electroplating airsoft stuff

[jdmsquadleader]

anyone deal with electroplating, or plating their airsoft items? Atm im thinking of electroplating a pistol for display purposes and could use some help beside the shit ton of google pages to sift through. My questions are lets say i had a marui 1911 and bought a 1911 body kit would i need to sand down the the paint to bare metal to electroplate it or can i plate it as is, also can i plate plastic too? and will the tolerences of the slide and body be enough to move freely. Basicly i wanna do a chrome 1911 but not a we brand one so ill prob need to disassemble the whole thing and electroplate it. also anyone's family or friends do electroplating for a good price. If they could contact me and shed some light on my project

[Dayton]

I don't know too much about electroplating, but I do know quite a bit about electricity. However, the name itself suggests you need good conductivity to plate the item via electricity. So, no plastic or paint that would inhibit the operation. And if you sanded down the paint, you'd probably want to polish the metal, so the electroplating comes out smooth and polished as well.

Like I say, I don't know too much about this, so I could be wrong, but that is my guess.

[PhoenixShadowCompany]

Send it to robar company. They do electro playing for real firearms. Don't see why they wouldn't do it for Airsoft. I'm thinking about sending my Glick slide in for np3  doesn't do much for Airsoft but the finish looks great

[jdmsquadleader]

ill have to check them out

[Toast]

Do you want "chrome" or electroplating? 2 completely different processes.
Is the slide ferrous? See if a magnet sticks to it.
Actual chrome plating is a multi layer proccess consisting of copper plating and nickel.
Can't really "home brew" it. High current and nasty chemicals.
If the parts are aluminum you can polish it to a high polished finish with a lot of elbow grease.

[nukeduster]

I use a 6 amp car battery charger when I'm doing plating and removing rust from car parts and tools. You CAN do it at home, up to and including gold plating. Plastic plating (vacuum metalizing) is not feasible to do at home, however.

[Fresnel]

I use a 6 amp car battery charger when I'm ... removing rust from car parts and tools.

This is relevant to my interests. How would one go about doing this, exactly?

[nukeduster]

I use a 6 amp car battery charger when I'm ... removing rust from car parts and tools.

This is relevant to my interests. How would one go about doing this, exactly?

You can get almost everything you need from here:

http://www.micromark.com/
and here
http://www.harborfreight.com/10-2-55-amp-6-12-volt-battery-charger-engine-starter-66783.html


I wont give you a complete DIY because it involves a chemical process that requires proper precautions and safeguards. While it IS possible, it's dangerous and I don't want to be responsible.

Long story short (the correct way for a show finish): you sand the part, acid wash it, copper plate it, buff to shiney finish, acid wash it, nickle plate it, buff again, possibly repeat nickle plating 2x more times. Thats why some people say its "TRIPLE CHROME PLATED!"... just means it got put in the nickle vat 3 times.