caswell or eastwood?

[Greg L.]

Who has the better kits for zinc & gold cad plating? Any advice here is appreciated! Thanks.

[Oliver G.]

Re: caswell or eastwood?

Hi Greg,

From personal experience do not waste your money on the Eastwood Zinc plating kit.

It offers NO corrosion protection, its too laborious for the results obtained.

Quite common to see rust coming through the plating in as little as 3 weeks after following their directions.

[Oliver G.]

Re: caswell or eastwood?

Hi Greg,

From personal experience do not waste your money on the Eastwood Zinc plating kit.

It offers NO corrosion protection, its too laborious for the results obtained.

Quite common to see rust coming through the plating in as little as 3 weeks after following their directions.

[Gerard F.]

No Comparison

Greg,

I use the Caswell Kit (Copy Cad and Zinc w/ Yellow Dichromate) and have seen the small kit in the Eastwood Catalog. Maybe Eastwood makes a larger kit but there's not much other bolts you are going to plate in a two quart solution.

I got a three gallon kit, but I use it in two gallon hdpe paint containers you can buy at your local hardware store. I have used it on carburetor parts, and misc. zinc, and golden cad parts, and have gotten good results using a battery charger on a light dimmer as the power supply. You can go from dull zinc (copy cad) to bright zinc to dull gold to bright gold finish. The gold finish is done by simply dipping the zinc plated or very clean pot metal part in Yellow Dichromate solution.

The Caswell manual covers all types of other plating and you can add on to the basic kit. However if you want to go into chrome, plan on spending big bucks. For larger parts, it's probably more cost effective to send them out.

If you want to do small parts in zinc or gold cad other the bolts, I would recommend the Caswell two gallon kit with the yellow dichromate solution. (they also have a black oxide finish solution.)

I think the web site is www.caswellplating.com

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[Gerard F.]

No Comparison

Greg,

I use the Caswell Kit (Copy Cad and Zinc w/ Yellow Dichromate) and have seen the small kit in the Eastwood Catalog. Maybe Eastwood makes a larger kit but there's not much other bolts you are going to plate in a two quart solution.

I got a three gallon kit, but I use it in two gallon hdpe paint containers you can buy at your local hardware store. I have used it on carburetor parts, and misc. zinc, and golden cad parts, and have gotten good results using a battery charger on a light dimmer as the power supply. You can go from dull zinc (copy cad) to bright zinc to dull gold to bright gold finish. The gold finish is done by simply dipping the zinc plated or very clean pot metal part in Yellow Dichromate solution.

The Caswell manual covers all types of other plating and you can add on to the basic kit. However if you want to go into chrome, plan on spending big bucks. For larger parts, it's probably more cost effective to send them out.

If you want to do small parts in zinc or gold cad other the bolts, I would recommend the Caswell two gallon kit with the yellow dichromate solution. (they also have a black oxide finish solution.)

I think the web site is www.caswellplating.com

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[Greg L.]

Re: No Comparison

Thanks Jerry. So how big of a learning curve is there is the directions are followed to the letter? I assume that you were quite pleased with the results from this kit? Any idea just how durable the final product would be as compared to sending it all out to a plating shop?

[Greg L.]

Re: No Comparison

Thanks Jerry. So how big of a learning curve is there is the directions are followed to the letter? I assume that you were quite pleased with the results from this kit? Any idea just how durable the final product would be as compared to sending it all out to a plating shop?

[Gerard F.]

Re: No Comparison

Greg,

There is a little bit of a learning curve to it, and there are a few things you have to provide with the Caswell kit. There's about a 150 page manual with the kits which tells you what you need and how to set up your system. You probably need a dedicated corner of your garage, and an old crock pot for the degreaser.

I practiced first on some odd parts and pieces of copper pipe.

The kit I have is zinc plating not real cadmium. Cadmium is toxic and you'll find only a few places (Aircraft parts) that will do it. I think it is more durable, but most platers, I think use zinc especially on carb parts. You don't even have to plate good pot metal as it is already a cast zinc with some impurities.

I'm really very happy with the results. Here's a carb I did:


The pot metal was just cleaned and buffed and dipped in dichromate. The steel and bolts were replated and then dipped. It's all in the prep.

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[Gerard F.]

Re: No Comparison

Greg,

There is a little bit of a learning curve to it, and there are a few things you have to provide with the Caswell kit. There's about a 150 page manual with the kits which tells you what you need and how to set up your system. You probably need a dedicated corner of your garage, and an old crock pot for the degreaser.

I practiced first on some odd parts and pieces of copper pipe.

The kit I have is zinc plating not real cadmium. Cadmium is toxic and you'll find only a few places (Aircraft parts) that will do it. I think it is more durable, but most platers, I think use zinc especially on carb parts. You don't even have to plate good pot metal as it is already a cast zinc with some impurities.

I'm really very happy with the results. Here's a carb I did:


The pot metal was just cleaned and buffed and dipped in dichromate. The steel and bolts were replated and then dipped. It's all in the prep.

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[Greg L.]

Re: No Comparison

That looks pretty good Jerry! Re-doing my carb never even crossed my mind. I was thinking more of fasteners and my headlight actuators but the carb will get done too now.

[Greg L.]

Re: No Comparison

That looks pretty good Jerry! Re-doing my carb never even crossed my mind. I was thinking more of fasteners and my headlight actuators but the carb will get done too now.

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: No Comparison

Greg:
I have been using the Caswell system for a couple of years and have had fabulous results. I have done headlight and w/w door actuaters and they look great. The real secret to getting good results is in the preperation and even more important controlling the current. The voltage doesn't matter as much but you need to get the correct amperage. especially on larger pieces. I bought their least expensive power supply and can control the amperage down to .1 amp for very small pieces and up to 3 amps for larger pieces. I use Copy Cad, black oxide , gold cad, acid copper, and Copy Chrome.
Jeff

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: No Comparison

Greg:
I have been using the Caswell system for a couple of years and have had fabulous results. I have done headlight and w/w door actuaters and they look great. The real secret to getting good results is in the preperation and even more important controlling the current. The voltage doesn't matter as much but you need to get the correct amperage. especially on larger pieces. I bought their least expensive power supply and can control the amperage down to .1 amp for very small pieces and up to 3 amps for larger pieces. I use Copy Cad, black oxide , gold cad, acid copper, and Copy Chrome.
Jeff

[Greg L.]

Re: No Comparison

Thanks Jeff. So without alot of trial and error how do you determine what the correct current and voltage is for a particular part?

[Greg L.]

Re: No Comparison

Thanks Jeff. So without alot of trial and error how do you determine what the correct current and voltage is for a particular part?