Nickel plating bike parts - FORKS

[SSG]

Among the ingredients of simple green I think it comes down to these three. Sodium Citrate, Sodium Carbonate, and citric acid.
The Sodium Citrate was apparently used in brass plating in the past, not sure the particular reason.

Sodium carbonate solutions (concentrations up to 35%) are corrosive to aluminum, lead, and zinc and zinc brasses at 21 deg C.(22,25-27) Solid sodium carbonate is corrosive to aluminum at 100% relative humidity and normal temperatures.(27) It is not clear if moisture must be present for corrosion to occur with anhydrous sodium carbonate.(16) Sodium carbonate solutions are not corrosive to other common metals, such as stainless steel (types 300 series, 400 series and Carpenter 20Cb-3) (10% to saturated solutions), carbon steel (types 1010 and 1020), nickel cast iron, nickel and nickel-base alloys, such as Monel, Hastelloy and Incoloy, copper, copper-nickel, bronze, aluminum and silicon bronze, brass, Admiralty brass, titanium, tantalum and zirconium.(22,25-27)

Citric acid is pretty corrosive to most metals.

With the above chemicals it would be imaginable that some of the brass for example was dissolved into the liquid. Why it is then attracted to the bare metal screw I'm not sure.

 

[Indyjps]

Back to electroplating.

Built a box out of plywood and 1x4 the shape of forks and triple lined with construction plastic. Wanted to limit the amount of solution needed.

Got the zinc preplace done, stripped with aircraft remover, wire wheeled what was left, etched with muratic acid.

Since this is line of sight, I had to hold the zinc plate in some areas and turn the part frequently. I ran this at 6-8 volts which put down a lot of plating but it comes out rougher, will take some polishing prior to nickel.

This box took about a gallon and half of solution to work. I'm making a second gallon of nickel now.

Forks are 20" United full chromoly taper leg.

 

[Indyjps]

Out of nickel plating, these were darker than before, took a lot of anode moves to get these plated.

Polished up. Not as bright as the cranks, may dip these again, or try adding "brightener" saccharin (sweet and low) to the mix. Larger parts definately challenge this home set up.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looks good, but yes, could be lighter and shinier...
Still, compared to the costs of chrome, great result!

 

[Indyjps]

Anyone else up to try some stuff? I shut down the plating dept today, stored all the solution. Taking up too much room.

 

[Fv2]

I'll try the root killer copper plate at some point, just not sure when.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Anyone else up to try some stuff? I shut down the plating dept today, stored all the solution. Taking up too much room.

Thanks for your work Indyjps, I'm sure it will get us all thinking!

 

[Indyjps]

Reviving this thread. I still cant get copper plating to work

I have a big batch of simple green/soap/brass-bronze going. I tried to find brass that was cast, thinking it would break down a little easier. No idea on the metallurgy of my sacrificial plating parts, mostly plumbing valves or air fittings.

Crank arms, and majority of the hardware for a bike are in the solution. It took a few days on the bolt test I did, so we'll see. If it goes to crap, theyre all stripped and i can shoot them black.

Bike in question will be bmx trail banger, raw frame, with clear coat, brass and black parts.

 

[Indyjps]

The simple green / soap plating continues to mystify. I tried copper, bronze, and some cast bronze. Every time, it did not plate and turned the plating metal black. Stumped. I jist shot the parts with copper pearl mixed in automotive enamel clear coat.

I even made some new copper plating solution and gave it anothet try. DUD. I do make copper acetate for weed killer, the only cost is the vinegar, copper scraps, and electricity. Car battery charger or laptop charger works fine.

Zinc is the only plating I can get consistent results on, good adhesion, even coverage, polishes well. The nickel will adhere to zinc, but not to steel. It costs a lot more. So if I can get a good shine from zinc Ive been sticking with that.

 

[Muttley]

 

[LukeTheJoker]

View attachment 41254

Any updates on how these forks are looking 2 years later?

Almost tempted to try this myself...

 

[Indyjps]

Any updates on how these forks are looking 2 years later?

Almost tempted to try this myself...

Ill put some pics up, they look fine, I threw some wax on the forks and cranks last fall.

The 2 step process to zinc or copper plate, then nickel was tiring. Gotta have line of sight, the forks were challenging, cranks much easier. Find a variable power supply, low amps long plating makes a smooth coating, if you bump up the amps it gets cloudy and rough. I could not get good results with a battery charger.
This was all done to avoid paying for caswell's kits. Im sure they make a good product.

Play around with the zinc, if you can get it to plate nice, slow and strong, it polishes up pretty well and supplies are much less costly than nickel.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Ill put some pics up, they look fine, I threw some wax on the forks and cranks last fall.

The 2 step process to zinc or copper plate, then nickel was tiring. Gotta have line of sight, the forks were challenging, cranks much easier. Find a variable power supply, low amps long plating makes a smooth coating, if you bump up the amps it gets cloudy and rough. I could not get good results with a battery charger.
This was all done to avoid paying for caswell's kits. Im sure they make a good product.

Play around with the zinc, if you can get it to plate nice, slow and strong, it polishes up pretty well and supplies are much less costly than nickel.

Thanks for the update!

I would love to zinc plate and then gold passivate an entire frame and forks, but thinking that would be well out of the realms of a home builder... Might have to ring some places locally.