[ARC5] Cadmium plating

[Mike Hanz]

As an afterthought, it occurred to me that I have a couple of photos 
showing how well the bumper paint approach works out - the bottom two 
photos at http://aafradio.org/flightdeck/b17.htm show two flex drive 
cables that were pretty rusty when I started.  Chrome bumper spray looks 
way too shiny when you first spray it on, but simple wiping with a soft 
rag after the paint has cured for a week or two takes the sheen off, 
leaving an almost perfect replica of WWII cad plate.  It was an 
accidental discovery in experimenting with the bumper spray for another 
purpose - I found the shiny part left on my fingers with normal handling 
and a softer silver base left.  The base is more durable, thank 
goodness.  It's been ten years or so since I restored these cables, and 
no white powder so far... :-)

On 9/3/2011 11:57 PM, Mike Hanz wrote:
> My particular
> solution is to spray paint the can (or whatever) with chrome bumper
> paint, then rub it down with an old tee shirt after a week or so.  It
> produces a finish that looks amazingly like fresh Type I cad plating,
> but will not darken over time like cadmium will.  It's only drawback is
> that it isn't very good in a high traffic area.