Zinc Yellow/Gold coating

[DaveDorson]

Anyone ever messed about with the do it yourself electrolytic cleaning and coating kits you can buy?

I've got a ton of fixtures and fitting that could do with being finished in that lovely stuff for the beetle, and which could, if I can do it cheap enough, save me a boat load of money on stainless steel bits and bobs.

[gm]

I was looking at doing just that recently but was put off by the need to have everything sand blasted before you electrolyse - if your nuts aren't shiney and clean, it won't take properly.

Plenty of vids on the youtube, looks simple enough to do once you have the right ingredients. I shall watch with interest if you do go ahead.

 

[DaveDorson]

27 minutes ago, gm said:

I was looking at doing just that recently but was put off by the need to have everything sand blasted before you electrolyse - if your nuts aren't shiney and clean, it won't take properly.

Plenty of vids on the youtube, looks simple enough to do once you have the right ingredients. I shall watch with interest if you do go ahead.

 

I've got a small blasting cabinet at the unit so I could get away with that, but I was looking at electrolytic cleaning as well, as that seems to do a better job of preparing the metal.

[jonny69]

They dundid it on Project Binky. I think that goes through the process pretty well.

[garbaldy]

Was it ratdat that had this set up in his resto thread on here ?

[mat_the_cat]

I've done it, but the finish is heavily dependant on the current used, the optimum value of which depends on the surface area to be plated. So not all that easy to work out other than by trial and error.

[MarvinsMom]

the other half has been getting loads of little bits of tat plated in "gold" zinc for her metro which has been getting restored for the last many years.

the last little box of tat included 2 hub bearing caps, half a dozen core plugs, a couple of banjo bolts, 2 oil bypass pipes and a couple of other odds.

it cost £20 at a local electroplating factory (allen chrome at pocklington) and the turnaround was a coupleof weeks, since little bits like that get put in with bigger orders and cos of the chinese disease.

i would be inclined just to do that instead of trying to piss about doing it yourself. plus chrome and zinc plating does use some proper nasty chemicals.

alternatively paint is a nice cheap, diy option.

[garbaldy]

Ive looked at some of the kits and they dont seem expensive at all,  my 40 year old colt still has some good looking bolts on it in a sort of gold colour so must last if done properly.