I wanted to take the horn apart for painting, to get a look at the electrics inside and to blow out the spider nest in the horn. A bit of sandpaper renewed the points and aside from cleaning, the rest of the guts looked fine and the horn worked at the outset anyway. The hardware is destined for the plating bucket.
Looks like I will have to repaint the inside of the headlight bucket as well as the outside. I really want to not have to look at runny metallic blue paint any more...ever. Rubber something or other for the headlight switch knob?
The hole on the right side looks original (I think for the neutral light), but I haven't seen any pics with a hole in the middle with a button plug like that.
The boots on the speedo back-lights have melted? It's hard to imagine how that happened. And the speedo gasket will probably fall apart in my hands when I remove it. I haven't yet tried casting rubber, but when I do, this will be one of the first items to cast. In the meantime, some black foam weatherstripping will likely have to do.
I just love looking at the shiny points cover and the newly painted horn! I thought about trying to remove the ding in the housing but I was wary of making it worse, so I've left it there.
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Ugly Betty
Hi maia,
I'm sorry to disappoint you but that is not a cadmium plater. It's for zinc plating. I know that cad plater kits are out there, but the heavy metal stuff is just too unfriendly for me to go with.
The zinc plating is pretty benign as far as I know, and I would be happy to provide details if that's what you need.
Wilf
I'm sorry to disappoint you but that is not a cadmium plater. It's for zinc plating. I know that cad plater kits are out there, but the heavy metal stuff is just too unfriendly for me to go with.
The zinc plating is pretty benign as far as I know, and I would be happy to provide details if that's what you need.
Wilf
Gun,
I found this recipe on the internet about a year and a half ago when I was restoring my CT90. I'm no chemist so I can't vouch for anything in the process. I have gotten very nice results on the the '90 and also on the Super Hawk, so I continue to use it. Caveat emptor...especially because I'm giving you the recipe in grams and litres!
For a litre (roughly a US quart?) of solution I use 1 litre of white, grocery store vinegar into which I dissolve 100 grams of Epsom salts (please don't use regular table salt, as it will release deadly chlorine gas), and 120 grams of regular white sugar. That's it for the solution. Multiply it for a bigger bucket.
Because this process is "line-of-sight", I wanted to avoid shadows between the zinc and the part to be plated. I formed a strip of 3" wide roofing zinc (99.some% pure zinc) from the local building supply store (where I live we get a lot of moss on the roof and we use this to combat it) to run down one side of the bucket, across the bottom and then up the opposing side of the bucket. I ran a similar zinc strip at 90 degrees to the first strip and then ran a copper wire around the outside of the bucket to electrically connect the zinc together. This connection goes to the positive of a 3 volt dc wall charger.
I suspend the part to be plated from an aluminum rod and wire down into the solution. The rod is connected to the negative end of the wall charger.
I meter the plating current fairly carefully. Usually it's between 100 and 300 mA depending on the size of the part to be plated. Too much current will result in smutty, black deposits (and may fry your wall charger). A few minutes to a half hour gives good results, again depending on part size, temperature and a bunch of other stuff that I will probably never know about.
Scrub the plated parts with a soft brass brush or even steel wool and you should see a nice shiny surface.
A couple of other notes: clean the parts to be plated--remove oil and rust (I like to stick rusty parts in a different solution to remove any rust prior to plating), and be carefull of your fingerprint oil.
In small operations, I don't think the quantity of hydrogen gas given off poses a problem. Just be mindful of that.
Those are the basics of what I do. Let me know if you need more info.
I found this recipe on the internet about a year and a half ago when I was restoring my CT90. I'm no chemist so I can't vouch for anything in the process. I have gotten very nice results on the the '90 and also on the Super Hawk, so I continue to use it. Caveat emptor...especially because I'm giving you the recipe in grams and litres!
For a litre (roughly a US quart?) of solution I use 1 litre of white, grocery store vinegar into which I dissolve 100 grams of Epsom salts (please don't use regular table salt, as it will release deadly chlorine gas), and 120 grams of regular white sugar. That's it for the solution. Multiply it for a bigger bucket.
Because this process is "line-of-sight", I wanted to avoid shadows between the zinc and the part to be plated. I formed a strip of 3" wide roofing zinc (99.some% pure zinc) from the local building supply store (where I live we get a lot of moss on the roof and we use this to combat it) to run down one side of the bucket, across the bottom and then up the opposing side of the bucket. I ran a similar zinc strip at 90 degrees to the first strip and then ran a copper wire around the outside of the bucket to electrically connect the zinc together. This connection goes to the positive of a 3 volt dc wall charger.
I suspend the part to be plated from an aluminum rod and wire down into the solution. The rod is connected to the negative end of the wall charger.
I meter the plating current fairly carefully. Usually it's between 100 and 300 mA depending on the size of the part to be plated. Too much current will result in smutty, black deposits (and may fry your wall charger). A few minutes to a half hour gives good results, again depending on part size, temperature and a bunch of other stuff that I will probably never know about.
Scrub the plated parts with a soft brass brush or even steel wool and you should see a nice shiny surface.
A couple of other notes: clean the parts to be plated--remove oil and rust (I like to stick rusty parts in a different solution to remove any rust prior to plating), and be carefull of your fingerprint oil.
In small operations, I don't think the quantity of hydrogen gas given off poses a problem. Just be mindful of that.
Those are the basics of what I do. Let me know if you need more info.
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e3steve
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Correct. Original lightswitch knobs can be found on eBay; I've also seen them on classic bike suppliers' websites.The hole on the right side looks original (I think for the neutral light), but I haven't seen any pics with a hole in the middle with a button plug like that.
I'd say a PO installed 4-Watt, instead of the required 2-Watt lamps, for a brighter light; I slipped some red butyl tubes, that come with some marine compasses, over my instrument lamps for a different look.The boots on the speedo back-lights have melted? It's hard to imagine how that happened.