Anyone have a lead as to where I can get magnesium parts electrochemical plated? I know i can get them coated etc but the finish at the moment is a shiny plating and I would like to have it done like that again
I believe Steve just powder coats....?? there is a place in Towcester near Silverstone that does all sorts of surface finishing Sandwell UK or the fashionable finish would be to go ceramic....
I went to Protech Finishing in Northampton today. They perform a variety of metal treatments and plating. Last year they did some Alochrom for me. As you mentioned it for Magnesium I thought I ask them. It's not suitable for Magnesium. I had never heard of it being used for Mag and it appears it won't work. They don't know anybody local that does Magnesium either and that includes Sandwell at Towcester. When Magnesium was widely used for gearbox casings in Motorsport, F1, World Rally and even touring cars, those parts came with a dark brownish chromate finish. Similar in colour to the clutch and alternator casings on the 916. Anyway, when those mag casings got furred up or the chromate was just worn off from the constant stripping and cleaning we used to brush 30% hydrochloric acid onto the areas we wanted to re-colour. It only takes about 30 seconds after which you can rinse with water and the parts look as good as new. The finish is as durable (or as fragile, depends which way you look at it) as the original chromate. When treated with something like WD40 it even stopped the furring up quite well. No ACF50 in those days. Here's a picture of the colour you can expect to see with acid treatment.
Also worth bearing in mind that it's hard to generalise as several options were/are available* and contents mix chosen can affect durability and corrosion resistance. I can remember some wheels in the 70's being very good (Cromodora) as regards above, others not so much, and don't get me started on Ferrari crankcase components. *although pretty much standardised these days - AZ91D/AZ81 being the preferred choice for wheels for example.
Sandwell do do magnesium in a variety of finishes Xylan Kefos etc. and in numerous colours. They have done several sets of magnesium yokes for me over the years, and the finish remained really good. They do a very large amount of work within the F1 industries around here on a variety of materials with a variety of finishes.....
Great information here, thanks guys. So can anyone tell me what the coating is on the yokes? I have the bottom one in sort of the same condition and the mag swingarm which has a slightly different coating. The magnesium clutch cover is different again. I will photo them later when I dig them out of the garage
Factory triple clamp, https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/gallery/albums/factory-748-racing.353/, magnesium RS clutch case, https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/gallery/albums/748rs-to-853.678/, in original finish. Andy
Neither Xylan nor Keyphos are specific for Mag. They are generic "paint like" coatings. Sure they can be used on most if not all metals. I was more thinking of chromate and other magnesium specific coatings. If it was me, I'd be speaking with X-trac, Hewland and Ricardo. All three companies offer bespoke gearboxes with magnesium castings and they're here in England.
this will come down to differing opinions, but magnesium in it's varying states have been a bit "let sleeping dogs lie" for me, and unless you can guarantee that the refinisher knows exactly what they are doing, and what your final finish will be, i would tend to leave "as is" because they all look well sealed*, and pretty sound to me. *I've just seen some abrading though - I hope you do find a true specialist.
