Cadmium Plating?

[Mcgyver24]

HI,

I’m trying to find a place to do a small cadmium plating job. I live in California (bay area) and all the local shops that I could find have a minimum charge of $125. I would like to get my U-Bolts and a few miscellaneous things done. It just seems ridiculous to spend $125 to cadmium plat these when I could buy them new for less. Any recommendations would be great. I prefer local but I am willing to ship. Thank you for your time.

 

[Dusty 66]

Yep Cadmium plating is Expensive, Because of EPA restrictions my local plating shop sends it out of town or to Mexico, so they have to charge more. I went with yellow and clear Zinc plating instead, 125 small pieces for $35. is not to bad.

 

[Morse_FJ40]

I had a place do my plating. The cad cost me $100 per lot. I had all my brake lines, fuel lines

 

[Splangy]

Yep Cadmium plating is Expensive, Because of EPA restrictions my local plating shop sends it out of town or to Mexico, so they have to charge more. I went with yellow and clear Zinc plating instead, 125 small pieces for $35. is not to bad.

Yup, I would be looking for yellow zinc (chromate) instead. Caswell sells a great DIY kit. I've been plating everything I can get my hands on since purchasing it a week ago.

 

[hedgehog23]

Yup, I would be looking for yellow zinc (chromate) instead. Caswell sells a great DIY kit. I've been plating everything I can get my hands on since purchasing it a week ago.

pictures?

 

[Splangy]

pictures?

 

[Splangy]

For those who have hardware and parts plated, how clean must they be initially? Does the process normally include some type of acid wash or other washing?

No intention of hijacking the thread, just thought it relevant.

Parts need to be thoroughly cleaned to bare metal, degreased, acid dipped, and then rinsed.

 

[Mcgyver24]

Thanks for all the info....

If I buy a system to DIY what system is the best?

 

[Cruiser804]

I have the caswell 2 gal. system and it is great for brackets and other medium pieces. But my project is at a standstill because I am dreading doing about 2 dozen bolts. They don't have a method, other than a homemade customized tumbler, to efficiently do small pieces like nuts and bolts. If you are planning on doing lots of nuts and bolts I'd bit the bullet and have someone else do them.

 

[Splangy]

I have the caswell 2 gal. system and it is great for brackets and other medium pieces. But my project is at a standstill because I am dreading doing about 2 dozen bolts. They don't have a method, other than a homemade customized tumbler, to efficiently do small pieces like nuts and bolts. If you are planning on doing lots of nuts and bolts I'd bit the bullet and have someone else do them.

Just pick up some brass wire at Lowe's and wrap it once around each bolt. I've done about 100 so far that way. It sucks at first but you'll be a pro by your second batch. I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it was. The brass wire is soft enough to bend easily around each bolt. You can do at least a dozen at a time. Bend the wire like an accordian to hold nuts and small brackets in place while plating.

 

[hedgehog23]

great thanks for the pictures, and the tips on the home process

 

[Downey]

When we cad plate, it's $65 minimum, but that includes barrel plating 50 to 100 lbs of small parts. The professional plater strips parts chemically, no need on our part to clean (they'll even remove paint). The problem is, however, we are a commercial account, and Joe-average-citizen may not get these prices. If you are not interested in home-plating, another option could be that several of you talk to Mark (Marks Off Road) about sending in your stuff when he sends in his stuff (i.e. ride piggy-back on his barrel plating)??
(I guess I should have talked to Mark first before I ran off at the jaw here---heck, bug him anyway)!!!!!

 

[KY Longhunter]

Does plating "rust proof" these parts, or at least slow down the process?

 

[Splangy]

Does plating "rust proof" these parts, or at least slow down the process?

Yup. In fact, that's the purpose of it. The zinc galvanically protects the steel bolt from corrosion and the yellow chromate (in this case - it could be any other chromate) provides a conversion coating to slow down the corrosion rate of the zinc (and gives it that cool iridescent finish).