Author Topic: Anyone tried doing there own plating?  (Read 3840 times)

Offline sparky65

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Anyone tried doing there own plating?
« on: March 23, 2010, 10:22:58 PM »
I see there are some DIY plating kits out there.  I am not too organized so I usually refinish parts as I go to put them on.  That makes collecting a bunch of parts with the same finish to take to some one to plate a very difficult task.  There is no way I could get them all done first shot I will always find one or two I forgot.  Also for some finishes I may not even have enough parts to begin with.  Most of my bolts are already coming from AMK so I was thinking one of these kits may be the way to go.  Just not sure how difficult it is to get good results. 
Steve
1967 Pebble Beige  I6 Coupe built in Metuchen on Oct 26, 1966.
2009 Black GT Coupe

 

Offline bryancobb

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Re: Anyone tried doing there own plating?
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2010, 10:32:00 PM »
Man!   You are on my wavelength!

I'm a sciencey kind of guy anyway and it just doesn't look like rocket science.
66 Metuch Conv
Nightmist, Std Blu Int
6T08C223904    76A       K         22       15c     21      6        6
                      BODY  COLOR   TRIM    DATE   DSO   AXLE  XMSN
   C/O  785                                   (rotation #)
   16    C14   6T08C223904        (weld bay 16, bucked MAR 14)

Offline Sunlitgold68

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Re: Anyone tried doing there own plating?
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2010, 12:23:25 AM »
You might want to consider sending your fasteners to a plating business. I think some people do their own phosphate and they say it is fairly easy, but you'll have zinc, zinc dichromate, cadmium, and phosphate and possibly other finishes. The hard part is keeping it all straight and organizing after you get it all back!
8T01C204XXX

Built May 14th, 1968

Original Owners, custom ordered from Clemmons Ford, Henderson NC

Offline CharlesTurner

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Re: Anyone tried doing there own plating?
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2010, 01:06:21 AM »
I've tried the "copy-cad" home-plating systems and was never able to achieve consistent results.  I find it much easier to prepare the parts for plating and have a local shop do them.  Of course, as mentioned, phosphate is very easy, so I choose to do that myself.
Charles Turner - MCA/SAAC Judge
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Offline bryancobb

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Re: Anyone tried doing there own plating?
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2010, 05:44:56 PM »
Yes Charles,
About sorting out the mess after it gets back from the platers...
... I think it was your pics I saw where bin after bin of beautiful hardware was all mixed together for someone to sort!
I said to myself... "Somebody has a CHORE ahead!"
BC
66 Metuch Conv
Nightmist, Std Blu Int
6T08C223904    76A       K         22       15c     21      6        6
                      BODY  COLOR   TRIM    DATE   DSO   AXLE  XMSN
   C/O  785                                   (rotation #)
   16    C14   6T08C223904        (weld bay 16, bucked MAR 14)

Offline CharlesTurner

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Re: Anyone tried doing there own plating?
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2010, 09:06:35 PM »
I used calipers and measured/documented most everything that wasn't obvious.  It was time-consuming, but I know what everything is when it comes back.
Charles Turner - MCA/SAAC Judge
Concours Mustang Forum Admin

Offline sparky65

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Re: Anyone tried doing there own plating?
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2010, 09:24:25 PM »
I find it much easier to prepare the parts for plating and have a local shop do them. 

How do you prepare your parts for the plating?  Sand blasting?  How did you make sure you had all the parts together, some master list or do you do enough cars that if you forget it the first time you can have it done next time.  Whats the minimum amount of stuff your plater will take?  I should ask around to see what my local plating places are willing to do.
Steve
1967 Pebble Beige  I6 Coupe built in Metuchen on Oct 26, 1966.
2009 Black GT Coupe

 

Offline J_Speegle

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Re: Anyone tried doing there own plating?
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2010, 12:36:35 AM »
How do you prepare your parts for the plating?  Sand blasting?

Sure many take the time to wire wheel each and every piece - really makes a difference in some cases. My stuff often has no rust pitting so the bath that the parts go in before plating often strips a little surface rust and paint if present.

Sure some guys are using their big vibrating polishers now  :o


How did you make sure you had all the parts together, some master list or do you do enough cars that if you forget it the first time you can have it done next time.

Normally I have more problems since I have multiples from different years and plants. So keeping all that straight can be a challenge  but if something gets plated zinc, for example, that should not be  its easy enough to strip it off. The end result is that I end up with a nice clean part in either case.

In general, before I do a couple of batches I take a trip to a couple of yards, strip the nuts and bolts from a couple of cars (lic plate lights, taillight buckets...... too ;). Normally it does not cost me any more (other than the big parts that stand out to the guy giving the quote) to do three times more, when compared to one car.

Typically you get the "how many cars do you have comment??"  but you just tell them your just making sure you don't come up short. In addition not all are going to turn our really great, so you get to pick the best then sell or keep the rest



Whats the minimum amount of stuff your plater will take?  I should ask around to see what my local plating places are willing to do.


Most don't have a minimum unless they have to do a special tank just for your stuff. Instead you stack as much as they will take for a base price to get your best value for the dollars. Some guys have found shops that do big industrial batches where they sneak in some small lots (with the batches) for beer and pizza money (read CASH deal)
Jeff Speegle

Anything worth doing is worth doing concours ;)