What's the best way for me to go?

[LKid403]

Hey Guys,

I have a 67 GTO that I would like to restore. This of course is going to mean a lot of parts will need to be refinished, such as knobs, bezels, trim, mirrors etc.

I am fairly handy, but don't know ANYTHING about refinishing metal. My question is:

Would I be getting in over my head by trying to refinish the parts myself, would I save money if I could do my own refinishing,
is it dangerous (fumes, fires etc),
how much room in a work area would I need,
how much money to start out?

Any and all help and/or sugestions would be great.

Thanks

Lonnie

LKid403@excite.com

[dadkar2]

I am fairly handy, but don't know ANYTHING about refinishing metal. My question is:

Would I be getting in over my head by trying to refinish the parts myself?

My answers in red below address your questions, assuming your plating tanks are under 5 gallons each.

Chances are if you are very handy, you have the aptitude to figure this out. With the help of the Forum and Caswell's applications support, you can do it.

would I save money if I could do my own refinishing

In my opinion, the real value of "personal plating" is that you have full control over the quality. Also, it is a very satisfying and rewarding hobby. But depending on how much you are going to do, you could save money as well.


is it dangerous (fumes, fires etc),

Any time you handle chemicals there is some risk. But it is not unmanageable, if you take reasonable precautions, such as gloves and goggles when mixing chemicals and handling cleaning solutions and acids. Also, you'll want to find an area that can be locked out of harms way of little children.

Of course, you'll have to dispose of spent solutions in a responsible manner. Dumping things down the drain is not responsible.


how much room in a work area would I need,

For just plating small parts, you don't need much room. An 8x8 area with a sink would do it. For blasting and polishing, you'll need additional areas that are NOT shared with the plating area. You need to keep dust out of the plating tanks.

how much money to start out?

Just price out Caswell's plating kit. Add in the power supplies and you are close. If you plan to sandblast and polish, you'll need to figure:

Blaster and Blasting Medium: $300
Compressor to run 6scfm blaster: $300
Buffing Motor and Supplies: $200

I would guess you could get started from scratch for under $1200 if you already own a compressor.

If you want to start out with tanks greater than 5 gallons, then I can't advise you. I personally would not start out learning on huge tanks, where the risk of making a mistake could result in a lot of wasted chemicals, disposal problems, and/or environmental damage (and the cleanup costs and fines!)

Kind regards,
Ken

Any and all help and/or sugestions would be great.

[dadkar2]

Here's another thought. Although you don't have to do this to be successful at plating, you should consider taking a first year chemistry class at a local community college, with a lab. You'll learn the fundamentals of dealing with chemicals which, if you haven't had expose to this, will pay off in your plating practice.

Kind regards,
Ken

[dadkar2]

Give yourself plenty of time to read Caswell's manual and learn. His manual is by far the best single source of info on the topic. Also, use the Internet with Google searches to dive down into topics and read about tricks of the trade. There are a lot of good articles written out there by various experts.

Kind regards,
Ken

[LKid403]

Ken,

Thanks for your responses, I will take your advise and start out with the small tanks after I have read the manuals. I do own a compressor and a small sand blaster already, so I guess I'm a couple of steps ahead from the start.

The restoring of the GTO is a hobby, and a labor of love, which I'm giving myself a couple to three yrs to do, time and money permitting.

In the 60's, chrome was a large part of the car, and as you said, being able to control the qualty would be a great help, I had just assumed that qualty was the same thru-out the industry, hadn't ever really thought about it before.

Maybe, after I get an ideal of what I'm doing, I can branch out into the power coating, that looks like it could be a lot of fun and very useful for both home and auto applications.

Well guy, had better get back to Thanksgiving with the family.

Best Regards

Lonnie

[Coley]

Even if you don't do all of your parts, you will gain respect for people that do a great job on your die-cast parts and that charge accordingly....
I give my new parts to a local shop to do but I work on restoration parts myself....