Stainless steel treatment

mgreen

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I am recently refurbishing a Zaxxon cabinet and during the coin mech portion I had to wire brush and polish the stainless steel parts of the coin bezels, coin chutes, and return door and chute. It originally had almost a yelowish/bronze look to it but had quite a bit of rust especially on the innards.

So here is my question: how do you recreate this finish on the stainless parts? Right now I just highly polished the parts. I will see if I can post a picture later if no one understands the question.
 
I am recently refurbishing a Zaxxon cabinet and during the coin mech portion I had to wire brush and polish the stainless steel parts of the coin bezels, coin chutes, and return door and chute. It originally had almost a yelowish/bronze look to it but had quite a bit of rust especially on the innards.

So here is my question: how do you recreate this finish on the stainless parts? Right now I just highly polished the parts. I will see if I can post a picture later if no one understands the question.

Rubbing with aluminum foil has been suggested by others, supposed to remove rust and polish at same time.
 
I have not had much luck doing this.. I have considered a chrome paint, but have not tried this yet?
 
Just a guess, but could have been a clear coat/lacquer that yellowed over time?

Otherwise if you think the stainless was really stained, try gun blue... results will vary on the stainless (sand/scotchbrite it again before and/or with the gun blue)

i'd think it would look better just polished
 
Looks like a common method for Sega's since my Afterburner is similar. might be a stain of some type I was thinking maybe an acid etch or patina. Not sure if anyone has attempted to recreate the finish.
 

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Post polishing
 

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Yeah after seeing how well it polished I decided to give the bezels a shot; I do like it personally.

Pre vs Post
 

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That is yellow cadmium plating, can only be duplicated by having the parts replated.
There are paint alternatives but honestly I dont think they are anywhere close to real plated parts.
The good news is that its not very expensive to have a batch of parts cad plated.

http://www.eastwood.com/new-golden-cad-system-w-diamond-clear.html

It could be cadmium plating, or yellow zinc plating (both look similar). That eastwood link is basically just spraypaint though... I wouldn't bother with it.

If that is cadmium plated, I'd be careful polishing it though... cadmium is toxic, and while not really a problem when left alone... taking the plating off and getting it airborne probably isn't a good idea.

You could get the parts re-plated though... you'd just need to find a local plating shop, or send the parts off. You'd probably want to wait until you have a larger batch of parts though. And because of the toxicity of cadmium, it'd probably be harder to find someone to do that... though yellow zinc is common.

DogP
 
One thing I am confused about, if it is stainless steel there should be no rust. Most likely they are regular steel that was zinc plated to inhibit rust.
 
Its not stainless.
That being said, there are many different grades of stainless. Some will eventually rust, some wont. If in doubt give it the magnet test. If its got some iron in it a magnet will stick to it and it can rust.
 
A lot of "stainless" steel does rust, I've had "stainless" steel completely covered in surface rust in a number of hours just from the sweat off my hands while I was working on it.
 
A lot of "stainless" steel does rust, I've had "stainless" steel completely covered in surface rust in a number of hours just from the sweat off my hands while I was working on it.

Yes there are different types of stainless steel, but those are more for strength. 18/10 doesn't rust, and a magnet won't stick to it.

200 series stainless will, but it is hardly used in applications like this.
 
That is yellow cadmium plating, can only be duplicated by having the parts replated.
There are paint alternatives but honestly I dont think they are anywhere close to real plated parts.
The good news is that its not very expensive to have a batch of parts cad plated.

http://www.eastwood.com/new-golden-cad-system-w-diamond-clear.html


don't they have an actual small plating kit (i think phet used it on one of his restores)? IIRC there was a kit that actually plated your item.

I think eastwood even sells it. tho it might have just been a zinc plating kit.
 
don't they have an actual small plating kit (i think phet used it on one of his restores)? IIRC there was a kit that actually plated your item.

I think eastwood even sells it. tho it might have just been a zinc plating kit.

I've used the kit they sell. It's silver zinc though.
 
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