flash copper

[fullthrottle24]

i just got my 5 gallon triple chrome set up, and iam having trouble with the flash coppper and bright copper, iam plating alum, motorcycle pieces, plating alum do i need flash copper and the bright cooper?, i start by zincating the piece, wich comes out fine, but when i go to flash copper most of the piece comes out nice yet some parts of the same piece, have little bubbles in the plate? what iam i doing wrong? also i have a 6 or 7 pieces that have been copper plated, do i need to strip it down bare metal again or polish it and copper plate again,

[moto-chrome]

I'll be honest with you, like many other people you have picked the worst stuff to plate. Motorcycle aluminum is extremely difficult to do. Here's how I do it.

1. Wash it with your favorite cleaner (ceramic stove-top cleaner is best)
2. Dip it in pickle #3 and watch to see if it fizzes. The more fizz the more difficult to plate. If it doesn't fizz at all then you will have no problem with this part.
3. Never buff before zincating. You should be sanding wet 600. Get used to examine the surface using a small microscope 60 - 100x. With experience you will be able to see trouble spots.
4. Personally I then dip it in Caswell's de-oxidizer 1 min. Rinse well then a short dip in pickle #3. Rinse and Double zincate (zincate,remove it with pickle #3, then zincate again). Proper zincating is the key to Flash copper adhesion.
5. Rinse well (and I mean get a garden hose gun not just the tap in the kitchen). Place in your flash copper tank at 1 amps/15 sq.in for 30 seconds then drop the amperage to 0.33 amps/15 sq.in. for 30 min.

Typically some areas will plate well and some area are bubbly. You must sand down the bubbly areas and examine with the microscope to find out why it is lifting. You do NOT need to remove all the copper. Only the bad areas. Start over as many times as necessary. Finally some aluminum parts are next to impossible to plate in this manner. Some guys strike with Nickel instead of Flash copper.

Good luck

[fullthrottle24]

Thanks alot, i will try that tonight, so theres no need to buff the part, and make it look like chrome, before plating? because thats were i spend most of my time is buffing to get a mirror finish before plating, what does the buffing do to the metal, before zincate?

[moto-chrome]

I find the zincate doesn't penetrate a polished Alluminum. Even after 30 seconds in the Zincate (and that's a lot) you can still see a sheen through the zinc. You can plate over it with Flash copper but it will peel off easily.

A sanded Aluminum reacts a lot quicker in the Zincate say 5 to 10 seconds. The danger here is too much Zinc deposit (darker appearance). Plate over this and it will blister.

So what I do is I Zincate till it starts to change color noting the number of seconds. Rinse it off and examin it. If too dark to my liking, I stick it in pickle #3 for15 seconds, rinse and start over, this time reducing the number of seconds.(or vica versa if it looks too shiny). Do this as many times as you wish until the zincated Aluminum is exactly the right color.

[cprocess]

The polishing comes in after the copper plate. After the copper strike, make sure all of the zincate is COMPLETELY covered with copper. Then plate with your bright copper to build enough copper thickness to buff. Rinse and dry, then buff until completely smooth, increasing sandpaper grit until you get smooth enough to polish. Sometimes, depending on how rough the part is, I have had to copper plate, buff, copper plate, buff, copper plate, buff, polish. Make sure that before you return the part to any plating bath after polishing, that you clean the part well to make sure you have removed all dirt and buffing compounds, then acid dip to reactivate, rinse then plate.

[moto-chrome]

Just one note: The reason I use the ceramic stovetop cleaner is that it contains Citric Acid and it re-activates copper as it cleans therefore the acid dip is not necessary.

[tbreaden]

Does the temp of the zincate make any difference? And what is the exact color in zincate are you looking for?

[moto-chrome]

TBREADN

Room temperature is just fine. I'm afraid only experience will teach you what the right colour is.