more copper plating work

t71ford

t71ford

Over 1,000 Posts
Since the post on the subject, I have been doing a little more experimenting with my processes--acid baths and such. I also made a bigger plating tank. Here is the latest off the Softail, the aluminum levers:

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Got more planned for this thing...I might even start a build thread eventually, as there is motor work, and a whole lot more steampunk influence going to happen as soon as snow flies!
 
Agreed - in the first pic the reflection of the wall gives it a wood grain look.


Off topic - how do you like those mesh grips?
 
Dude, that's sweet work! I would love to do that with my V Star. It's a two tone rootbeer brown/gloss black. Copper over all the silver chrome would be fitting for my bike. Nice work.
 
Looks terrific!
What polishing did you do after plating. What did you do to prep the lever before plating?

I am about to embark on some copper plating myself. I am doing a steam punk tourer with an XS650. Just finished cleaning the carbs. I have them masked off to bead blast them and then copper plate them. I plan on leaving the bead blasted surface unpolished before plating, and seeing how that texture translates to the plating.

I plan to get a book that describes how to give metals different patinas.
http://www.amazon.com/Colouring-Bronzing-Patination-Metals/dp/0823007626/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319103856&sr=8-1
I have a friend who has this book, and it is the definitive treatise on metal patination.

I think there is a way to give copper a patina that looks like bronze. That would fit into the whole steam punk theme nicely, and give an alternative to everything being copper.
 
Thanks, dudes! I am pretty happy with it!

Rich, the grips are nice because they don't deteriorate. They are actually knurled aluminum rather than mesh. That said, I don't know if I would like them on a cafe bike because you would have more weight on them. Good gription, though.

ADC, polishing was a matter of about 2 minutes with a little Mother's Billit on a rag. No sanding or anything. It helped that the levers had already been polished, though. For prep, they just soaked in a sulphuric acid bath for about an hour prior to plating. Sonrier on here advised me that aluminum builds oxide on it really quickly if left bare, and that it has to be removed prior to plating. The acid seems to have done well, as aherance seems pretty good. THanks for the tip on the book. I will have to check that out for sure!

Will def. be doing more, too, and I will post up if anything cool comes out!
 
I'm impressed 8)
Is aluminium more difficult to do than steel, pot metal, etc?
Where's the link to your original post?
 
So... is there any reason I couldn't copper plate an exhaust? (assuming that it's been de-chromed and properly prepared of course)

I've seen it done on a couple cars, and read about a guy who used a copper plated stripper pole (1 3/4" tubing) for his exhaust... Just curious why I don't see it more often. Copper's melting point is damn near 2000F, so I don't think it would be a huge problem. Of course, what I know about plating can be summed up in a paragraph or two, which is why I'm asking.
 
I have seen copper plated exhaust. They very quickly take on a variegated patina from the heat that I find very appealing. The color it takes on changes as it gets further from the exhaust port.

Don't forget, the first layer of plating under chrome is copper.
 
It looks cool. I'm curious about durability, abrasion resistance. The levers get a lot of use.
 
AlphaDogChoppers said:
I have seen copper plated exhaust. They very quickly take on a variegated patina from the heat that I find very appealing. The color it takes on changes as it gets further from the exhaust port.

Don't forget, the first layer of plating under chrome is copper.
Click to expand...

I like that patina too. I may have to seriously consider this as an option. The bike is going to be dark brown and black. I was going to go with a dark grey ceramic coat on the exhaust, but copper plate with brass hardware might be the ticket.
 
I know you can't use copper exhaust in Britain for safety reasons.
Don't remember the chemistry behind it though.
 
A link to the original post with process:

http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=29368.0

I took heed of Sonrier's charging rate info, as well as some of the ecthing info, and came up with terrific results. Different metals do plate differently, but I am not really an authority on all of them. Aluminum plates pretty easily provided it is clean. Chrome seems to be dependent upon the coating. Good chrome takes a long time wo etch with sulphuric acid, but it eventually gives in. Zinc plated steel fasteners (like bolts) strip really fast, though, and plate easily. It seems practice does come into play as well. In the link above, the points cover I first plated is pretty crude, although I used the exact same mix and procedure asfor the levers. I just plated each layer for a shorter period of time, and moved the piece being plated in the mixture while it was plating. All trial and error, really.

I did find it better to plate for short periods of time more frequently to build the plate, rather than to just hold it in for a long time. Holding it in long seemed to make a really rough buildup, especially if you do not move the piece in the plating solution. I think this is because portions of the plated piece are closer to the copper donor piece than others, causing them to plate in uneven amounts. Just an observation, though, I may be wrong.

I am planning on a copper exhaust on this bike. I am going to plate the heat shields on the headpipes, and then just use copper pipe for the tailpipes mufflers. That is unless there is a serious health risk. I would be interested in hearing more about that if anyone knows.
 
crazypj said:
Couldn't find much usuful stuff with Google?
Found this
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110414123709AAqgpEU
I'm pretty certain there are more serious reasons though, something about copper reacting with exhaust gases and producing something 'nasty'?
There is also the conduction issue, your going to loose a lot of heat and slow gas speed down (may not be a bad thing with open pipe?)
Click to expand...

no, I got distracted by my job before I could start looking... thanks for digging that up!


From what I see though, those guys are talking about using copper pipe for exhaust, instead of copper plated steel. And the guy worried about 1084C temps most have a ridiculous engine. Unless I'm mistaken (always possible), headers shouldn't see the other side of 800C
 
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