Jumping in the deep end.

[Mad_Professor]

Hi All.

You are all going to have to take it slow and easy on me, I am new to all this.

I have not got anything, and i am kind of thoughing my self in @ the deep end.

I am wanting to start doing Electroplating in my workshop, I am going to start on a few small things and then work up to chroming my wheels for my car.

So can anyone here tell me what i am going to need to start with.

Thanks For Your Time & Help.

[BryanD]

Mad prof,
I purchased a five gallon triple chrome kit a couple of months ago and am pretty happy with it as a beginner kit. Once I get over the learning curve and start putting out the quality that I want I am already positioned to make a lot of $$$. Like you I want to move on to bigger and better, though. Although a great start and excellent way to learn, the five gallon kit just doesn't have the size tanks you need to do wheels. You could get tanks that were the diameter that you need and transfer chemicals, though. Not sure what they would cost. I believe Caswell offers tanks through another company on their site. If they are aluminum wheels you will also need the aluminum plating solution. You have to order a separate tank to plate aluminum because of the properties of the metal.

I live in a town of about 20,000 with no plating shop for 70 miles. The closest shop charges up to $375 per sq. ft. So like I said once you get through the learning curve, this trade has a lot of potential.

I strongly recommend buying from Caswell. The support and products are outstanding. This forum is also a great way to talk to other platers about the business and pick up helpful tips. You may have seen the posts about hobbyplating.com. I have seen both ends of the spectrum on this and Caswell is a very solid and reputable company.

[dadkar2]

Jumping in

Mad prof,

My advice is not to jump in the deep end. Start out simple and small. The most important thing is cleaning and prep of the part. It's hard to realize this until you try it for yourself. I was getting disappointing results until I realized that prep and cleaning is the whole game.

Also, get good at doing small to medium size parts and stay away from pot metal (like car door handles) initially.

Focus on getting a process that works. Study the Caswell manual, then try some things. Read some more, try some more. Use the Internet to fill in the missing pieces. Caswell's tech support can help when you get stuck.

Ultimately, once you get started, be careful not to dump chemicals down the drain. You (and your neighbors) will eventually end up drinking what goes into that water. Nasty stuff.

If all you ever plan on doing is chroming one set of wheels, you might be better off just paying someone to do that for you. For one project it might cost you more to get started and learn than to have it done. Also realize that you will need gigantic tanks to plate wheels. If you never use the tanks after that, you have a huge disposal problem.

Ken

[Mad_Professor]

Thanks for your reply(s).

The only other small problem is that i live in the UK, and i see that caswellplating can not send me the stuff, But i have been told by caswellplating that they have peps here in the UK.

I will let you know how i get on.

Thanks again for your time.