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GOLD PLATING QUALITY
In this web site we discuss the two types of
Gold Plating.
1. Brush / Mobile type Gold Plating
2. Tank type Gold Plating.
WHICH GIVES THE BETTER FINISH, BRUSH
PLATING OR TANK PLATING?
The best start is to make a
simple comparison between BRUSH PLATING and TANK PLATING.
BRUSH PLATING is like taking a
shower. You get a fresh stream of water from the shower head. As you take the shower, the
soap and whatever else is flushed off of you and down the drain. So, each time you take a
shower, you are always using fresh water, and reusing some soap.
TANK PLATING is like your taking
a bath in a tub and leaving the water, and whatever else, in the tub for the next person,
who takes a bath in the same water. Then, the third person gets a bath in water that has
the soap and assorted residue from the two preceding people. And so on.
Commonly, a TANK PLATER will
wash the pieces they are going to Gold Plate to remove common dirt and so does
a mobile brush type gold plater.
Although it is not exactly the
same conditions, this simple illustration gives you an idea of why TANK PLATING requires
filtration systems and so on.
Because TANK PLATING reuses the
chemicals in the tanks, the process of sending the TANK CHEMICALS for LABORATORY ANALYSIS
is a common occurrence.
In BRUSH PLATING, you get
basically FRESH CHEMICALS for each application.
If you do not get the chrome off of the OEM
Piece, the gold will not stick to the piece because gold does not stick to chrome.
Each system can work, and each system can
fail, depending on several factors.
Basically, stripping the chrome off of the
OEM part is the most important step. If you do not strip off all of the chrome, you will
get a bad job out of tank plating as well as a bad job out of brush plating.
To address the issue in a different way, look
at it like this.
Picture a rack where there are an assortment
of scripts attached to the rack. Picture this rack is lowered into the tank until the
chrome items are under the surface of the chrome stripper and the rack support is set on
the stainless steel rod. Stainless steel is an excellent conductor of electricity. Then,
the power goes on, through a reasonable high AMP power supply. The high amps and the
ability to leave the rack in the solution for a reasonable period of time, gives a good
potential to strip off all of the chrome. Even with this system, the gold plater must move
each script slightly so all of the chrome can be stripped off. The tank stripping process
is generally thorough and even.
With TANK PLATING, additional agitation,
filtration and laboratory analysis of the chemistry in the tanks is very important.
In brush plating, you work on a portion of
the piece being processed. The spot you are working on is about the size of your finger.
If you have big hands of little hands, everyone's fingers are smaller than the average
script. So, BRUSH PLATING has a potential to do assorted portions of the script in
different degrees. BRUSH PLATING will strip off the chrome. I fully expect all machines
from all vendors do a good job of stripping chrome. The difference I am pointing out is
the greater potential for an incomplete stripping of the chrome using the BRUSH PLATING
system.
With BRUSH PLATING, you provide the
agitation, and since you do not reuse the chemicals like they do when Gold Plating in
TANKS, you do not have to deal with filtration or laboratory testing of the chemistry.
As a compromise, in the BRUSH PLATING system,
we strongly suggest using FUZZY BOOTIES (also known as anode sleeves) so the chemicals in
use has the maximum potential to cover the entire visible surface area of the OEM piece,
using the sides of the anode sleeve to extend the life of the anode sleeve.
As a part of chrome stripping step in the
BRUSH TYPE SYSTEM, it is important that you do not use any sort of alligator clip
so all of the electrical energy is passing through one spot on the piece you are working
on. This electrical energy passing through one place can darken the spot. Almost more
important, you may not move the clip and get the chrome stripped off under the clip
good enough. If you use a banana clip that only touches the piece, while you are holding
the banana clip to the part, you will get better results. Either system will make
electrical contact and do the electrochemical process.
So, it gets back to getting the chrome off of
the OEM Piece, because the gold will not stick to the chrome surface. The KEY is to get
the OEM Chrome off, if you do that, the exposed nickel will accept the gold.
What if you do not get all of the gold off?
This is a more noticeable problem on the UP
SCALE (expensive) IMPORTS. I hear the story they use more chrome. It may be true. What I
do know is this. If MOST OF THE OEM CHROME come off, but not all, the gold may stick for a
while. However, the job looks bad. Eventually, the gold will come off.
When you are doing a job on imported vehicles
with a lot of chrome, the extra AMPS of the 30 amp Power Supply does an
excellent job.
When you get the chrome off, you expose a
layer of nickel. Activating the nickel is easy and quick.
The QUALITY OF GOLD PLATING between tank
plating and brush plating is similar.
Tank plating is unquestionably superior
because it is all done with the item under the surface of the appropriate chemicals with
electricity flowing throughout the entire part, all at one time. This gives a top quality
even finish. Tank Gold Plating requires agitation, filtration and laboratory chemistry
analysis for top quality Gold Plating jobs.
Brush plating can look quite good on smaller
pieces, such as the assorted scripts and emblems consumers want to pay to have done. Any
irregularities are small and typically not noticed. It is the arms length test. Can you
see a difference, between two parts plated in different systems, at an arms length? If
they are small parts, probably not. If they are large parts, such as grills, wheels,
bumpers and the like, there is a decent potential you may.
WILL THE GOLD STICK TO THE PART?
This goes back to the first point. Getting
all of the OEM Chrome off. If you get all of the OEM Chrome off, and activate the exposed
nickel, the gold will bond to the exposed and activated nickel.
If you do not get all of the OEM Chrome off,
you may see the gold literally start to flake off just like a cheap paint job on an
improperly prepared surface. This is true of TANK PLATING and BRUSH PLATING. We show you
how to fix this in our detailed manual.
If you get all of the OEM Chrome off, the
gold goes on easy, bonds with the nickel, hardens right away and gives a good looking
finish.
WHAT ABOUT THE DULL LOOKING GOLD JOBS I SEE
ON THE ROAD?
First, the 24 karat gold does not fade. It
can get dirty and does need proper cleaning. We provide a PROPER CARE OF GOLD PLATED
SCRIPTS & EMBLEMS page in our detailed manual.
If you get involved in working on a vehicle
you did not gold plate and find the gold does not return to a bright finish after you
clean the item, you are probably dealing with one of several items.
Typically, people run their vehicles through
car washes with brushes. This is a tough pounding of the surfaces. The Car Wash
Manufacturers design the brushes to rotate in the opposite direction of the way the
machine moves over the vehicle (called a ROLL OVER style in that industry), or in the
opposite direction of the way the vehicle moved through the Car Wash (called a TUNNEL
style). The reason for the opposite rotation is simple. It keeps the area near the tips of
the brushes doing the work, and it also means the brushes will automatically deflect away
from the vehicle keeping the mechanical arms away from damaging the vehicle. This is great
in the car wash industry but it can cause damage to items, such as soft 24 karat
gold.
Repeated washings through CAR WASHES with
brushes can wear down the gold.
The same can happen if the initial Gold
Plater did not put enough gold on to start with. Typically this comes from using a low
cost gold solution with little gold in it or attempting to go to fast in the gold plating
step.
So, if the gold is worn thin by Car Washes or
was simply deposited to thin to begin with, the microscopic holes in the gold will expose
the layer of nickel below the gold. Nickel turns a dark color. As the nickel fades, more
water gets under the surface of the gold and many microscopic holes develop which makes it
look like the gold is fading away.
As a solution to this, we offer several
choices. First, there is always soft Turtle Wax. Turtle Wax claims they protect a finish
for 12 months. I say I would figure 6 months. And, I suggest a coat of wax every 6 months.
I even suggest you consider offering a FREE WAX JOB on the items you gold plated. This
does several things.
- You give your customer a VALUE of doing
business with you.
- You give your customer another chance, every 6
months, to return to your shop. And, another chance to SHOP AT YOUR STORE.
The good news is you can FIX what looks like
FADING GOLD. We give full details on how to AVOID THIS PROBLEM and how to FIX THE PROBLEM
if you find it, all in our DETAILED MANUAL.
CHEMICAL QUALITY?
Chrome Stripper and Nickel Activator are
CHEAP. From a practical standpoint, it costs more to package and ship the chemicals
properly, than the chemicals cost. Shipped DRY or in a liquid state, both Chrome Stripper
and Nickel Activator are CORROSIVES Class 8 and require special packaging and labeling.
The Gold Plating Solution is expensive. There
is real gold in the solution. How much gold is in the solution is a good question without
a good or simple answer. The best way to say it is this. We know of Gold Plating Solutions
for the BRUSH PLATING MACHINES on the market today with as little as 1/2 an ounce of GOLD
SALTS per gallon up to multiple ounces of GOLD SALTS per gallon. The price of GOLD
fluctuates on the open world market.
If the solution is mixed at 0.5 an ounce to a
gallon, the 4 ounce container has 0.015625 ounces of gold in it. Believe it or not, a gold
plating solution with as little as 1/2 an ounce to a gallon will gold plate. And, if you
plate a part long enough with that solution, you will get a decent looking job that will
last a while. I do not suggest anyone attempt to work with a gold plating solution with
that little gold in the solution. Even though it will gold plate.
I fully expect all suppliers providing Gold
Plating Solutions provide a grade and quality that will meet the old MIL-SPEC standards.
Particularly because the standards did not have anything to do with Gold Plating parts for
vehicles.
As far as the idea of meeting standards, I
fully expect all Gold Plating chemicals, including Chrome Stripper and Nickel Activator,
as well as other chemicals, for ALL VENDORS meet all appropriate standards for the
involved chemicals. And, for what it is worth, all chemicals will work with all
machines.
EXACTLY WHAT IS THE CONCENTRATION OF THE GOLD
PLATING SOLUTION. This is one of the biggest areas of potential to accidentally run into
inaccurate information. I believe I said that correctly. In simple terms, the average Gold
Plater, with experience, can not tell the difference in the amount of gold actually in the
solution by looking at the solution. Laboratory tests exist to determine the amount of
gold in a solution. However, that provides the person providing the gold does not
routinely add in other ingredients to throw off the lab tests. Regrettably it is done.
And, a part of that is done by the thickening agent put into the gold plating solution to
make it easier for the people in the field doing the gold plating. The rest is done, I
expect, for matters of illusions, and or confusions. I know because I have had a number of
the so called "samples" tested.
The only MIL-SPEC standard for Gold Plating
chemicals does not apply to the Automotive Industry anyway, even though I expect all Gold
Plating Solution vendors meet and or exceed the standard anyway.
If what you have gold plates quickly and
looks good, you probably have a good source. We are a good source. We will work with you
to make your job easy. Call us for details.
To go to our GOLD PLATING INFORMATION PAGE,
CLICK HERE.
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