PLATING POT METAL...............

[Coley]

I will check with him on Monday and get back to you....

[chromepl8tr]

Hey 48, Good article. If fairly well describes what you have to do to polish and plate pot metal. Maybe some people will read it and understand custom chrome platers are not robber barons laughing all the way to the bank.

[jimcarry]

Originally Posted by Coley

48Buick
I agree with most all that you posted except for the sandblasting to clean up old potmetal.
I have been working closely with a local plater for about 25 years and I always have him chemically strip my parts. It removes the old plating down to the copper and then I can hand finish from there to get the pits cleaned out.

Blasting can cause small bits of media to get embedded in the surface and screw up the plating.

I make a lot of new parts from ZA alloys never blast them before plating...

Have any of you ever tried soda blasting it is definitely not as abrasive as sand beads or glass
and is a process I have been using for about 10 years I have found that it will pretty much remove any thing and leaves an almost flawless surface
http://forum.caswellplating.com/show...8204#post18204

[markey]

Very new user. Just got my kit. (thank you) What exactly is pot metal?

[jimcarry]

Originally Posted by markey

Very new user. Just got my kit. (thank you) What exactly is pot metal?

The easiest way to explain it is a mix of other metals .
Like old car door handles old car emblems etc are made from pot metal .

[markey]

Thank you. Is lead considered pot metal?

[jimcarry]

Originally Posted by markey

Thank you. Is lead considered pot metal?

No Although there may be some in lead in certain objects made from pot metal
different manufatcures use different thing Auto uses zinc aluminum and any thing els they may have laying around they melt it down together and cast an item from it . but it could be a mix of zinc aluminum copper silver

[drayegon]

Shawn there is very little Pot Metal on a Honda. It is all aluminum and cast at that. So you will have to re chrome it. after the copper plate hit it with nickel plate then Chrome it. That is the original triple chrome plating we hear so much about. You may find that just polishing the Aluminum and then covering it with a clear coat will look almost as good.take care dray

[gcyeaw]

I am working with a pot metal part. I have a few pits I have cleaned out with a dremmel tool. What do you use to heat the part when soldering?

This is a test piece and I was unable to get a soldering iron to work. I tried a torch but that tended to overheat the area and soften the pot metal. Perhaps a mini torch of some nature?

Thanks,
Gardner (newbie)

[upncoming]

Originally Posted by Coley

I will check with him on Monday and get back to you....

did anybody ever find out what he was talking about here?