Honda CB750 Sandcast
The Restoration Shop => Chrome - Anodizing and Other Metal Finish Procedures => Topic started by: Wayne on April 22, 2011, 11:23:38 am
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The place I'm going to use for my zinc plating offers both Zinc-Nickel Alloy Plating and Zinc electroplating. I don't know much about Zinc-Nickel Alloy Plating but it appears more durable and does come in clear and yellow. I'm thinking the original spokes may hold up better with Zinc-Nickel?? Does anyone have any experience with Zinc-Nickel Alloy Plating or should I just shy away from it. Here's a link to the plater I will be using. Thanks!
http://www.mmplating.com/7.html (http://www.mmplating.com/7.html)
http://www.mmplating.com/3.html (http://www.mmplating.com/3.html)
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Wayne, That zinc alloy looks interesting. I would also consider dull cadmium given they can do it. We can't get cadmium done here any longer. Did you spot the typo error in the paragraph describing the zinc alloy ;)
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KP, are you saying to have anything that would normally be zinc on a sandy done in cadmium? If so I assume you are implying it is even more durable but looks the same?
I didn't catch the spelling error and still can't find it. I even pasted into Word and did a spell check. What am I missing?
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I think most of the plated parts are clear zinc (seems some airbox parts are yellow) but doesn't the cad plating have a yellowish tint to it? I guess I'm asking the same question as Wayne, why would you want to use cad instead of zinc?
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Wayne you are 100% correct. You are doing a resto so one should stay with the zinc plating (or zinc nickel) A long long time since I've had anything cad plated but if memory serves it's a dull finish like dull zinc but it has superior resistance to oxidisation over zinc from what I remember. The gold color is a finish applied after the cad process similar to zinc. You can also get a plain finish. Probably best to ask the plater but that zinc nickel does look a treat so I would probably give that a try. I'm going to see if we can get that done here in Oz.
Now for that "typo". There are 2. They're not spelling mistakes but typographical errors. They've used the words "and" instead of "an" and "Cadmium" after the word "Cadmium Plating" whereas they probably wanted to use the word "Zinc-nickel". Here is what's written and I've flagged the typos. I'm not 100% sure I'm right but it looked odd the way it read. Your thoughts and yes I know, I know - I'm anal ;D
Many of these features make Zinc-Nickel and an environmentally friendly alternative for Cadmium Plating Cadmium Zinc-Nickel plating Provides Superior Corrosion Resistance – protects the base metal for over 1000 hours to red rust.
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Thanks KP. I will look into both process's and see if they can provide me samples. I'm sure they will be more than happy to.
You are correct on your grammar errors. When you said typo I was looking for just that and skimmed the document for them. You have a keen eye my friend!
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Having extensively used cad plating on early American and British motorcycles i restored in the 70's and 80's, I remember cad having a flat finish, more "white" in appearance than the bright "silvery" sheen of zinc.
That i am aware of, zinc was first seen on Japanese motorcycles, not in use by other American and European motorcycle manufacturers prior to the 70's. (As an aside, H-D's, at least up to the mid-50's used a process called "Parkerizing" or phosphating.)
By the early to mid 80's, attention to exposure to cad toxicity and expenses meeting environmental regulations minimizing waste by-products took cad out of favor with industry. I remember this, because cad platers i was using began quitting using the process and i had increasing difficulty finding platers who still worked with cad.
I don't believe Honda used cad plating, at least on the 750. If cad plating was used by Honda, by my observation, cad may have been on spokes only, as the finish on original Honda spokes appears different (less shiny) than the finish on nuts, bolts, washers. Just an opinion, nothing i have a basis for, other than the plated coating of cad is not as thick as zinc, more oxidation resistant and has a quality of lubricity preferred in threaded assemblies.
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the electrolysis part is not rocket science. More like freshmen chemistry class.
Using 12VDC, positive to the material that you want to coat (spoke, etc) and negative to type of material that you want to add to the base.
I use electrolysis to clean metal parts. It removes rust and does not remove the base metal like blasting does.
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o117/imabass/Other/Electrolysis/IM002170.jpg)
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o117/imabass/Other/Electrolysis/IM002171.jpg)
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o117/imabass/Other/Electrolysis/IM002172.jpg)
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o117/imabass/Other/Electrolysis/IM002074.jpg)
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Interesting setup there ! I thoroughly removed every bit of rust from the inside of a horribly rusted tank using a simple electrode, Arm & Hammer Washing (not baking) soda and a battery charger.
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Here's the link to zinc plater I use in Denver, Colorado area - http://specialtyplatinginc.com/index.html (http://specialtyplatinginc.com/index.html)
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Here's the link to zinc plater I use in Denver, Colorado area - http://specialtyplatinginc.com/index.html (http://specialtyplatinginc.com/index.html)
This plater makes also the anodic surface treatment, good for the brake oil pump with cover.