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-----Food-safe Plating of Leaded Brass
Need vintage espresso machine's brass boiler replated food-safe
RFQ: I am refurbishing for my personal use a vintage espresso machine from the 1970s. It has a brass boiler (about 7" x 6" -- smaller than a gallon paint can) whose interior nickel plating is gone. I would like to have the boiler replated with food-safe plating, so lead won't leach out of the brass into the hot water.
Tim H [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]hobbyist - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
2007
Ed. note: This RFQ is outdated, but technical replies are welcome, and readers are encouraged to post their own RFQs. But no public commercial suggestions please ( huh? why?).
Is chrome plating of brass food-safe?
Q. Hi,
This is Lalitha, Product design student. I would like to know if chrome plating on brass serving bowls is food safe. Is chromium plating the best option?
I'm working on my final year project - designing tableware products.
- Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
November 18, 2011
A. Hi, Lalitha,
Depending on what you are trying to do, silver plating might be best -- silver has been used for food & drink surfaces for millennia. Nickel plating is a traditional finish. And tin plating of copper cookware has been a rural tradition for over a century (see thread 255/53, "Historical hand re-tinning of copper cooking utensils").
I'm not sure that the colloquial term "food safe" is defined rigidly enough to give you a clear answer, but chrome plating has been used around the kitchen for many decades, and I have a chrome plated knife, chrome plated juicer, and several other things including a couple of pieces from an old copper-nickel-chrome plated steel flatware set. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
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finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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Coatings for brass for potable water use
Q. I need to prevent potable water coming in contact with a brass insert that will be over moulded. Chrome or nickel plating are not options. I only want to coat or plate the inside surface of the brass insert as the outside is covered after over moulding.
Neil MacintoshTechnical Consultant - Sydney, Australia
July 1, 2014
A. Hi Neil. You haven't said why nickel plating is not an option; so, whatever is excluding it may exclude my other suggestions, but tin plating and silver plating are additional food-safe coatings. Teflon coating or porcelain coating may be other options.
Note that leaded brass may not be permissible even with a plating or coating. In the USA there are NSF standards regarding leaded brass. Best of luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
A. Electroless nickel should be acceptable for this application.
Lyle Kirmanconsultant - Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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