Rust proof/resist steel fasteners

[Ian and Lins]

I've got some steel nuts and bolts on my 'bike that get surface rust almost as quick as I clean them. Just bought a trail bike and a lot of the exposed steel fasteners seem to have a greenish coating on them that I assume resists rust. Any idea what it is and whether I can coat my other bikes fasteners? Or any treatment for steel fasteners? I vaguely remember the idea of heating up a fastener and then quenching it in oil; but I don't want to compromise the integrity of the nut or bolt.

[Oldiebut goodie]

Greenkote most probably.

[Ian and Lins]

I've just looked that up and that seems to be right. Not a viable 'at home' process though. Maybe I should stop being so tight and replace them with stainless steel.

[weegaz22]

You can do electroplating at home, there's a patent for doing it with essentially "food additives", they are still chemical concentrates you will be using but they aren't as dangerous or corrosive as most of the plating chemicals out there, you will need:

32 grams of Trisodium Phosphate
10 grams of Oxalic Acid
4 grams of Ammonium Sulphate
1 liter of De-Ionised water
something like a Glass pickle Jar from chippy
A sacrificial Zinc Anode, this is what you will be coating your metal fastners with( mostly used for boats to stop electrical system being affected by the surrounding salt water)
and some big D size batteries or a variable power supply

Throw a litre of water into the jar after you clean it, throw the chemicals in and stir till dissolved, connect your zinc (anode) to the positive side of your power supply, connect the item your plating to the negative (cathode) and put them into the soloution, make sure they don't physically touch each other, switch on PSU and away you go, you dont need much in the way of voltage, it can be done with about 5 volts, you will see bubbles forming on the part being plated, you can give it a shake and knock those off as it plates, some people add a fish tank air pump and it will remove bubbles for you by agitating the soloution for you

There is a guy on youtube that does it, his channel name is robert murray smith, does all sorts of stuff with plating and graphene

E D I T, heres his video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyhQ7n5w_KA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;