1982 CB750F...Better Devil
- Thread starter Jimbonaut
- Start date
Spent the afternoon bead-blasting bolts and small parts, then polishing them - plan being I'll try my arm at nickel plating. The Caswell plating kit arrived yesterday - tried it out on a penny and failed in spectacular fashion. My plating game is weak - need to work on that before I bugger up these bolts.
pidjones
Over 1,000 Posts
Yeah, I tried nickel plating - even had some real good juice from work to try instead of the kit juice. And some solid nickel pieces to line the jar with. I think their power supply is not exactly right. They brush plated nickel on steel at work and had no problem (you don't get much thickness with nickel - that comes from copper over it.) Of course, all they cared about was getting nickel down so that the copper would stick.
Got the brake rotors cleaned up and painted -
- masking those things up was an unexpected yet enormous ball ache. Really. Came out of left field, a ball ache of remarkable intensity. They came out good -
- painted with VHT calliper paint, satin black. Also, realized I'd missed painted the hub on the front wheel so that got dutch ovened and painted too -
Bought this for my wife's 8th wedding anniversary present. Know that it exists...
- masking those things up was an unexpected yet enormous ball ache. Really. Came out of left field, a ball ache of remarkable intensity. They came out good -
- painted with VHT calliper paint, satin black. Also, realized I'd missed painted the hub on the front wheel so that got dutch ovened and painted too -
Bought this for my wife's 8th wedding anniversary present. Know that it exists...
After acetoning and cleaning all the bolts and parts, had a crack at nickel plating. Apparently it's much easier to plate copper so I had a go on a bunch of pennies. Total. Fucking. Disaster.
I dunno, tried a load of times - different depths, different amount of nickel anode in the drink, whatever. Couldn't get it to work at all.
This is the best I could do. Plating pennies is fun! they said. Utter bollocks.
Yeah. I hate it.
Still have all this to plate -
I hate giving up on shit but man, think I might need a plan B. I can get all this plated professionally but, well, $$. Now I know why.
I dunno, tried a load of times - different depths, different amount of nickel anode in the drink, whatever. Couldn't get it to work at all.
This is the best I could do. Plating pennies is fun! they said. Utter bollocks.
Yeah. I hate it.
Still have all this to plate -
I hate giving up on shit but man, think I might need a plan B. I can get all this plated professionally but, well, $$. Now I know why.
cb250nproject
If you can make it better do so
Just caught myself up on this build, Jimbo this is shaping up to look bad ass, those rims came up a treat.
CarbsAndCylinders
Careful With That Axe Eugene
I just read that US pennies are now made with zinc, might this have affected your plating? Also have you checked to see if the US dollar has dropped in value, this would affect the penny.
Rider52
Over 1,000 Posts
If changing pennies doesn't work, look very closely at your amperage. Plating is an oxidation/reduction process and conditions have to be right for the movement of electrons. Amperage, the temperature of your chemicals and even the size/quality of the anode are critical to good plating.
Last edited:
Plating a copper penny with nickel is actually hard as fuck and you need proper equipment. Much more than most plating, like copper or zinc. What was your solution? It should be nickel sulfate dissolved in acetic acid (essentially nickel acetate). You have to clean the penny in a solution of salt and vinegar beforehand.
Hard as fuck is right. Found an old stash of Canadian pennies and just tried plating them with highly mixed results. One actually doesn't look awful, but the others truly do. Same everything - distance from anode, depth etc etc but completely different results each time.
I just used Dawn to clean them however - salt and vinegar huh? The solution is indeed nickel acetate.
I just used Dawn to clean them however - salt and vinegar huh? The solution is indeed nickel acetate.
Yep. Pennies oxidize, as you would expect. Oxidation is a resist, so the solution can't get to the surface. It also blocks the electrons. You're essentially etching the copper with salt and vinegar. So, Nickel Acetate?
At least 2 tablespoons per cup of vinegar. Some people on the internet may suggest the salt isn't necessary, but the chlorides actually break up the oxidation so the acid (vinegar) can get to the surface. Soak them for at least 15 minutes.
This is all basically a dummy run for plating all the steel nuts, bolt and parts up there a few posts back on my kitchen table. They've all been bead-blasted, polished and acetone cleaned. Would they need anything else (apart from a last soap wash) before plating? From what I've read plating nickel on steel is even harder than copper.