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A new tool in my restoration arsenal

khunter

By khunter
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khunter WRT Addict

khunter

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I just received another ebay gamble that seems to have paid off. An inexpensive  ($50) gold plating setup, for restoring those pesky gold plated parts that some hack couldn't keep his bare fingers off of lol. Here's a couple pictures of an old screw I tried it out on. Polished with the dremel and felt wheel before plating, I didn't try to get all the nicks out of the slot. BTW, this was just a plain steel bridge screw, not previously plated.

The electrical part is basically a 5v wall charger, a stainless anode and an alligator clip for the part. Plating took about 15-20 seconds. 

2018-01-26 23.25.37.jpg

2018-01-26 23.25.12.jpg

2018-01-26 23.24.45.jpg

2018-01-26 23.45.22.jpg

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khunter WRT Addict

khunter

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4 hours ago, ro63rto said:

Looks great emoji106.png
I should look into this myself. Got a few bits that need replating like the bezel on one of my 7a38's

PljntxC.jpg

Very nice piece!

Depending on the base metal you might need extra solutions, and it's all explained all over YouTube, etc, but it's super easy. The main thing is prep, the higher the polish before plating the better, and thoroughly clean of course. For the bits I'm working on that little 4oz jar of plating solution will last a LONG time, but they make larger quantities as well. 

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khunter

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2 hours ago, measuretwice said:

That turned out well....I'd be afraid of wanting to gold plate everything in site :)

For some reason the dog has been avoiding me since I started experimenting :)

I have a few Illinois movements with gold hardware that could definitely use some TLC, I'll have to keep reminding myself that "less is more" or I'll end up with a big gold lump lol.

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khunter

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13 hours ago, teegee said:

Nice! You think it would plate thick enough for a bezel?

Do they have a chrome/nickel plating setup as well?

Yes they do, and I'm not sure the supplied power pack would have enough amperage for large pieces, but an adjustable voltage power supply would do just fine, Under load the voltage should be around 5-7 volts, the packaging says 8 but I think that's a little high, at least from what I've read online....

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