Introducing myself and asking

[aalamo New User Find all posts View Profile Close aalamo]

Hello there,
My name is Alfredo Alamo. I am an artist starting to work with metal sculptures. Yesterday, I landed in the Caswell web site and immediately I fell in love with the plating system. At the beginning I am interested in plating my mild steel pieces for protection. Also, for impressive finishes I would like to plate them with black, copper, or bronze. I have seen some shops built by some of you guys, and wao!!! how neat. I want to start constructing my station right away. So I have some questions for you guys,
1) I have seen that most of the stations have 5 tanks. Is that an standard? Is that what I need to start working with copper and bronze plating?
2) I live in Florida, so my garage gets pretty hot in summer. Will that affect my work? Can I use a plastic tool shed outdoors?
I am sorry about too many questions but I am so eager to start buying stuff and start my station. Thank you so much for any help that you guys can offer.
Alfredo

[dadkar2 Experienced Metal Finisher Find all posts View Profile Close dadkar2]

Alfredo,

Let me be the first to welcome you. You'll find that Caswell's products are the best out there. I am a longtime customer of the Caswell line. I have done extensive research and have explored the "behind the scenes" on many of his products. They're solid.

The number of plating tanks you'll need will depend on what you are trying to achieve. If you want a nickel plate on steel, you'll need two plating tanks: flash copper and nickel. You could add a third if you are restoring heavily pitted parts: acid copper. However, if you are concerned about keeping it simple, you can stick with flash copper and plate up longer. For chrome plating, you'll need to add another tank for that. I haven't included in this a need for cleaning solutions, pickles, and rinses. Don't forget to add those in.

Your garage can be used to house your plating system, even in Florida, if you aren't opposed to the summer temperatures. The outdoor tool shed might be a bit uncomfortable for plating, but certainly it won't affect the plating solutions. Just keep things capped when not in use. You wouldn't want to get bugs and critters in the solutions!

Kind regards,
Ken