Barrel Plating of Aluminum
How can I zinc plate aluminum?
Q. How can I zinc plate aluminum using barrel plating?—C.J.
A. The straightforward answer is: with difficulty. You can do this, but most of the procedures used are proprietary in nature. If you want to do this you can expect some experimentation on your part before you come up with a suitable process.
The aluminum must be thoroughly cleaned and then zincated. Double zincating is usually recommended. After this step, immediately start plating with what ever metal you wish to plate. There are reports of people successfully doing this in barrels and baskets. If you want to get some idea as to what has been done in this area try a web search of "barrel plating of aluminum".
Originally published in the July 2015 issue.
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