Plating Question

[m22mike]

Aluminum oxide blast, acid etch with phosfuric acid such as "Ospho" brand. DO NOT use Muratic acid, it is real nasty. Rinse in close to boiling water with some backing soda mixed in Then blow dry with shop air or a heat gun on a terry towell. Rinsing in really hot water gets the stuff dry real fast and keeps the flash rust to a minimum. And keep in mind the plater is going to re clean again but the nicer he gets the stuff the better off your job will come out, there not into doing your detail work.
I will also wire brush alot of the stuff that shows, such as Intake bolts and other bright hardware. It just smooths out the effects of the blast process.
Also on larger brackets and sheetmetal stuff I will use scotchbright wheels in a die grinder to polish up the parts.
Just keep in mind any defects or scratches you can see in the base metal will show up through the plating.
Then bag the stuff in good zip lock bags.

More and more on the new bright Zinc plated junk hardware I buy, I have been stripping the zink off the blots in acid and sending them to the plater for Cad as well. Some of the new Zinc plating starts getting fuzzy as soon as you touch it.

Mike A