Hey fellas and femme fatales,
It’s great to be here in the forum. Tons of great advice and techniques in here! My debut post comes from a place of inexperience and wandering curiosity, so take that into consideration when reading… I’m trying to achieve a fade from a matte black to a gold plating on a SS substrate. This is an ideal, but if it’s not possible to either plate onto a blackened stainless steel (before or after sealing?), or blacken the gold plating to achieve a slight fade between the two, the next best alternative would be greatly appreciated. Again, it’s great to be here. Any and all help is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Zach

I use natural gas here and was wondering if its safe to used a normal gas cooking stove for curing powder coat?

Hello,

My name is Arvydas, and I am from Lithuania.

Yesterday I and my friend try to anodizing aluminum. But I thing we do something wrong, because is not happened.

Can you give me some or all information, how to do that perfectly? What is the main think? What are the paint are you using and so on.

Sorry if I did mistake in writing “no skills”

Thank you very much in advance

Waiting you’re an any answer

So I have built my first oven it is 5•5•7 I have instald 6, 3000watt elements, and here is where I am totally lost, when I look up ssr’s it starts talking about in put and out put and I don’t have a clue. The pdi’s talk about alarms and other things I don’t have a clue about, so if someone could tell witch ssr’s I need and how many and what pdi would control it I would be most greatful. Thanks to anyone that could.

Hi All,

I’ve got a strange issue here: I’m a metal sculptor and have started working with Aluminum (Mig Welding with 4043 wire and a spool gun). When I go to polish my finished piece, (after sanding from 80-400, then polishing with black then white rouge) I’m getting discoloration on the areas where the weld was (but has the same nice smooth surface finish as the surrounding material).

Oddly enough, this discoloration is not present until AFTER the polishing process. (The very smooth post 400 grit surface does not show the discoloration).

Any thoughts? I’m not sure what specific alloy the bulk aluminum was (scrapyard special) if it has an effect.

Thanks
Brian

Attached Thumbnails

 

Bought Copy Cad 5gallon setup. Probably plated less than 15 times with it. It is new solution. My first practice pieces on 5" copper pipe came out good. So did the 2-3 steel motorcycle pieces after that (largest steel pieces I have done) over 100sq.in. After that all the pieces (10sq.in or less) I have done come out blotchy, uneven and slightly discolored. Like a very light brown. Been following Caswell instructions.
100-110′ Zinc Bath Agitated
160-180 SP Degreaser
Using .14amps/sq.in.
Have 25amp rectifier from Caswell, using digital multimeter to measure current to set calculated plating amps needed.
Looking for bright zinc finish.

Noticed where the wire hanger runs near and on some edges of the part there seems to be less or no discoloration.

Discoloration isn’t as noticeable in pictures, so I have one pictures shows piece next to store bought bolt

Couple pictures:
http://www.rohrmotorworks.com/2012-0…M156%20004.JPG
http://www.rohrmotorworks.com/2012-0…M156%20008.JPG
http://www.rohrmotorworks.com/2012-0…M156%20009.JPG

Appreciate any help and suggestions.
Thanks

Specifically: aluminum, steel and stainless steel using an emery compound. Looking to save a little money…

Also, when ordering spiral wheels, you can choose either 40 or 80 ply….why would that matter?

Thanks,
Adam

I read where some use a clear chromate after they zinc plate using Copy-Cad. I do not see where Caswell sells any clear chromate. Where can I buy some clear?

Specifically: aluminum, steel and stainless steel using an emery compound. Looking to save a little money…

Also, when ordering spiral wheels, you can choose either 40 or 80 ply….why would that matter?

Thanks,
Adam

I read where some use a clear chromate after they zinc plate using Copy-Cad. I do not see where Caswell sells any clear chromate. Where can I buy some clear?