot of parts. The place I used had like a $95 set up charge and the plating of parts after that was very inexpensive. I was able to gather everything in two separate batched during the restoration, but I did end up with a few odds and ins that I had to simply paint to replicate zinc plating because of what it would have cost to send these few pieces off.

I have read a lot of threads here and seems the Caswell system is generally pretty good. Maybe not as good as a commercial plater, but good enough for a restored car that is never going to be a daily driver.

I'm interested if anyone has used a home plating system for a full restoration and if you think it was worth buying and the quality was good enough. I don't want to spend $300 or so to get the Caswell system then have to still send a lot of stuff out for plating.

Thanks,

Don

[Kurt G.]

Re: Home Zinc plating

The process, if similar to Phosphate plating isn't that hard as long as you have the correct equipment. If you are only doing small parts to out and purchase at least 4 crock pot cookers at your local whatever store. Make sure you have the set-up to hang the parts in the solution. We tried using a stainless steel basket and the parts took on the pattern of the basket and we had to start over. Read the process carefully and follow the directions to the letter. I think, provided they are small parts, you should be satisfied with the work. I know I was with my phosphate plating. Good luck.

[Paul J.]

Re: Home Zinc plating

I'm seriously considering buying a set up from Caswell to do my own plating. I'm going to start a full restoration of my 1966 coupe soon. I finished a complete restoration of my previous car, a 1960, earlier this year.

For the 60, I sent everything out. As most know, zinc and cad plating is very inexpensive IF and that is a big IF you are able to batch a lot of parts. The place I used had like a $95 set up charge and the plating of parts after that was very inexpensive. I was able to gather everything in two separate batched during the restoration, but I did end up with a few odds and ins that I had to simply paint to replicate zinc plating because of what it would have cost to send these few pieces off.

I have read a lot of threads here and seems the Caswell system is generally pretty good. Maybe not as good as a commercial plater, but good enough for a restored car that is never going to be a daily driver.

I'm interested if anyone has used a home plating system for a full restoration and if you think it was worth buying and the quality was good enough. I don't want to spend $300 or so to get the Caswell system then have to still send a lot of stuff out for plating.

Thanks,

Don

Don, there are lots of good threads in the archives, some with pictures and a few tricks. Here's one below, but there are so many each dealing with different types of plating that I can't list all of them. Search for "plating".

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthread.php?97603-Nuts-and-bolts-Restoration&highlight=plating

Paul

[Gerard F.]

Re: Home Zinc plating

I'm seriously considering buying a set up from Caswell to do my own plating. I'm going to start a full restoration of my 1966 coupe soon. I finished a complete restoration of my previous car, a 1960, earlier this year.

For the 60, I sent everything out. As most know, zinc and cad plating is very inexpensive IF and that is a big IF you are able to batch a lot of parts. The place I used had like a $95 set up charge and the plating of parts after that was very inexpensive. I was able to gather everything in two separate batched during the restoration, but I did end up with a few odds and ins that I had to simply paint to replicate zinc plating because of what it would have cost to send these few pieces off.

I have read a lot of threads here and seems the Caswell system is generally pretty good. Maybe not as good as a commercial plater, but good enough for a restored car that is never going to be a daily driver.

I'm interested if anyone has used a home plating system for a full restoration and if you think it was worth buying and the quality was good enough. I don't want to spend $300 or so to get the Caswell system then have to still send a lot of stuff out for plating.

Thanks,

Don

Don,

Here's a thread from the archives (2009) which may be of interest to your questions above. In the tread is a picture of my bubba plating setup in a corner of my 1950'ish garage/shop. You'll have a few laughs.

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthread.php?73612-Holley-Carb-Restoration-Part-3-Plating-small-parts&highlight=Plating

Yes, you can do some very good zinc plating with the Caswell Copy Cad kit. But it might cost you a little bit more than the $300 with all the accessories and other things you need.

I started off in 2006 with the 3 gallon kit and with the Yellow Chromate mix for that gold cad look. (I would recommend the 3 gallon kit vs the 1.5 gallon kit if you are intending to do plating on other than bolts and smaller parts).
Then I added the gray and black phosphate from other suppliers, which is used in crockpots from second hand stores.

For the newer Caswell zinc mix, a variable power supply is a must. I use 0-8volt, 0-5amp power supply. More amps with less volts is better, you will be plating with less than 2 volts, but the amps depends upon the size of the part.
You will then need a lot of other chemicals, equipment, immersion heaters, jugs for the preparation of the parts. A beadblaster and buffer is recommended. Good plating is all in the preparation of the parts.
You would also have to dedicate a well ventilated corner of you shop or garage for the plating system. If you have an insulated garage, a kitchen hood or bath vent fan may be necessary.

Caswell has a very good Plating Manual which I think you can get separately from the kit to decide what you need.

I hate to discourage you, but you are in for a little more money than indicated above.
But it is fun and a lot of satisfaction in seeing the parts come out like new. And you will have the convenience of doing it yourself rather than sending it out, sorting through the parts and then waiting for the return.

Take a look at the Holley Carb Restoration Article in the Spring 2011 Restorer Magazine for information general to zinc plating using the Caswell system as the base system.

Have fun, I always do,

[Steve L.]

Re: Home Zinc plating

I've been using Caswell for small parts. I use large peanut jars as a tank. These jars have screw on lids so you can seal it up when not in use. I lab type of power supply is a must so that you can vary the current. Too much current and the part come out grey and lumpy. Also a small air pump with a variable knob from an aquarium is a must to keep the chemistry churned but not too much. I bead blast before, then a quick muratic acid dip although caswell has a pickling solution. Parts need to have a nice finish before plating to look good. Copper wire placement needs to be in an inconspicuous place.

[Donald H.]

Re: Home Zinc plating

Jerry, I don't have the room for a setup like yours, so maybe I'll stick with outside plating

Thanks,
Don

[Tom R.]

Re: Home Zinc plating

Jerry, I don't have the room for a setup like yours, so maybe I'll stick with outside plating

Don

I used the basic Caswell zinc kit and was disappointed while I had some success with Phosphate plating. If I had used Steve's methods that are upgrades to the base kit, I may have had better success:

• [*=1]I use large peanut jars as a tank. These jars have screw on lids so you can seal it up when not in use.
  [*=1]I lab type of power supply is a must so that you can vary the current. Too much current and the part come out grey and lumpy.
  [*=1]Also a small air pump with a variable knob from an aquarium is a must to keep the chemistry churned but not too much.
  [*=1]I bead blast before, then a quick muratic acid dip although caswell has a pickling solution.
  [*=1]Parts need to have a nice finish before plating to look good.
  [*=1]Copper wire placement needs to be in an inconspicuous place.

Steve...is that lab 1 (one) power)? I think the base kit called for a 9 volt battery...that was a joke.

Peanut jars: glass or plastic?

[Steve L.]

Re: Home Zinc plating

I use a plastic peanut jar. Also, you don't need a whole lot of room for this.: 1 Jar of distilled water, 1 jar electrolyte, 1 jar muriatic acid or pickle solution, latex gloves, paper towels, air supply, power supply, clips to hold the plates in place, small roll of bare copper wire to connect up to the parts, alligator jumper wires for the power supply, some sort of non conductive rod placed on top of the jars to suspend the parts. You need about a 2 amp DC power supply where you can vary the voltage. You adjust it until you get a very fine mist of bubbles- too much and the parts will not look shinny. Also a small scale/measuring cups so you can mix the chemistry to suit your set up. I don't know about lab 1 power supply, I have my own. Caswell plating book is a must read.When ordering the Caswell kit, get the brightener as well or the finish will look more like Cadmium plating unless that is what you want.This is the very basic and others will have a much more elaborate set-up with better results.Doing this at home give you several advantages- keep track of your bagged parts, plate as you go rather than big batches, mask parts off that you don't want plated, mask off any tubing so electrolyte doesn't get inside parts such as vacuum advance. The plating is not very thick so it will not mask any imperfection such as rust pits etc.This is a whole other field of restoration that adds to the hobby. Although like the rest of the hobby, it is time consuming but will give you some satisfaction. But be aware, that if you get into this, you'll start to look at the other plating techniques, like copper plating to fix rust pits, chrome plating, etc. I did buy these kits but haven't had the time to try them out.

[Gene M.]

Re: Home Zinc plating

........................... I don't want to spend $300 or so to get the Caswell system then have to still send a lot of stuff out for plating.

Thanks,

Don

Don,
You should be able to find a plating house and get everything (except chrome) on the whole car done for $300. You will need to have everything bare metal clean, sorted and all one batch to accomplish this. Assuming you need zinc, zinc chromate, phosphate and oxide.

[Thomas N.]

Re: Home Zinc plating

Don, It is quite easy to setup a zinc plating at home setup using available items, without the need for a Caswell system, if you don't want to do the chromate dip. I just set one up to do my bolts and such. I already had a power supply, and have about $40 into my setup, and am pleased with the results. There are many on line "how to" do this. The electrolyte I used consists of Epsom salts, vinegar, Karo syrup and distilled vinegar. I buy a 3.4 lb zinc with a copper wire, and zinc flashing (used to prevent algae) which is easily formable to the inside surface of a plastic 1.5 gallon pail from RotoMetals. You need to plate out the solution overnight, and need a brass brush to card the plating, but the results are good. You need acetone to clean off the Karo syrup residue after plating.