Zinc or nickel plating

[garethj]

Has anyone tried DIY zinc or nickel plating? I’ve had a look on line and it seems straightforward for things like the chain adjusters, rear brake arm etc. just wondering if anyone has been successful and if zinc or nickel is best?

[wayne]

Yes, I did the bright zinc plating for two entire ground up restos. I was sick of sending away 100 items and getting 100 items returned but 10 of them weren't mine!

I bought a kit. The set up was fairly easy, everything supplied except containers which can be found in the kitchen aisle at Walmart.

It only took a small amount of experimenting before I got good results. Preparation is key and a little time consuming but not onerous.

I sent the big stuff like rear sprocket and rear brake activation rod away (too long for my containers) but did well over 200 items and the results are still on the bikes today.

With the long engine mount bolts on my GS750 I had to do one half and then the other due length but that worked out fine as the join is hidden when the bolts are in place.

One of the chemicals in the kit is a brightener and it's levels in the chemical soup were pretty important. It needed to be topped up occasionally but didn't take long to get a handle on it.

[wayne]

PS Re whether Zinc or Nickel is best, I believe they were originally bright zinc if that helps you decide.

[garethj]

Thanks Wayne, I’ll be trying it out over the coming weeks and will keep you posted

[Tillyy]

Hi, if you want to nickel-plate, it must first be copper-plated, otherwise the nickel will not hold.

I galvanize my small parts with a zinc electrolyte and also use a pure zinc electrode on the minus pole, clean the parts in hydrochloric acid, rinse with water and about 3-5 minutes at 3 volts in the zinc bath. after cleaning and drying with water i have a stable albeit matt surface.

Tillyy