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Plating of antique car parts

We need to plate cast parts from car (old timers) and we are having difficulties with adhesion, or rather the plating looks good but later bubbles evolve which lift the plating in some places.

Our process is as follows;

1. mechanical surface finish

2. cleaning (ammoniacal cleaner)

3. copper cyanide plating

Please advise

Michael Attard
plating - Bulebel, Zejtun, MALTA
2004

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There are many steps that must be done right to achieve good plating, and when good plating is not achieved it is difficult to guess from a sparse description what is going wrong. But my first two guesses are that the cleaning is inadequate or that better adhesion can be achieved by entering the copper cyanide bath with the current already on.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2004