TOPIC:

Fed-up with the spotty results from a local plater, Kansas Area. Anybody suggest a proper source? Got lots of stuff and have exhausted the resources local for years here in the K.C Metropolitan area.

And NO i don't want a shady Eastwood/Caswell job homebrew lacky job

I'd give you my source but you wouldn't like it.

P1010528 by nessism , on Flickr

Even thought Steve at Tripp Platting still has my last batch of stuff I’d still recommend him. Quality is good.

I know you do your own plating Ness and it looks nice. Years ago i experimented with the Eastwood kit. Well i could get it looking good also but i would test pieces by leaving them outside in the elements for a month or so. They all spot/flash rusted or developed a white powder/oxidation. Just want a Commercial barrel plater that produces consistent results. Thanks for the tip Matt!

Use a legit company, not some garage hack.

Exactly! Remember when powdercoating first took off for the DIYer? Everybody bought an oven and powder from Eastwood and was in BUSINESS. They had no clue how to properly prep, ha.

Just to be clear, I am NOT offering my services. It's too much work. There are various steps involved in order to do the job right and this all takes time. Replating is different from plating something from fresh metal and it's not surprising to me that some shops don't want to fuss around too much for little side jobs like someone's motorcycle parts.

You will get better results if you prep the parts yourself before sending them out. Fully degrease is the first step. This involves using solvent cleaning for the grime followed by caustic soda and/or an alkaline cleaner. Next step is removing the old plating using acid. Diluted HCl works well. Dip the parts and when they stop bubbling remove them quickly before smut builds up on the metals surface. Next I like to bead blast the parts to expose fresh metal, followed by another cleaning step. Next is wire wheeling using a clean stainless wheel. Amazon sells packages of small dremel sized wheels that work well to get into the various nooks and crannies of the parts, including the threads. Then it's cleaning time yet again. If the part is properly clean water will sheet on the surface.. If the part is dipped in water and pulled out, and you see water beads form, that means the metal is not properly clean yet. For larger parts I use a gray scotchbrite pad to scrub with something like simple green until the parts pass the water sheet test.

If the parts are prepped nicely before delivering them to the plater then the results coming back is likely to be good. Needles to say plating houses don't like to fuss to the extent I've detailed out above, which is likely the reason for the inconsistent results.

I absolutely understand all the prep-work involved!! Everything i took was as clean as the Health Dept, if they are that clean to start with. But i removed all the existing sacrificial coating by bead-blasting it off then as You mention, whire-wheel it and remove any burrs and correct threads. And as you well know Ness thru your experience is the parts only come out as good as the prep, Zinc doesn't make-up for pitting, rounded corners, etc. What happened is a couple different fellas were doing the barrel plating, one more knowledgeable than the other, didn't use brightner and didn't leave it in long enough. So even though ALL parts were prepped exactly the same some came out glorious and some grey and dull. One huge advantage of barrel plating is you don't leave shadow marks on parts where they are electrically wire tied. And Yes a lot of production houses don't fiddle with such a small batch of assorted hardware. I see you did some footpegs. Had them do a few for the Z's, those came out great and i didn't even have to remove the rubber! Rubber was not affected and got a good cleaning, ha.

In my experiences the plater/replater could care less how the hardware arrived. Their process took care of the cleaning. Spending the extra money on a high end company pays off. Also, buy extra hardware and include it with your order. You can find hardware lots for specific bikes on ebay, I try to include at least one of those in my order.

Also....different platers/companies, different colors.

Correct Kawie, that's how it's supposed to work But.. I took my stuff to a place that does a lot of commercial/aerospace plating. Like Ness mentioned it's hard to find a qualified/properly equipped joint that will even give a small batch fella a second glance if they don't bring in a truck load. They, as you mentioned, said they didn't care how it came into them, rusty crusty. I just wanted to make sure the items i brought to them were a viable commodity even worthy of the process? I restore the ole Z's for a living and just looking for the best product for the friends that intrust these gems with me. And the colors Do vary between companies And even within the same company, batches of finished product. Even have a company that does Cadmium for really old bikes, that's some nasty stuff.

Oh and also, yes volumes of used hardware is available on ebay but i have tupperware containers of it already. Not a big fan of superseded or aftermarket so i don't use them.