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Cadmium Plating

Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:17 pm

Hello all.

Does anyone know of any tricks to duplicate Cadmium Plating Type I, for aircraft hardware

thanks

Pat

Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:24 pm

I'm brush cad plating qualified. Cad plating is a light gray color about .0004 thick if done properly. The gold color you see on hardware is a conversion coating applied after cad plating. I advise you send it our to a reputable plating shop, they can do a very good job at a reasonable price.

Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:59 pm

I had some stuff cad 1 and baked at UNITED PLATING, Tulsa, OK 918-835-4683. Mike Vad Bon Coeur recomended them. It came back great. They have a min charge. So have plenty of stuff or combine with your pals.

Sun Sep 20, 2009 9:46 pm

Reference QQ-P-416

I get stuff plated all the time. The platers typically charge by the 100 wt. (i.e. $/100#). They don't have any problem doing silver or yellow cad. The yellow cad is just one extra step. I use a local shop in Fort Worth. Most decent sized industrial cities should have several cad platers. We have 2-3 in Fort Worth.

Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:57 pm

YEAH!! Don't try it yourself! Cadmium is deadly poison even in pretty small amounts-treat it like it was your first ex and avoid touching

Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:37 am

the cadnium does not worry me, it is the cyanide used as the medium I worry about.

Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:52 am

Thanks everyone for all the great information.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:08 am

edited
Last edited by Enemy Ace on Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:34 am

You can *fake* it by using some aerosol stuff from Eastwoods. Seems to consist of 3 differenet candy (transparent) paint colors (gold, green & something else). Not sure if they still sell it as I throw their catalogs straight in the trash can on the way back from the mail box these days.

Having looked at it years ago I came to the conclusion that genuine cad plating was a lot less bother.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:38 am

Here ya go:
http://www.eastwood.com/underhood-engin ... clear.html


I've found that most Eastwood paint products are actually relabelled Bill Hirsch products with a higher mark-up.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:49 am

They even have a solution to silver cad plating as well... if you just want to recreate the look...

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-silver-cad-aerosol-12-oz.html?reltype=2

I doubt it will provide the correct corrosion treatment, but I suppose this might be an option if you want to use gold-cad hardware, and make it look silver for authenticity's sake. Interesting stuff.

Cheers,
Richard

Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:09 pm

Whilst we're talking about it, most (if not all) cad plating is QQ-P-416. Does anyone here have any info on QQ-P-421? We have it listed on a number of P-47 drawings, but have not been able to find a spec.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 5:38 pm

Suggest contacting West-Pac in Colorado Springs. I can't find anything on AN-QQ-P-421 in an industry spec database although NAF-1123 (A Naval Aircraft Factory Rivet Set) used the process. Maybe it is primarily a Navy spec that Republic adopted?

Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:21 pm

I had the pleasure of admiring a beautiful restoration in which the owner had gone to great lengths to replate all the hardware with type 1 plating. As I looked at the airplane, I just became bewildered. Why would anyone go to all that trouble to make the hardware authentic and then paint all the interior parts with a glossy poly or epoxy paint. As a whole, it does not look authentic all shiny, so why bother changing the hardware from gold to silver, a relatively invisible touch?

Also, what do you do for the fibre lock nuts to get them silver while retaining the fiber insert? On the same subject, does anyone have a source for AN366-832 nutplates? You cannot get them in any color from the usual sources.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:29 pm

Why do y'all have to make things so much more complicated than they are. As I said Mike VadBonCoeur of Midwest Aero restorations uses UNITED PLATING, Tulsa, OK 918-835-4683 If it's good enough for him, I'll bet it's good enough for y'all.
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