Cadmium Plating

u want all that and quality work??

 

I could be mistaken but doesn’t Bob Smith have a plating shop?

 

Not a recommendation but they are in Houston. Cadmium platers are harder to find due to EPA regulations. Once common in automotive but not anymore. The exception is mostly aerospace. I guess the FAA told the EPA to piss off. Zinc just doesn't have the durability of cadmium.

Industrial Metal Finishing (imf-co.com)
Industrial Metal Finishing Company — Cadmium Plating in Houston, Texas | IMFCO (tumblr.com)

 

I used these folks for some 355 exhaust parts, they did a great job. My friend then used them for some Pantera parts and he was equally happy. I dropped off/picked up since they were somewhat local to me, my friend who's in Arizona did it all by UPS and fon.

Alcaro & Alcaro Plating Co., Inc.
112 Pine Street, PO Box 1215
Montclair NJ 07042
973-746-1200

You can see their work on my parts here (referring the the yellow hardware, the gray/silver parts were done by a different process and company):

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/f355-exhaust-brackets-2-pair.658476/#post-148590085

 

Steve, just one caveat... CAD plating for smaller pieces becomes more critical. Shops that do the better job, meticulously clean nuts, bolts, washer, etc., then string them individually before dunking. This, of course, becomes expensive. Most shops just tumble the smaller pieces and you end up with not quite uniform coverage and spotty finish. Not sure what you are doing, but just know that there is this difference. Good luck.

john

 

Usually, only two out of the three OPs “requirements” are available in any combination.
Besides, some components/parts will also require or at least benefit from anti-embrittlement treatments, which usually require additional costs.

 

yep, beside the usual cad cost for a tumble batch - to rack them is additional. Depends on where the CAD product is displayed (visible in the engine compartment) going the RACK route is a must, as john pointed out, it looks scratched because of the tumble process.

I use SAVON here in Phoenix, they do a variety of plating.....4-6 weeks turnabout.....i don't think they like to do this hobby plating stuff - but where do u go - so you have to pay for the efforts.

 

Glad you mentioned this. I cleaned all parts before sending them for plating - used hand and powered wire brushes (and leather gloves), not to keep the cost down per se but to assure the best possible outcome.

 

May I suggest that you consider glass bead blasting or vapor blasting as much better (and more uniform) pre-preparation method, after degreasing. Wire brush does not thoroughly remove past plating or rust embedded in pits. It also scratches the base material.

 

Vapor would be my approach - various abrasion methods result in different cad finishes......

You have want to experiment with some different methods when you send a batch in and see how they look
plated. Def a difference.

 

I've managed to use quite a few finishes restoring various Indian Motorcycles. Up until the mid '30s, nickel plating was the norm. By 1939 almost all the nuts, bolts, and hardware were Cad plated. This is the Zinc version, and not the Yellow version. Cad plating was a cheap, industrial process, and did not last long. In fact, just the oil from your finger tips would cause it to tarnish, or blacken.

Sure, we all wanted to vapor blast our hardware to make it perfect, and uniform. But in reality, most of the stuff was plated at different times, and quality wasn't that great. This is one avenue where one can "over restore" a machine, by having all the cad perfect and uniform, which it most likely never was.

In some instances, where we do not want the resultant hydrogen imbrittlment from the cad plating, or we are dealing with a much handled part, we would replace it with stainless steel, then bead blast the part to appear like cad plating. This works very well with spokes & nipples.

 

My cousin in Franklin Park illinois still does cad plating. Belmont Plating works. 847 678 0200. Mark Toni is the president.


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