In this case, I had to strip the old zink plate, so I opted to use a meriatic acid solution. All the chassis parts were soaked for a shot time. This strips the plating and removes all the rust. Once this has been done you are ready to replate the parts. However, if you want a really shiny surface, you will have to spend time polishing prior to plating. What you start with, is pertty much what you end up with. I spent time polishing the surfaces that are easily visible.
Polishing is a time consumming process. I spent hours on this, and there are still plenty of blemishes showing throught the new plating. However, I spent enough time to ensure that the areas seen were smooth so the unit would present well.
Also, I put several heavy layers of bright zink on the chassis parts. This will give good protection even in harsh damp areas and also allowed me to cover over and polish out some of the minor under-laying blemishes.
Plating Setup...
Plating current is relative to the area being plated, so a method for controlling this is needed. I use the same resistor array I use as a dummy load for amplifier testing. These are 25W 2 ohm resistors. I can tap into any spot, which allows me to adjust the load from 2 - 16 ohms, in 2 ohm steps. Here... I am using 6 ohms.
My power supply is a heavy duty battery charger with a selectable current limiter. I always set to the lowest (2 amp) setting.
