| Moderated by: Steve Cunningham, Rod Rogers, Larry Hancock | ||
| Author | Post | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Terry Fisher AFCA Member 
|
Is there a method of nickel plating a blade so it will not end up being out of balance? I know this topic has been discussed in the past and the answer has been ...... No Way......but is there anyone with new experience? I have a perfectly balanced blade with new wings that I don't want to mess up with the plating process. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Last edited on Mon Jul 6th, 2009 07:43 pm by Terry Fisher |
|||||||||||
|
Steve Stephens AFCA Member 
|
Terry, you might want to check with Nick Loos. He restored a Westy Tesla and had the blades nickeled |
|||||||||||
|
Steve Cunningham Super Moderator 
|
Nick Loos made a Veritys blade for me. He nickeled it and it was perfect. Kim Frank restored a Jandus Round Ball, and he too nickeled the blade and it was perfect. Larry Mong got so frustrated at it, he made leafs out of stainless and polished them after balancing. Paul Graves has nickeled some blades for me. He plates the hub, attaches the leafs with screws, in brass. He balances the bades, and then nickle plates the blades. It works. If you rack plate nickle or any other metal, it ends up on the end of the blades. If you can get someone to tumble or twirl the blade while plating, it builds up evenly, eliminating the balancing issue. |
|||||||||||
|
Kim Frank AFCA Member 
|
Terry, I had this BMY renickled a few years ago, only because it was original to the fan. I believe it was done using electroless nickel plating. I did all the polishing of the brass prior to having it plated. It doesn't wobble a bit when running. Don't know if it was luck or what. Attached Image (viewed 141 times): |
|||||||||||
|
Ron Powell AFCA Member 
|
NICE BMY KIM! NEEDS SOME GOLD PINSTRIPES |
|||||||||||
|
Terry Fisher AFCA Member
|
Thanks for all the replys and advice. |
|||||||||||
|
Randy Rohr AFCA Member 
|
Terry, The issue of balance of course relates to how uniformly the plating is applied and also the shape and position of the 'sacrificial anode' (nickel). Platers that really understand this will take the simple way out and just 'flash' the nickel on- just enough to get coverage- keeping the thickness to a minimum. Talk to them and see if they understand what you need. By the way, I've used Nick's plater on both wings off the hub and complete blades assembled with great success. They understand what to do. Regards, Randy Rohr Last edited on Tue Jul 7th, 2009 11:57 am by Randy Rohr |
|||||||||||