Pot Metal Electroless Nickel - Suitability as finish

[tgoode]

I am planning on nickel plating some small zinc and aluminum parts and had planned on doing the following:

1. Strike coating the aluminum parts with Zincate
2. Finish plating both the aluminum and pot metal parts using the Pot Metal Electroless Nickel kit.

Would this process work and produce acceptable results?
What is the thickness of the nickel plate that is produced using the Pot Metal Electroless Nickel kit?

I am hoping it will work as I have a very limited budget.

The total surface area of the parts is approx 2 square feet and they all have a matte finish.

Tom Goode

[tgoode]

Anyone?

[mcaswell]

The pot metal nickel kit isn't designed to be used as a final plate.

You'd be better off getting a Flash Copper Kit and a Nickel Plating Kit.

If finances are a concern, the regular plating kits are much cheaper to operate than electroless systems.

[tgoode]

Hmmm... Well, the pot metal nickel kit is already on order as is the zincate for the aluminum parts, but nothing will go to waste as I will need zincate and some form of primer for the pot metal if I end up ordering a small nickel kit (sounds like I probably will).

I'll compare the thickness of one of the potmetal parts before and after the nickel strike coat to see how thick the deposit is.

I'd like to offer some constructive criticism: the wording of the web-page for the pot metal nickel kit does not explicitly state that the kit is unsuitable for finishing.

The following sentence from this page implies that this kit can produce a finish plate:

By polishing the part, then immediately plating it with Pot Metal Electroless Nickel, the metal can be given a long term, bright, shiny surface, closely matching the other components on the vehicle.

Anyway, thanks for the reply. Once I complete my project I'll email you some photos.

Tom

[mcaswell]

Constructive criticism is happily accepted. We constantly make new discoveries in this business, and when we developed Flash Copper, we found it to be much, much better at plating Pot Metal and giving customers better results. Pot Metal EN used to be our best product for plating pot metal, but now it's not.

Our Pot Metal Nickel Kit page probably needs updating to let you know that Flash Copper is a much better option.

Thanks for the input.

[tgoode]

The kits arrived yesterday. Unfortunately, it appears the instructions for the Pot Metal Nickel Kit have been ommited from the 5th edition plating manual.

Could you send me instructions via email or a message on these forums

Thanks!

[mcaswell]

Please send us an e-mail and we'll get them right out to you. http://www.caswellplating.com/salesqna/index.html