The Hodaka Club Forum

I know these have been discussed before. I’m thinking about trying it with a batch of nuts & bolts and 2 sets of spokes on my Wombat wheels.

I cleaned my Wombat spokes with SOS pads. It cleaned them nicely. But they all rusted now, even in our dry climate in Northern NM. Since it costs $75 for one set of spokes, I figure I can try a zinc plating set up for around $40-50 and come out ahead on the spokes alone.

So which zinc kits in this price range, $40-60, do folks like the best? And is any zinc included with the kits or do you have to buy zinc separately? Thx! Victor

Eastwood sells a kit, I haven’t used it but have read a few positive reviews of it. Eastwood.com

I bought the Eastwood kit and was not satisfied with the results. I found it to be whiter than I wanted and would rust fairly quickly. Followed the instructions then tried different lengths of time and even different voltages and never really got the results I hoped for.
Just my opinion, maybe others have had better results.

Thanks Tether! Victor

Victor-

For what you want to do I think you would be wasting your money on a zinc plating kit. Plating kits will only plate small stuff. You want to replate a sprocket. A zinc plating kit won't do that.

If you want to get into zinc plating, I would recommend you watch a gazillion Youtube videos. Then, put together your own plating kit. Start out small - nuts and bolts then proceed to a little larger - backing plate stays and brake cam levers.

For anything larger than small nuts and bolts, a D cell battery won't cut it. You need a better power source. It's not voltage, it's amperage. I use a one amp motorcycle battery charger.

I have replated an air cleaner body, brake pedals, foot rest stays, kick stands, and sprockets. There is a learning curve. Start out small, work your way up. I enjoy the motorcycle restoration process. To be able to make old rusted nuts and bolts look like new is VERY rewarding

Larry S

Larry. I want to start with items like spokes. I figure a new set of spokes for one wheel costs as much as the average zinc plating kit or 2. So I’d like to try that and save the expense of buying new spokes.

It looks like I may end up with s zinc plating kit as a Christmas present. I’ll wait and see what happens with that! Victor

Victor I agree with Larry. I would build my own plating kit it is easy enough, I built them when when when I was in about the sixth grade. I used my electric train transformer as it was variable or adjustable according to the size of the trays and the surface area of the parts you are plating. Also used battery chargers are available at thrift stores and some come in variable amp ranges. You are looking for DC current only. I was probably doing copper plating back then and used glassware. But remember there is nothing better than a Christmas present and whatever you get you are lucky and the kit you can modify, according to your needs. -------------- Clarence

Victor just a note, I used the zinc canning jar lids back then in the 50's but they are available on ebay now. ----------- Clarence

As a zinc source for plating? Victor

yes . Clarence

Nice to know! Thx! Victor

I use zinc roof flashing. It's 99% zinc and comes in a 3 inch wide roll. I use my shop scissors to cut off strips. 1 strip for small projects. 2 strips for larger projects, 180 degrees apart. 4 strips for large projects, 90 degrees apart.

Larry S

I just weighed my roll of Zinc, just under seven pounds. ----------- Clarence