Plating transformers
Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 5:39 pm
Mad science question here--
I have both some phonograph parts, as well as some typewriter parts, a couple 1910s-1920s alarm clock projects, various flywheels and frames and probably some other junk if I thought about it, and it could all be plated. The classic recipe is to use a little bit of nickel acetate and plate them but the power source in the old "Popular Mechanics" or 1950s Cub Scout handbook type recipes was always a "hobby transformer."
The other day in an antique store I saw some of those nifty little S-gauge trains from the A.C. Gilbert company--not related to Gilbert gramophones, but think Erector sets & those chemistry sets which used to have radioactive stuff in them. The whole shebang ran off a little alternating-current transformer, kind of like contemporary postwar Lionel. I'd almost forgotten about "American Flyer" trains but -- never mind how bad I'd like to paint one of their Pacifics in the Atlantic Coast Line livery -- I realized the "hobby transformer" back then was a chunky little thing putting out serious AC volts, not the wall wart/lantern battery/Bachmann HO-gauge power packs I was used to messing around with.
I've tried plating using an old-fashioned DC battery charger for charging batteries/cranking engines, on the "HIGH AND START" setting--and have also attempted to use the battery off my car. When that didn't work I hooked it up to the alternator, cranked the engine up, & tried plating at a high idle. That also didn't quite put out enough juice--I was plating all the brightwork off a 1929 Underwood typewriter at the time & I don't want to pull a stunt like that now.
Could I get away with using alternating current from one of those old-time train transformers to plate? Anyone tried something like this? I have some iron & tin that needs plating so a bit of extra juice will not hurt anything.
I have both some phonograph parts, as well as some typewriter parts, a couple 1910s-1920s alarm clock projects, various flywheels and frames and probably some other junk if I thought about it, and it could all be plated. The classic recipe is to use a little bit of nickel acetate and plate them but the power source in the old "Popular Mechanics" or 1950s Cub Scout handbook type recipes was always a "hobby transformer."
The other day in an antique store I saw some of those nifty little S-gauge trains from the A.C. Gilbert company--not related to Gilbert gramophones, but think Erector sets & those chemistry sets which used to have radioactive stuff in them. The whole shebang ran off a little alternating-current transformer, kind of like contemporary postwar Lionel. I'd almost forgotten about "American Flyer" trains but -- never mind how bad I'd like to paint one of their Pacifics in the Atlantic Coast Line livery -- I realized the "hobby transformer" back then was a chunky little thing putting out serious AC volts, not the wall wart/lantern battery/Bachmann HO-gauge power packs I was used to messing around with.
I've tried plating using an old-fashioned DC battery charger for charging batteries/cranking engines, on the "HIGH AND START" setting--and have also attempted to use the battery off my car. When that didn't work I hooked it up to the alternator, cranked the engine up, & tried plating at a high idle. That also didn't quite put out enough juice--I was plating all the brightwork off a 1929 Underwood typewriter at the time & I don't want to pull a stunt like that now.
Could I get away with using alternating current from one of those old-time train transformers to plate? Anyone tried something like this? I have some iron & tin that needs plating so a bit of extra juice will not hurt anything.