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Hey all,
I haven't posted in awhile, as it's been a busy summer. Been working on my Softail a little, instead of putting on a lot of factory bolt ons. The latest endeavor has been copper plating hardware and chrome parts. I don't and will not ride in the rain, so the corrision prone qualities of copper are not really of consequence to me. But the outstanding look is, as I transition this bike slowly toward a "Steam Punk" bend. Anyway, here are the results of my back porch brewed process:
Plated parts have to be either stripped (zinc plated) or etched (chrome plated) with sulfuric acid prior to plating. Then they are electro plated at two amps in a mixture of water, vinegar, copper sulfate pentahydrate, and copper tubing. So far I have just been limited by the size of my battery acid container! I will be trying larger components soon, and will let you all know how that works!
Oh, FWIW, aluminum takes very easily to this as well.
I haven't posted in awhile, as it's been a busy summer. Been working on my Softail a little, instead of putting on a lot of factory bolt ons. The latest endeavor has been copper plating hardware and chrome parts. I don't and will not ride in the rain, so the corrision prone qualities of copper are not really of consequence to me. But the outstanding look is, as I transition this bike slowly toward a "Steam Punk" bend. Anyway, here are the results of my back porch brewed process:
Plated parts have to be either stripped (zinc plated) or etched (chrome plated) with sulfuric acid prior to plating. Then they are electro plated at two amps in a mixture of water, vinegar, copper sulfate pentahydrate, and copper tubing. So far I have just been limited by the size of my battery acid container! I will be trying larger components soon, and will let you all know how that works!
Oh, FWIW, aluminum takes very easily to this as well.
Actually, I am kind of shooting for a little of the copper patina eventually with this anyway, so it needs to age a little. I guess I can always replate it too!
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