Nickel plating in the UK

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fenty
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Posts: 31
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:48 pm

Nickel plating in the UK

Post by fenty »

ImageAfternoon folks. I'm helping my dad restore a 1915 BSA and being a wartime machine, the brightwork was nickel plated instead of chrome. I've got a lot of fiddly bits and pieces to get done and I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for companies in the UK. There's none here in northern ireland.

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Cheers...
old git
Part of the Furniture
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Joined: Wed May 30, 2018 7:06 pm

Re: Nickel plating in the UK

Post by old git »

hi fenty any chromer should be able to do this as nickel plating is part of the process nickel is chromed to give a more hard wearing finish, hope this helps.
Kawazuki
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Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:51 pm

Re: Nickel plating in the UK

Post by Kawazuki »

Or you can buy kits for home DIY use - maybe ideal for smaller items but the bars and brake pushrod may be a bit too big!
fenty
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Posts: 31
Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:48 pm

Re: Nickel plating in the UK

Post by fenty »

I need a professional job doing to be honest. The bike is 105 years old, I think it deserves better than my cack handed attempts :o
Chopper303
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Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2019 5:44 pm

Re: Nickel plating in the UK

Post by Chopper303 »

Many years ago, I worked in an electro plating company until the chemicals gave me raging Dermatitus and bloody painful it was too. Anyway, for those that don't know the process, it is not as simple as you think.

First of all, ALL the parts MUST be de-greased, then rinsed. Assuming you want a mirror finish, every thing is then mirror polished and rinsed again. For a top class finish, the next step is copper plating, then a thorough rinse before nickel plating. Once the nickel plate is rinsed off the parts then get chrome plated. The depth of plating is governed by the electric current and the length of time the parts are dipped in the various solutions, IE: copper, nickel and chrome. If the parts are not left in the different solutions for a sufficiently long enough time you will be able to see patches of nickel through the chrome. Nickel plate has a brownish tint, chrome has a bluish tint.

Now if you want something RE-chromed, things get complicated and a bit messy. The process for stripping chrome can be literally explosive. First of all everything has to be de-greased. Then the parts are wired to a metal frame which is then lowered into the stripping solution and hooked onto an elctric bar. The process is sort of a reverse of the plating process. However, the main component of the stripping solution is a form of Cyanide. The Cyanide gives off a highly explosive and deadly poisonous vapor. Once the parts have been submerged in the solution with an electric current running through the bar and the frame that the parts are wired to. If there is NOT a clean break between the frame and the bar there will be spark that can ignite the gas and cause one hell of a bang. First time it happened when I worked there, was not long after leaving the army. Needless to say, when I heard the bang I took cover and was ready to return fire!! My reaction really spooked a couple of guys that were nearby. Looking back I suppose it was funny, but at the time I really didn't think so. But that may give you an idea of how much of a bang there was.

Once the parts have been de-chromed they are rinsed very thoroughly and go through the whole process as described above. I have to say that the polishing is the worst part of the job. Filthy is an understatement. Several different types of polishing soaps and several different types of mop are used. You need to wear a full boiler suit/coverall, mask and without a doubt you must wear eye protection. The parts get hot enough to give you severe burns even through leather gloves. The polishing soap melts as it gets hot and creates a sort of wax mist which gets everywhere. You end up covered in it. If you get a tiny spec of it in your eye, you are going to hospital. If you get it in a cut, it stings like hell. Before plating of any kind, the parts have to be mirror polished. Any blemishes will show through the plating. As with most hings, the preparation is the key to good results.

There are two main reasons that there are fewer and fewer plating companies around. First of all COSTS. As I have explained, polishing is a dirty filthy job, bloody hard work and not a pleasant working environment, massive amounts of dust, very hot parts and the polishing soap as described. Nobody wants to do it, so good wages have to be paid. Polishing equipment is expensive and so are the materials. EVERY plating company has to either have their own polishing shop or have access to a polishing company. Costs for this set up alone are very high.

The other main reason that there are so few electro platers is the environment issues. A lot of the chemicals and waste for and from electro plating can be dangerous and certainly NOT good for your health, so you have to have licences from the Environment Agency and or the local council. Tests and inspections for waste disposal are very strict and hideously expensive. ALL of the chemicals and waste have to be accounted for and disposed of very carefully with special euipment. None of it is cheap.

Have a look at some of the "Custom Chrome" parts on ebay. The quality is quite frankly bloody awful. Chrome is an extremely hard material, so is Nickel. 99% of chrome parts nowadays have no copper plate underneath. That is to reduce costs. The parts are very poorly polished or prepared, that is oiff they are polished at all. When you look at the parts you will see fabrication marks, pits and welding spatter. The chrome plating is so thin you can see the nickel plating underneath, especially in corners and on the edges. This is because the parts have not been in the chrome vat long enough. To get into the corners the solutions need extra time. I am talking about triple show chrome, which virtually nobody in the uk does anymore. Triple show chrome is copper, nickel and chrome with an initial mirror polishing.

I used to work for Revolution Motorcycles in Northampton, building custom bikes and trikes, I learnt how to polish while I was there. I still have a proper polishing machine, all the mops and soaps. I polish all my own stainless steel and alloy parts. My machine is the most powerful single phase machine you can get. I hate the job, but love the results. I usually wear those paper overalls and a clear visor with welding gloves. I have burnt through the gloves many times and actually set fire to several mops. The paper overalls usually last one session before they are ruined. I have never seen anyone get the kind of results you get from a proper machine by using a bench grinder type set up. You can get parts shiny with a bench grinder on alloy, but to get all the pits and scratches out and finish with that really deep shine, you need the power of a proper machine. Without doubt, a 3 phase machine gives the best results as it is so much stronger and faster, but then you really get into the serious heat problems etc.

If enough folk are interested I will do a sample polish piece and start a thread about it with pictures. Please let me know if you are interested.

Chopper.
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