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Caswell nickel plating kit

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GregW

GregW

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Just wanted to say thanks to John Loftus for turning me on to Caswell. I bought their nickel plating kit this week and did my first experiment today. Turned out great. This kit doesn’t hide any blemishes that are in the base metal, so you really have to prep it well. Here is a before and after. This is straight out of the tank, no buffing.
 
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Just wanted to say thanks to John Loftus for turning me on to Caswell. I bought their nickel plating kit this week and did my first experiment today. Turned out great. This kit doesn’t hide any blemishes that are in the base metal, so you really have to prep it well. Here is a before and after. This is straight out of the tank, no buffing.

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Glad to here that - I am going to be an affiliate of theirs shortly and they're advertising here on the forum in the near future. Ditto for their sister company "British Tools and Fasteners" Both should be welcome additions to the forum /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Basil
 
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Here is a before and after. This is straight out of the tank, no buffing.

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Hi Greg,

Your nickel plating looks great. Pretty soon you will be doing Triple plate chrome? As you say, the most important part is preparation. I have been doing further experiments with the Copy Cad plating including putting together a dip basket with wires running along the bottom. Makes it much easier to do small fasteners instead of wiring them up individually. I also found out that using Simple Green works as a great degreaser and doesn't have the fumes and skin irritation of the acids.

Cheers,
John
 
I don’t know if I’m emotionally ready for chrome. Reading the directions, the process seems time consuming. I have new respect for the platers I’ve used in the past. I’ve had good results with the degreaser that came with the kit, but soaking isn’t enough. I rub the part with some textured chemical resistant gloves while immersed in the bucket. It takes about a half minute or less and the part is ready for plating. The only problem I’ve run across is cleaning small holes that have dirt and rust in them. What I’m trying next is drilling them out just a hair. These aren’t critical parts so it should be fine. I’ll give the simple green a whirl also.

Happy Dipping,
Greg
 
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