Nickel plating

lightnin · Post by **lightnin** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 3:56 pm

In my Mark V restoration I'm considering nickel plating the dials knobs etc.

Any tips, comments pros, cons, do's, dont's... should I just forget it?

I prefer cheap easy instead of expensive kits.

I would prefer buying nickel sulfate and a Nickel anode over expensive kits.

But good results is my priority.

Is it better to copper plate first?

Yes I will experiment on scrap aluminum castings first.

Any photos here of others results?

Let me add my other thought... polish the #@%$ out of them and clear coat them

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 4:35 pm

I'd be curious what nickel plating would cost, but just out of curiosity.

You can get some great results from just polishing. Check out this thread: http://shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=3078. The first post has an index, organized by topic, linking to other posts in the thread. Check out the links regarding polishing.

lightnin · Post by **lightnin** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 4:45 pm

I've found these on youtube it's what got me thinking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&featu ... VkFMJeotcg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&featu ... cz8Py7bjzQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fv ... dsl-JHb9Tg

The expensive kit stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMZNVApY ... re=related

I have found different places that use other chemicals .... I don't know much about chemistry..

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 6:18 pm

I polished my aluminum handles with tripoli and white diamond. I think they turned out good enough for me.

lightnin · Post by **lightnin** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 6:43 pm

Yea, why I'm thinking plating or clear coating is to stop oxidation in the future.
So whatever I end up doing, it will start with the best polish job I can do.
And thanks because I have never polished aluminum before and am not sure
exactly what is the best way.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:30 pm

lightnin wrote:Yea, why I'm thinking plating or clear coating is to stop oxidation in the future.
So whatever I end up doing, it will start with the best polish job I can do.
And thanks because I have never polished aluminum before and am not sure
exactly what is the best way.

Do some reading here for polishing aluminum.

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... h+aluminum