Cadmium plating?

[Peter Naulls]

Can anyone confirm the correct finish for the starter motor casing on a 3-bearing engine. Rinsey Mills book says cadmium plating which sounds plausible. If so, any recommendations? A Google search brings up lots of platers but no-one advertising cadmium.

Peter.

[MartinH]

I think you will find cadmium plating is more or less prohibited as its pretty noxious stuff. I'm not sure that it was any better than zinc?

[Derek Sheldon]

Cadmium was identified as very dangerous to health about 20 years ago. We had to return our silver solder metal powder back to Johnson Matthey who then replaced it with a cadmium free alternative.

[Peter Naulls]

Thank you both, I've learned something new.

I'll use silver paint like everyone else!

Peter.

[bob46320]

OH dear! When I was an apprentice in the aircraft industry, all steel bolts were cad plated and passivated. Will all old aircraft have to be taken from museums etc and scrapped ??

[Chris KC]

Last time I looked cadmium plated bolts were still for sale as are NiCad batteries. The regulations primarily address occupational and cumulative exposure. It's possibly not a great idea to lick the stuff or try and weld it. It is most toxic when inhaled either as fumes or as dust, one of the most significant mechanisms for toxic human exposure being the smoking of cigarettes...

[mk1-mark]

You can still get items Cadmuim plated, but on a few conditions. You have to be able to "prove" that the part is "Safety Critical" & that it not being Cad plated would reduce it's performance. This can usually be achieved on most brake components, I doubt it would fly when referring to a starter motor.

You also need to have DEEP pockets.

There are a couple of "Copy Cad" products on the market that accurately reproduce the finish of original CAD plated components. But for most people plain old Zinc does 99% of the job, is quick & easy.

The choice is yours.

[Erich]

Here in the US, cad plating is also on the hit list of heavy metals. However, I recently had the dished washers for the nylock wheel nuts cad plated. It came out a bit shiny, but will soften in finish over time. When I restored my Velo, the nuts and bolts and spokes were all cad plated, as they were from new at the Hall Green works.

Erich in Seattle

[Peter Naulls]

Much as I want to keep it as authentic as possible it does sound as though cadmium should be avoided! A quick search shows various zinc plated finishes - gloss, matt, semi-matt, lacquered or bare etc - some of which look very convincing. I shall make some enquiries to see if I can get an idea of price before sending any bits away.

Watch this space.

Peter.

[Derek Sheldon]

I’ve recently been wire brushing the surfaces and then laquering surfaces, maintained worked original finishings