Nickel/Chrome plating

[Rosco86]

My platers and polishers in North Qld have closed down and I am looking to have an elstar dirt track frame re nickeled or chromed. Happy to send to Bris/Syd/Melb. Has someone got a firm they trust to do a good job.
NQ Rosco

[bingil 6]

Ross, I did a fair bit of research into replating with the help of my wifes uncle who spent 47 years working in a replating joint in Sydney, As i wanted the best job possible done on the tank of my Goldie.  From the imformation supplied to me the best form of replating is duplex nickel. To use this process the parent metal has to be polished prior tho the aplication of the nickle so if the parent metal is badly pitted or thin sometimes there is not enough metal to get the finish required before the application of the nickle so that's when the chrome plating has to be used as in this process they apply enough coats of copper so as to give them something to polish back, But this is where the nickle has it over the chrome as in both processes the parent metal has to be acid etched & the duplex nickle allows any acid residues that may have been left over from the etching if not cleaned properly to leach through where as the copper will not & the acid is traped between the parent metal & the copper & it doesn't bother the copper but eats away at the parent metal & only to be noticed some time later by blisters forming on the chrome & by this time it's erodid the parent metal.

I know this seems like a lot of dribble & I havn't answerd youre question but I thought it might be of some use to others, So after all my reserch I ende up sending my tank of to "A" Class metal finishers in Adelade, it's been about 5 years since they done it & it still looks a million bucks.

PS was youre old replater up at MT Garnet ? if so I was having a beer with him last night at the Garnet pub watching the origin Cheers Lou

[LWC82PE]

i use Gold Star Metal polishers in Adelaide which are offering the best job in Adelaide i feel. Gold Star just do the polishing ( which is a big key to a good job) but they take the parts to A Class chromers and then plate them at their premises/A Class do the actual plating. I will be sending them a Goldsar BSA tank to do very soon.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070402193202/http://www.goldstarmf.com.au/

http://www.aclassmetal.com.au/

[Freakshow]

I can help you get it into A class if you need a local support (and  to check job etc)

i also am curious as a few of my nickel frames are chipped or flacked in spots i would like to get some coverage or somthing before they rust up, do you think you can put just the section in a bath with a jane kit and flash over the bit thats exposed ?  

i just want to protect the bits that are exposed on the chromo, before it gets to rusty and im not that keen on a paint patch on the frame, or having to redo the frame as it will never look the same.

IF i bought a JAne kit i thought i may be able to localise the coating by just sitting that bit in the solution, or does the whole item need to be suspended unearthed and covered in liquid to get the electrode thing working ?

or what about the electrodeless nickel coating they are now providing ?

[bingil 6]

Don't know if patches can be done Freaky but give the Blokes there a call the are realy helpfull Cheers

[firko]

Freaky and Ross...Think very carefully about renickeling your frames. To do them the frame has to be stripped of the old nickel using an acid dipping process and it's pretty severe on the parent metal. My mate had his Cheney frame de nickeled and it's never been the same. The plater told him that the de nickeling process "work hardens" the parent metal and there is the situation where the acid sits inside the frame tubes corroding them from the inside if they're not thouroughly flushed. I blasted and powdercoated my Boyd and Stellings frame instead of renickelling as I intended the bike to be a racer and didn't want to risk ruining such a rare frame by the stripping process.
Below: A crap scan of Tommy Thompsons 360 Pursang after the frame snapped at Dargle in the mid 90s. Tom had nickel plated the frame a couple of years earlier and when the broken frame was examined it showed that the metal had corroded from the inside and was wafer thin. Tom was a gun racer and was leading the race at speed when the frame broke on the small main straight jump. He could easily have been killed.

[jimg1au]

i have 2 dirttrack frame sthat are chromed and talking to the guys in blue chrome in bankstown they told me the rechromeing was better done if a non polished finish was ok dont know reason why it was not that expencive either 80.00 for a diamond.
cheers
jim

[Freakshow]

But what sthe story with the Jane plating kit patch idea ?  i wouldnt go to the expense or trouble of a total renickel as i said, it would never look the same, i was simply saying can you nickle patch to cover up exsisting patches and flakes ?

[firko]

was simply saying can you nickle patch to cover up exsisting patches and flakes ?

That's a new one on me....sounds unlikely.

[Freakshow]

i was thinking if you can stick a bolt in a h=jane kit to renickle, whay cant you suspend the part of the frame in the solution and do the same at home ? might work can someone give it a try, or expell the posibilies or why not ?

[k2000x]

chrome / nikel platers in newcastle nsw munybung road do a great job i you could eat off it.....i got my 2000 kx frame nikel plated 8 years ago no probs my racing bmx 12 years ago and still getting big air with no cracks so give them a call cheap 2 my kx frame was only 100 bucks but i know a guy there so if ya call say bones blanchard sent ya

[Rosco86]

Thankyou to those that replied. You know me Firko not much of a racer nowadays but I just luv bikes with bling. Funnily I was riding with Stephen Ieland in 72 or 73 at  old Fishermans Wharf site, now just about where the Westgate bridge is on a sandy, fairly flatish track with a few ski jumps and we broke a pursang 250 in half. Sephen went to hospital with a broken collabone and dad and I stuffed the pursang into the back of the xy stationwagon in its two pieces and got pulled up by the police just outside my house as they thought we must be robbing places. So wile the nickel plating may have caused the internal rusting I think there may have been a few that had the problem from the original. Will have to think long and hard as the godden frame is fairly thin walled in the main diamond although the rust spots are in the forks. May think about powder coating, With the B and S frame, Firko, you said you sand balsted it then coated. I take it was a light sanding to give some long term adhesion? A while back someone listed where to get dirt-track spares eg guards, fork gators, front suspension rubbers etc, Can you pm me where Jonsey gets his stuff from. I was going to get some from Cody racing in the State but their web page seems dead.
Rosco of NQ (enjoying 22c days and 17c nights, if it wasnt such a bitch to get to VMX I'd probably stay forever)