Zinc plate fastenings and other small parts
During any restoration there comes a time when parts need refinishing. Most restorers try to do as much spannering as possible, some have the facilities and skills to paint but most of us elect to contract out plating, after all it’s as cheap as chips. But if you don’t have a zinc plater locally or have had parts lost in the past, you might want to consider doing the job yourself. This month we look at a typical kit from Caswell Europe, a name familiar to some readers. So, without further ado, it’s gloves and goggles on, sleeves up and get stuck in!
Basic kit and sub units
The plating kit comes as a primary unit for zinc or ‘copy cad’ and includes the necessary tank, heater, two-part plating salts, zinc anode sheet and an abrasive wheel, which is used to mildly abrade cleaned steel to replicate cadmium plating. It’s no longer permissible in the UK to plate with cadmium because of the toxicity so this part of the we should be able to replicate yellow and olive drab passivate along with blacking.
