What did you do to your motorcyle today?

[Glenn]

There are some great tutorials for zinc plating on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy6u2kikAA4

[754]

Dang you Twisted.....here I thought maybe Steveston Hardware..

[GKBO]

I bought a roll of zinc moss removal strip from Rona,About 5 lbs of it for $10 or so.Gets all the way round that way

[hardrockminer]

The zinc came from Amazon of all places!  Good Canadian made zinc!  I drilled a hole in the middle and soldered the wire into it.  The other end of the wire goes to positive on the power source.  The negative lead goes to the end of the spoke.

Instructions came from Wally Routledge.  I did look on Youtube...there is one video of a guy using pickle juice!

John, the large jar of peanut butter lasts longer than the small one and we have three dogs that love the stuff.  Good way to give them their pills.

[hardrockminer]

First photo is my second try with lower voltage.  You can see the new zinc on the spoke.  This was after 10 minutes...maybe not long enough.  Second photo is the spoke that's had some Mothers polish treatment.

[754]

Ummm, i should really think about that..
 Because I have about 2000 bicycle spokes, Torrington double-butted...that are worth about a buck a piece...US...if they look like that....hmmm..
 Do they hold up good.. Van is the perfect place to test them.
After I saw the ingot.. I think I have a really nice round one somewhere.

 The story of the crate of spokes...I almost didnt get..is epic, should be on picker TV.
And.....now... Apparently... It aint over ...yet.

[754]

So I am thinking.. Wanna do a bunch at a time...?

A square dog biscuit container, them 2 feet high, by about a foot square..would hold almost a full set of spokes.
I think they are used fir gobs of other product....

[hardrockminer]

There would not be a problem doing more than one, but the current would have to increase for each additional spoke and they would have to be somehow connected electrically from one to another to another in order to get the current to flow through a full circuit.  I was thinking of drilling holes in a piece of plywood and poking the threads of each spoke through, and then wrap a bare wire around each threaded portion and hold it there with the spoke "nut".  The container would have to be full enough so that the entire spoke up to the threaded portion was immersed in the liquid.  And one would want a substantial amount of zinc surface area as an anode in order to ensure proper ion transfer.

Something I haven't yet done is to strip the old zinc off the spokes.  I just cleaned them up really good, as most of them are in pretty good condition other than being dirty.  Superior Electroplating offered to strip them if I want to take them down to their shop in Surrey.  I might do that if I have any issues.

[754]

So I was thinking, wire rack with square holes in it.
 Tie from one spoke to the next, to the next...at least 15 or more on a string, then hang from the rack.
Should work. The ones I want to do are 10 5/8 long.
 But how close is the zinc to original? I thought they may be cad plated?

[hardrockminer]

So I was thinking, wire rack with square holes in it.
 Tie from one spoke to the next, to the next...at least 15 or more on a string, then hang from the rack.
Should work. The ones I want to do are 10 5/8 long.
 But how close is the zinc to original? I thought they may be cad plated?

That would work.  I think different spokes are coated with different combinations of metals.  To my knowledge KHI used zinc on the spokes but they added cadmium or something else to the nipples to give them a brassier colour.  I might go with new nipples because they're harder to re-coat.

My next attempt will be done with a small charger...maybe for a cell phone or something similar. 

[754]

I think a 1.5 amp tricklecharger, like my motorcycle one .....would do it..
6 orv12 volts.?

[hardrockminer]

I think a 1.5 amp tricklecharger, like my motorcycle one .....would do it..
6 orv12 volts.?

Lower is better I think.  I tried my 12 volt charger and the coating came out really dark.  Then I tried a 1.5 volt battery and the result is what you see in the photos.

I found a place in Richmond that will do zinc plating.  Here is their answer to my query.


YES........we can re-zinc plate your parts........Minimum charge is $125.00.  They would be individually wired up and then plated.

Forks can be hardchromed but we would have to see the condition of them to determine price.

Please bring them in to get firm prices.  Open Monday - Friday from 8 am - 3 pm


thanks

Rose Pennington,
Credit & Administrative Assistant
Ebco Metal Finishing
15200 Knox Way  Richmond, BC  V6V 3A6
Tel: 604-244-1508   Fax: 604-244-1501
info@ebcometalfinishing.com
website:  ebcometalfinishing.com

[Twisted_Twin]

Apparently, I broke it...

Took the yellow Duc for a ride and came home short one cylinder.

Seems like lost compression, It still fires when you get it opened up but it won't idle on it. Yes, it's getting fuel at idle.

Really, I've done nothing to it except change the oil and ride it since taking it out of storage. Probably just due for a tune-up and valve adjustment. I'll probably pull the head and take a look.

All in all, it's been good so far.

[Hawkeye]

I had to do a head gasket job on the Aspencade. I thought it would take all of today and a few evenings this week, but I got it all done. The only issue was a leak on one of the water tubes, but I think it settled in a fair bit on the test run. I'll find out more if it isn't raining tomorrow.

[Runningdog]

That's good.......lots of jobs like that are 75% thinking about it, and only 30% actually doing it.