New Off Topic RC Project - Nickel Plating turnbuckles

[Lowgear]

Yeah, super simple stuff.

Like Dangeruss mentioned, It's not going to be as durable as if done by professional means but hopefully good enough for something you can do at home. It can't be worse than just letting the parts rust away. It's the same thing with at home cold bluing which I've done on multiple R/C parts. No, it's not going to be as good as using professional methods but they came out looking great and am happy with the results.

[Dangeruss]

Hard to tell from the pic but it looks like smut on the turnbuckle around the hex? If it is, it should polish out. If it's poor nickel adhesion then toilet bowl cleaner (hydrochloric acid) will strip the nickel so you can re-plate it.

[JosephS]

So over night I the pieces were out of the tank. Any place not sufficiently coated flash rusted, so on the first piece the threads were where I saw rust, on the second piece most of it flashed over.

Didn’t take pictures, but they are soaking in the rust restoration now.

[JosephS]

Hard to tell from the pic but it looks like smut on the turnbuckle around the hex? If it is, it should polish out. If it's poor nickel adhesion then toilet bowl cleaner (hydrochloric acid) will strip the nickel so you can re-plate it.

I’ll double check, on the first piece it seems good except the threads, the second one was taken out of the bath because I had to leave , not because it was done.

I didn’t see any smut. Still I have to de-rust the parts and I was going to etch them in muric acid before the next coat.

I’ll see if I can get a few hours to let this run.

[JosephS]

Yeah, super simple stuff.

Like Dangeruss mentioned, It's not going to be as durable as if done by professional means but hopefully good enough for something you can do at home. It can't be worse than just letting the parts rust away. It's the same thing with at home cold bluing which I've done on multiple R/C parts. No, it's not going to be as good as using professional methods but they came out looking great and am happy with the results.

Bingo.

The turn buckles would have been fine. Doubt they would have been damaged by the surface rust even in a few decades.

These are mostly mismatched pieces. I can’t imagine it would be less expensive to get these professionally done that it would be to just buy new ones.

[JosephS]

Some result

[Dangeruss]

I can’t imagine it would be less expensive to get these professionally done that it would be to just buy new ones.

Yeah, but sometimes there's more fun in the journey than the destination, anyone can buy anything, but how many people can make something from nothing.

The left one on the first pic looks like it polished out nice.

...last one funnily enough looks like it was pretty rough before it went in.

Not bad results, especially this quickly.

[JosephS]

Not bad results, especially this quickly.

Thanks. This was the get off my ass and see what it’s like step. Next step is to do this well.

I’m going to need more vinegar,
Most of the recipes I see are for 1 liter. I think the anodes are still in good shape, but I might wear them out making a liter of the plating solution.

Reading more about the process I think I should be watching the current draw more than the voltage. For these small parts .1a seems to be correct.

The distance of the object from the anode seems and the surface area of the anode have the greatest effects.

Don’t even need to remove the ball cups

IMG_6827.jpeg (49.35 KiB) Viewed 126 times

IMG_6827.jpeg (49.35 KiB) Viewed 126 times

[Dangeruss]

Thanks. This was the get off my ass and see what it’s like step. Next step is to do this well.

Don’t even need to remove the ball cups

...lazy, lazy, lazy

[JosephS]

I don’t know what to do with this knowledge, you can nickel plate carbon fiber fabric.

[Dangeruss]

I don’t know what to do with this knowledge

Didn't Heisenberg say that... once.

You've been gaining ground on your carbon fiber chassis'... nickel plate the cloth then mold the chassis and have the first "Nickel Plated Graphite Classic Clear Edition" ...Associated NPGCC???

[JosephS]

I don’t know what to do with this knowledge

Didn't Heisenberg say that... once.

You've been gaining ground on your carbon fiber chassis'... nickel plate the cloth then mold the chassis and have the first "Nickel Plated Graphite Classic Clear Edition" ...Associated NPGCC???

So it turns nickel plated carbon fiber is a thing in Aerospace. In addition to electrical conductivity it's thermally conductive. It might be good to make a motor mounting plate out of it.

I was also thinking of making a fiberglass chassis with embedded wiring. I wonder how much current it could carry.

[Frankentruck]

Carbon fiber is electrically conductive. It used to be a risk for the edges of chassis cutouts to cut through saddle pack cells shrink wrap and short out the battery. That's one reason hand filing beveled edges to the chassis cell cutouts was popular. It got rid of the sharp edges.

I have a set of sparkplug wires that are carbon strands instead of copper. Carbon is a reasonably good conductor.

[Dangeruss]

I was also thinking of making a fiberglass chassis with embedded wiring. I wonder how much current it could carry.

Ugh, tried to do the math on that but couldn't find accurate enough strand specifications for fiberglass cloth... if you figure a 3mm thick chassis with 5 layers I'd think you should be able to strip and weave a 12 gauge wire in a single warp. So, center layer has your leads with two layers above and below for strength/protection.

I forget who it was that surface mounted the electronic speed controller into their fiberglass chassis... mid-to-late 80's on-road car... I'm terrible with names.

Could also mill a fiberglass chassis, strip the wires, lay them flat, and epoxy 'em in place but... how pedestrian.

[Frankentruck]

A little off the nickel plating topic, but for wiring built into a chassis plate this is very cool:
https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?p=538580#p538580