From One Of Our Customers who
purchased a Triple Chrome Plating Kit.
To: Mike Caswell
From: Rainer Mueller
Subject: Status Of My System
Hi Mike,
I have just recently started using my plating system, even
though I bought it over a year ago. It took me a long time
to pull everything together in order to make the whole thing
a workable system. One of the biggest problems was what to
do with the polishing system. I finally confined that to a
makeshift self contained room in the basement of my house.
I couldn't believe how messy this part of the operation is.
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Along with this note, I am sending you a couple
of Excel Files for determining surface areas of bolts,
nuts, and washers. This may be helpful to some of your
other users. I know it has already saved me hours of
calculation time, while plating the fasteners of my
'65 Triumph Bonneville.
Surface Area.xls
Washer Areas.xls |
I have finally got the plating system working pretty well.
The parts come out of the various tanks with nice even and
smooth surfaces, and with the amount of plating expected.
All in all, I am very pleased with the system. Now if I could
only figure out the buffing part of the equation.
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This is a front view of the system, which is located
in the basement of my home. As you can see from the
picture, the cabinet houses the entire set of (5) tanks.
They are left to right, in order of electro-cleaner,
rinse, nickel, copper, and chrome. The cabinet sits
on top of heavy duty steel casters for mobility, and
occupies a surprisingly small amount of floor space.
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The tanks are supported by a countertop mounted inside of
the cabinet, with the anode and cathode bus bars in the back,
and a large part suspension bar over the tanks. You can see
that I have labeled the various tanks with the plating specifications
for them respectively. You may also notice in this picture
that the top of the cabinet is covered with a large piece
of Plexiglas, which allows the light from an overhead florescent
lamp to light the work area very brightly.
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In this view you can see the pegboard used on both ends
to accommodate the ventilation system. The door opening
is also fully sealed, so that no air can get in or out
of the chamber when the blower is working. The low velocity
air moves through the pegboards from right to left and
exits through a 4" PVC plumbing system to the outside
of the house, similar to a gas dryer ventilation system. |
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As you can see, the blower is mounted in the storage
area of the cabinet underneath the work chamber. I also
use this area to store all my distilled water, and all
other related hardware that goes with the system. |
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Finally, the power supply sits on top of the left side
of the cabinet, as this picture shows. |
So far I'm having a good time with the project and all my
biker buddies are itching to get their stuff plated. I may
have gotten myself in for more than I bargained for.
If you're ever in the neighborhood, give me a call and come
over to check it out and have a beer.
Sincerely,
Rainer Mueller
Rookie Plater
Here are some pictures of work Rainer has
completed. Click on the thumbnail to load a larger picture.
   
  
* - Frame plated at local plating shop, not
by using our kit. Our kits are too small for plating items
of this size.
Here's some more pictures of Rainer's chroming
set-up. Who say's hobbyists can't do professional work??
 
Congratulations Rainer on this great set-up
and thanks for sending these great photos.
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