Normy

Have any of you any experience with this company and it's products? This is really fascinating!

I'm thinking that a "spider" intake...done in black chrome would be awesome!

Maybe not; the black chrome, according to website, can't be done to aluminum. But they have a bunch of products that could be used to dress up dozens of parts....

N!

Here it is/no affiliation: http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/index.html

sublimate

The chemicals involved are natsy and almost impossible for you to dispose of properly without paying through the nose. And , like anything, there's a lot more work and experience needed to get a good result than the lead you to believe on that website.

Send your parts off the a chrome shop. With the custom harley/chopper fad going on there's a ton of them and they're cheap because of all the competition. They'll do a much better job than you can do at home for less money.

Normy

I'm not planning to chrome anything; I was fascinated by the process is all. Thank you for your input sublimate. I'll continue the thread, hoping for feedback on the kit's themselves.

N!

RyanPerrella

I think anodizing at home has been around for years, i know thats a fairly easy process as in its maybe 2 steps, including a rinse. Chrome i wouldnt do at home but anodizing i would think should definately be a DIY job if youve got the space and the time to set it up properly?

tv

I bought my pro buffer from them. Good service, but a lot of their stuff is outdated and major league labor intensive. 3M sell the best polishing wheels and supplies, next generation from those bars at caswell. Almost everything they sell will create a major mess.

Koenig928

I've used caswell's "Electroless Krome plating kit" with some good results. I pulled the tank off the shelf tonight to do some plating for the engine rebuild. The kit really works great for small parts, or for anything that can fit in the tank.

The plating solution is an acid nickel/cobalt process. Parts look like chrome when done, but the shine depends surface prep, the more you polish the part the brighter the plate. The "electroless" thing means that you essentially boil the plating solution to deposit the plating on the part, its kinda cool to watch. There's no electrode wires to connect to your parts, just drop it the tank when the temp. gets to 195 F.. The part will start forming tiny bubbles when the plate deposits. Plating thickness depends on time left in the solution.

But I must say the kit is labor intensive. You have to manage the solution based on how much surface area you plate so you don't deplete the mixture and screw the pH up. And the quality of your finished piece depends on how much surface prep. done. (just like painting). For the parts in the picture, I dipped them in muriatic acid first, then either buffed them out or ran them under a steel wire wheel brush, and finally dipped in lacquer thinner to remove any grease before going into the plating tank.

It seems like alot of hassel, but it works well for my needs and is pretty convenient. Just wanted to share that with everyone.

Vilhuer

There are new style paints available which will mimic chrome. It's very expensive but worth it.

Pizza

I got the electroless cadium plater. I paid $40.00 for it. It didn't work very well at all. When I called to send it back they said I could only get $20.00 back. They had to charge me $20.00 for the instruction book. I told them I didn't want the book and would send it back too. They said I could have copied their "trade secrets" and the book is never refundable. What a bunch of crap.

Giovanni

Can't you get almost the same result with chrome powder coating?

heinrich

Bill those look great.

Robert_H

I like it.

I know that it seems like a hassle, but for the serious DIY person it's just another thing to try. I am going to give it a shot as well. Good looking work !

Rob

Bill Ball

Bill:

You talk about surface prep being the key to shine with this home electroless process. It's just as important with standard electroplating. You would get the same result with rough parts.

Rob:

I'd like to see the kit in action, if you get one.

Koenig928

Thanks for the compliments. The parts can look brand new when they come out right.

I'm sure it is, for some of the less visible pieces I didn't bother polishing them out. Just strip 'em with acid and wire brush to get rid of any corrosion/rust. The surface will show whatever imperfection when it plates, but it doesnt really matter (to me) when it's a hidden piece, like the exhaust mounts, oil lines... But for the stuff you can see like the throttle quad, cam cover bolts, etc, I'll buff those out as good as I can.

Give me some time, I'll fire the tank up again and get some pictures.

Robert_H

Yes, I'd like to try that out.

I have a vibratory cleaner that I bought from Eastwood a while ago (with several types of their media). I use it here at work becuase then I can actually get some car stuff done while I am working... instead of wasting time doing work (understand ?). The room next to where I work is also where the air-conditioning units are for the entire complex... pretty noisy. A perfect place to run a large rock-tumbler type device and have nobody hear it.

Well, after I first clean a part by hand, I then place it into the cleaner (going through the various cycles using different media). I bet items that go through that would look great using this DIY plating process.

Something else for me to try...

Rob

Koenig928

Ok, here you go.

Kit comes with exact instructions to get everything setup. You measure, what they call Parts A, B, and C together and add distilled water to make up a batch of solution. Then as you plate your parts, you've got to add tiny amounts of Part A (metal solution), Part C (acid), and water to replenish the mixture and keep it balanced. This is all based on the plating surface area as you burn up the 'plating credits' in the tank. (they tell you how to calculate this).

They give you a plastic 5 gal. tank, but you can use basically any container to fit a larger part if needed, just make sure its clean. The cool part with the 5 gal tank is you can seal it when finished and store it. My tank (and mixed solution) has been sitting on the shelf for almost 1 1/2 yrs, and worked fine the other day.

Just a word of caution, don't go sticking your nose in the stuff when its hot, it'll be self critiquing..

Good luck if you decide to get one, they're kind of neat to play around with.