I've been mulling over getting into zinc-nickel alloy electroplating for refinishing motorcycle and car components. Some parts such as brake caliper mounting brackets cannot be powder coated because the coating is too thick and it gives all sorts of alignment problems. Also, while stainless steel fastenings are cheap enough, you can only get standard fastenings. Large fastenings such as engine bolts are non-standard and have to be made specially and this is expensive. Also stainless steel isn't high tensile and shouldn't be used for applications such as wheel spindles etc. This means there is a requirement among restorers for refinishing original components.
One problem with electro-plating is the necessary acid pickling prior to plating. This induces hydrogen embrittlement which, as the words imply, makes the components brittle. The remedy is to drive off the hydrogen dissolved into the steel by baking the plated component for 24 hours at 220 Centigrade. I have had the idea of using a mini oven to do this.
Cany anybody tell me whether these mini ovens can actually reach a sustained temperature of 220 Centigrade please?