Hey I’m new to this forum and to plating in general. I am an amateur gunsmith mostly for myself but I occasionally do work for friends. I am interested getting in to possibly chrome and or gold some firearms. The thing is I have absolutely no clue as to where to start. I noticed that casewell has some plating kits but what would be best for doing an entire gun? I figure that it would be best to start small but I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed as to whats out there. Any tips?

i have been trying to do 2 coat applications for some time now. at first i thought my gun was not good enough or i did not have a good enough ground. i have been trying to shoot black chrome and transparent red over ultra chrome. both the red and the black chrome hits the steel gas tank or what ever and just slides right down the side and on to the floor. i have tried hot flocking with mixed results. on intricate pieces its hard to get even coverage.

yesterday for the first time i shot supper wet black. when it came out of the oven i was not happy with the coverage, so after it cooled back down to room temp i shot a second coat (what could it hurt) to my surprise it went on evenly and looked great. just for laughs i tried a third and fourth coat it went on perfect every time.

so now i tried to duplicate this result with the chrome and black chrome, but it turned out just like before. the black just hit the part and slid right to the floor.

what gives?
anyone else had trouble with a second coat over ultra chrome?

i know this has been done to death i used the search function but could not find the answer to my particular problem. so please can some one help a brother out and educate me.

thanks

i see a viedo thats was very cool, the guy film a whole process of anodizing im really interested on anodize i would like to do it my self, mostly for bike parts or any small thing.
I WANT TO ANODIZE ALUMINIUM ONLY

i see the materials i need are SULFURIC ACID, DEGREASER, DISTILLED WATER, and i know that for keep the color on the Al it must be use a SEALANT. and a few more that i dont know wish are they.

1.-the acid must be diluted 1:3 -? acid:distilled water, i didnt understand that very well can someone explain?

2.-what type of deagreaser i must get?,,, where can i find it?

3.- what kinda sealant is ?,,, where can i find it?

4.- i see the guy heat the acid and degreaser, how do i get it heat?,,,, all fluids are going to be on a plastic box so i cant use fire on them, what can i put under the box, to get the fluids inside heat with out damage the plastic box I do not want to make a hole in the box thanks to the heat with the acid inside.

5.- theres a bunch of colors for the anodize process, what are they made of where do i get them?,, i want red first

6.- what kinda of electrical power do i need ?

7.- i need a amp meter to regulate the amp power, this guy(the one i see anodizing on a video) use one of these DC Power Supply – Switching Power Supply (Powered by CubeCart) ,,,how does this thing work and where is this thing connected, a little details about this thing will be helpful

i belive thats it if i miss something tell me i kida planted everything in question it may be confuse, but i mostly want to know what do i need to get started.

put the question number before your answer, so i can related easier.

SORRY FOR MY ORTHOGRAPHY is not my language

THANKS.

Hi, I’m totally new to this area of expertise. I understand that aluminum must be zincated before nickel plating. But I have a couple of questions about plating aluminum (or any metal surface, for that matter.)

I’m working with a metal foundry person and sometimes his parts pits in them from sandcasting. Sometimes it’s nothing, but other times they can be atrociously bad. Will plating "fill" these pits and leave me with a smooth surface?

Another question is – does the surface of the part I will be plating need to be sanded and/or polished to a smooth shiny surface before plating, or can it be plated when it’s still dull? And I don’t mean a rough casting, I mean after it has been sanded smooth but not polished to a shine.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I have a set of rims I want to powder coat, they’re off a 2010 camaro and have no scratches or anything wrong with them. Would it be okay to primer the rims then powder coat them instead of stripping the factory coating off the rims. I seen someone do it in a youtube video. If its okay what primer should I use. Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

Hey guys a newbie question here I was thinking about powder coating my polished aluminum Weld wheels with a high gloss clear coat and wanted to see if you think this a good idea or not? I would be powdering a highly polished wheel and obviously wouldn’t blast them. Do you think I would have adhesion problems? Would the aluminum turn yellowish color with just a clear powder applied? I planned on cleaning them well and out gassing them. I would think if they we’re to change color this would happen during the out gassing process…Any tips would be appreciated.I’m using a Caswell gun and figured shooting them at 50kv. Should I pre heat them to say 150 degrees prior to clearing for better adhesion? Here’s a pic of the wheel.Thanks for your help

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Hi,
I’ve been looking for someone to brass plate a single small piece for me, and all the companies I’ve asked come back with quotes that go beyond what it’s worth to me. I found the site when I searched for do-it-yourself solutions, but I don’t need a kit just to do this one piece. I was hoping someone in the forum would be able to help me out for a modest fee, or point me to a company that could.

I’m restoring an old banjo ukulele, and I’ve located a tail piece for it (that’s where the strings attach, opposite the tuning end), but it has a bright nickel finish, where the rest of the instrument’s hardware is brass. I was wondering what it would cost me to have a single tail piece brass plated. It’s small, about one inch by one inch, bent into a lopsided W shape. It has a post coming out of one side where the strings will be tied on. I’ve attached a somewhat blurry image of one. The brass plate would need to be fairly durable, too, as the strings will tie on the post and then rest against the middle bend of the W, but not too thick, as it needs to fit on the banjo uke’s edge. The strings are nylon, and there’s about 20 to 30 pounds of pressure on them.

Thank you for any help you can give.

Best regards,
Matt Clara

mattclara [@] gmail dot com

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hi anyone,

im wish to give clients the option of rose gold for their taps along with the usual gold platitun but im finding it had to be able to find any.I understand that the self life on the rose gold isnt very long so only want to buy in smaller quantities.I have read somewhere that if i add coppper strike to the 24kt gold it will produce a rose coloure gold is this correct and is it just as simple as adding half and half copper and gold ?

thanks in advance

m

hi all,has been a while

got these porsche wheels in to polish and ive never seen pitting like them,they are really bad,now i spent a day at them(1 wheel) with 80 grit compound and still didnt remove all the pitting,now im kinda saying to myself i cant go any further or im going to really weaken the wheel.
have been on to the customer and he’s saying he’s not to worried as long as there shiney(lol) now to me i dont want to see work leave my workshop sub-standard but i also dont want to spend a day on each wheel first stage sanding(5 rims)

now i have had some shocking bad pitting in wheels before but usually get them out with a bit of a fight but these are really bad,i tryed one with 150 grit compound to just smooth them out and they are ok but obviously not mirror finish standard,so what would any of you people do?

ps..customer has said what he will pay and no more

1st pic showing after a clean up(doesnt really show how bad the pitting is) 2nd pic after 80grit and 150grit compound(still pitting)

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I’m attempting to match the finish of an Apple iPad2 and am having a really hard time. I’m pretty sure that the ipad is fine bead blasted aluminum clear coat anodized. I’ve had samples done at a few local finishing shops and nothing seems to match at all. I also setup a little home rig and haven’t had any better luck. Here is the closest sample –
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/455762/IMG_6671.JPG
Everything is coming out too dark and too matt. Before finishing the raw bead blast looks very similar to the ipad. I looked at the divots under a microscope and they seem to be of similar size as the divots on the finished ipad. I’m using 6061 stock with #13 glass bead blast media.
Can anyone shed any light? What about a bright dip process?
Thank you for the help!