Nickel Plating

[natemoen]

Has anyone ever had anything nickel plated and left it at that. I know most things that are chromed are first copper and then nickel plated before the chrome. I am just wondering how nickel plating holds up over time. Is it easy to scratch? Easy to buff and clean?

I am just looking at different options for coatings this winter when I tear my bike apart and I really like the look of nickel but dont know much about it.

On another note what are the MNS engines coated with to make them black? I am guessing its not ceramic because then the engine would not cool properly.

TIA

[DiverRay]

The chrome over the nickel is for protection. Nickel is fairly soft, as it IS a type of silver. The chrome plate over the nickel allows it to stand up to most of the stuff thrown at it.
The MNS engine is painted black. They use a paint that will hold up to 500F, IIRC. The BIG thing is a primer for the aluminum. Self etching primer is what should be used, just in a SMALL amount. Then paint with a gloss high temp enamel, and back with engine heat!(110MPH for 20 minutes should do it!)

[jmnjrpa]

Read

this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel

[CatatonicBug]

Then paint with a gloss high temp enamel

The MNS engine is not gloss (at least not on mine). The engine case is flat black (or at least something that is not shiny unless it's wet), and the outer covers are high-gloss.

[jmnjrpa]

Obtw

Nickel is nickel and silver is silver. The name nickel-silver is for an alloy of the two. Nickel itself is hard- you have probably seen nickel plated guns. The reason chrome is used over nickel is that chrome is far more reflective but needs the nickel for corrosion protection. Triple plated chrome is a misnomer. You start with copper for adhesion then nickel for corrosion then chrome for looks. Bright nickel looks good but is more gray and less reflective than chrome. I do plating in copper, silver, nickel, "black krome", gold, etc..

[natemoen]

So one person saying its soft one person saying its hard. On the Mohs scale (according to wikipedia) its a 4 and chromium is a 8.5, don't really know how to interpret this though. I really kinda like the silvery gold look of the nickel but I don't want something on the bike that is just going to scratch up at the slightest little rock hit.

[jmnjrpa]

Perspective

Chrome is VERY hard. You will have far less scratches with chrome than nickel. Soft, on the other hand would be copper, silver. or gold. A matter of perspective. Chrome is used in cutting tools to cut steel. EPA is very heavy on chrome platers because it is highly toxic. Nickel is heralded as the green metal for it's non -toxcinity. The thickness of plating is also different as chrome is usually only .0005" thick where nickel is usually .003 to .01" thick.

[81xsproject]

Nickel is nickel and silver is silver. ...

Yeah, I'd have to back that one up. If they were the same thing, they wouldn't have their own places on the Periodic Table of Elements.