Plating and Testing
By Spencer Chase
There are many old hobbyist books which cover nickel plating. T J Lindsay Publishing specializes in "Lost Technology" books and other obscure information. They have a few titles on plating. I have several books myself and can suggest titles or make copies of what I think are the best.
I have wanted to try nickel plating myself but haven't so far. It does not look like it should be too difficult or dangerous, certainly not like hard chrome plating. It should be possible to get a few nickel electrodes from a local plating company, otherwise they seem to be available in huge quantities only. Otherwise the chemicals and equipment should be pretty easy to scrounge together.
I have put together several different test suction sources and suggest that the cheapest and easiest, when an original pump is not available, is a converted vacuum motor. Electrolux is one of the best and quietest and they are very easy to find as junk for little money. They need to be installed in a sound quieting enclosure and provided with a speed control and a bleed. A high wattage incandescent light dimmer will vary the speed of the universal motor.
*Important*: These motors are "air-over cooled," that is, they cool themselves in the air stream they are moving. If the speed is too slow or the air supply is closed off, they will overheat and fail, possibly catastrophically. Make sure that there is always sufficient air flowing over the motor that the exhaust air is not too warm.
It is possible to get a reliable source of fixed vacuum with a fixed minimum bleed (to prevent motor burnout) and an adjustable one for vacuum level control. The faster the motor speed, the more noise, so you have to strike a compromise between sound baffling, remote locating etc.
Spencer Chase
[ "The Orchestrion Rebuilder's Manual" by Craig Brougher has some good
[ designs for a testing pump. -- Robbie
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(Message sent Sun 26 Jan 1997, 20:24:02 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.) |
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