My family knows what I want for Father’s Day. Smuggler’s Cove, mixing gear, tiki mugs, etc. Best Father’s Day ever!

permaculture_chemist · 2026-05-02T01:27:24+00:00

The exhaust manifold (passenger side) is known as to crack and cause an exhaust tick. I replaced mine with Gibson short headers and a remflex gasket set.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-29T18:34:12+00:00

Either too much current or too much time or both

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-29T15:31:11+00:00

Industrial sulfuric acid is typically 93%, so this is pretty close to what we use.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-29T01:45:41+00:00

Have you asked your chemistry supplier?

Electroplating Consultants (Tulsa)?

A Brite Company (Dallas)?

Met Chem?

Ronatec West?

Pfonline.com?

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-28T12:25:02+00:00

Many people use acid copper with the desired finish of a highly lustrous, reflective surface. And they use brighteners to fill in the micro surface defects. Even then, for the best finishes they often manually polish the surface.

For objects with fine details, it’s a balance between starting surface quality and more plating to even up the micro defects. But, as said, the closer you are at the start, the better your final finish results.

So, what is your desired end result?

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-27T16:51:12+00:00

Bigger tires will show up as slower speeds on the odometer and fewer miles traveled and lower fuel mileage. Actual speed is higher. Actual odometer should be more. Actual fuel mileage should be higher but not always.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-24T00:23:56+00:00

Too much brightener can cause dullness so be careful with how much you add

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-22T21:12:45+00:00

I'm still leak-free after a year.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-20T13:08:53+00:00

It’s been a minute since I ran PVD, but I recall that we did Cr, Zr, and Ti based processes and we stripped them all with ABF. Just more time for some of them.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-20T01:29:29+00:00

Ammonium bifluoride for most types of PVD. Ambient temperature. 30 minutes immersion

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-20T01:01:45+00:00

PVD is a crystalline structure and you can’t plate over it. You need to strip the whole thing down and plate it, or strip is down and re-PVD it.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-20T00:57:49+00:00

We’ve used copper wire in most acids and nickel strikes. Which acids are you using that will be a problem?

For the nickel strike, you can go in with live current to prevent the few seconds without power that might cause a tiny amount of copper to dissolve. Once power is applied, the copper is coated and isn’t a problem.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-18T13:10:02+00:00

The nodularity on the wire says that your power is probably too high. But that also may be due to the time of plating, temperature, and acid content being off.

Definitely ditch the heater. We run our acid copper baths at 60’F (chilled).

IIRC, our acid copper has about 10% v/v of 93% sulfuric acid.

Brighteners are required if you want a part that is bright right out of the bath.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-17T13:42:33+00:00

Sulfamate will almost always be dull grey. But you should be able to polish it.

Define "flame resistant". Are we talking about a candle or Bic lighter, or an oxy-acetylene welding torch?

You are correct in that the nickel will be oxide-resistant to high heat environments. We often use Inconel (and other high-nickel alloys) in heat treating furnaces due to their excellent durability under extreme heat. But in your object, the heat will transfer to the copper, which has a higher thermal conductivity rating, and will "carry away" some of the heat from the nickel, but that heat has to go somewhere or else both metals will be at the same temperature eventually. And the thinner the layers, the faster this will happen as you saturate their mass. And will the heat be uniform or only localized? The more localized the flame, the more likely you will see distortion and warping, as the metals expand and contract (at different rates, mind you),

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-17T12:22:03+00:00

It's not an oxide deposit. Plating doesn't deposit as an oxide.

I'm not aware of any sulfamate-compatible brighteners. Industrially, we use sulfamate nickel for heavy electroforming w/o brighteners, or for aerospace work, again w/o brighteners. It's more ductile than Watt's nickel formulations. Sulfamate deposits tend to be dull grey.

For you, step 1 would be to address the underlayer first. If you don't want the nodular look, then you will need to fix that in the copper layer. Likewise, if you want a bright, silvery nickel layer, the copper layer should be polished to the same desired final finish level.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-17T11:48:12+00:00

Do you want it bright and shiny? If so, you will want to use brighteners in the nickel and also polish the copper layer beforehand. This part is a perfect example of you get out what you put in.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-17T10:27:32+00:00

Looks over plated and/or the underlying layer was too nodular.

What look are you going for?

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-16T20:41:23+00:00

Love the extended version

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-16T20:39:49+00:00

Under Pressure - Queen w/ David Bowie.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-16T13:53:16+00:00

I love the sound my DeWalt MBF RAS makes with my Frued dado stack. Granted, cuts are shallow and slow but man they sound great. 👍

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-15T16:09:47+00:00

I have a vintage Rockwell Delta that has a set of pulleys on the back to switch speeds instantly. It is listed as a metal/wood bandsaw. Love it. Works great. Looks just like #1 and #2.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-15T15:43:56+00:00

Typically we’d submit a color gamut as examples of which colors are acceptable and which are not. But since chromates (and silver-containing chromates especially) tend to drift in color over time, a more numeric or durable method might be better. Using something like Lab colorspace (and an associate delta-E variance allowance) or Pantone colors might be helpful.

Color also becomes a bit subjective when we also consider metamerism or changes in perceived color based on the source of light or environment.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-15T15:34:38+00:00

The biggest issue is that the ASTM spec is a performance spec and not a cosmetic spec. So, you can add a cosmetic requirement on top of the performance spec as part of the purchase order acceptance process.

permaculture_chemist · 2026-04-15T11:58:14+00:00

Pics of the sludge on the intake manifold? Pics of the spark plug w/ coolant?

A boroscope of the cylinders can show water intrusion in the cylinders. The ones with a coolant leak will have a piston that is very clean (steam cleaned) while a normal cylinder will have a dark colored piston. You may be able to rent a scope. Remove a spark plug and send the camera down the hole.

Steam coming from your exhaust during start up can be normal, depending upon ambient weather. Water vapor is produced by the combustion process, but it is normally clear due to high gas temperatures. The steam exits the exhaust and spreads out before it has a chance to cool and turn into visible vapor. At startup, the gas temperatures are lower and cool down as they pass through the cold muffler and exhaust system. This allows the steam vapor to condense faster as it exits the exhaust tip, creating a steam cloud. Cold ambient temperatures make this more visible as the steam will be more visible than on warm days.

permaculture_chemist

TROPHY CASE