[David Dunlop]

If you check back to Post #513, you will see the original of this dial from my Sender on the left hand side. I had decided to use the spare dial on the right, from my parts receiver, as it was in better overall condition.

I also wanted to try out a test electroplating with this original dial to see how it would work out. The results are in.

In the first two photos today, you can see the original dial after I had cleaned all the metal surfaces with a brass wire wheel on my Dremel Tool. Once the bare metal was cleaned of all rust and other crud, I cleaned the entire dial with a general purpose cleaner and then rinsed it with Isopropyl Alcohol. This was followed by a light coat of car polish, on the black engraved face of the dial, to hopefully further prevent any plating from happening anywhere on it. Then into the electroplating solution it went for just over two hours.

When it came out of the solution, I was very pleased with the even plating around the rim, and once it had dried for about 20 minutes the central hub and rear of the dial looked pretty good as well. As it continues to dry out over the next couple of days, I expect the colour of the plating with lighten some more.

A couple of interesting observations. First, deposits of zinc did occur on the black engraved face of the dial, but only as very small dots of sand. When I rinsed it off in warm water after plating, these all washed away.

Second, the plating around the rim had a fine sandpaper feel to it. I was not sure if this would interfere with the smooth rotation of the dial in the drive assembly when fitted to the bottom of it, so I gave the rim a quick rub with a smooth cotton cloth. This got rid of the sandy feeling and I suspect the dial would turn with no problems in its drive assembly.

So I am now pretty certain I will use this process to refurbish the remaining two dial assemblies on the Sender. No choice really. I have no spares.

David