On this page we are really at the last dregs of the construction process, time was limited today so this is about one hours work (I was allowed out to play for an hour) what follows is the construction of the brass lined fixing holes, the rake limit and the process of Nickel plating the adjusters and terminals, below you can see an M6 Brass bolt, and below that the way it has been turned and drilled to make a nice brass lined hole for fixing the key to something, I'm not really sure why they should want to fix it down, maybe in days gone by it was a requirement or maybe on board ship it would be necessary anyway just for convention I have fitted two small ones :()

And below you can see it fitted with the rake limit or stop, again I'm not sure why that is there either? I suppose to protect the keys action if it was to be dropped or hit by something perhaps, anyway it now has a front one I've declined to fit a back one (interest is waning fast)

AND NOW for something different, on this key like the previous key I've decided to Nickel Plate the terminals and adjuster knobs, the two tone of Brass and Nickel finish does look good I must admit, if a little "Flash" perhaps. NOW ANOTHER WARNING the chemicals used for plating are corrosive and dangerous, also they give off toxic fumes, so if you are going to play plating keep the safety goggies on!! use rubber gloves and keep the place well ventilated, Actually Plating is a bit misleading, it is more in the nature of anodizing as far as I use it, the process just  covering the first few molecules of surface brass, so what you see on the brass surface before the process is what you will see afterwards, it does not cover with any thickness at all, however it does stop virtually all tarnishing. Now just as soldering cleanliness is the byword, the brass must be CLEAN the very slightest film of oil or finger grease and the brass won't plate and you have a patch, to help you clean you must use an industrial degreaser  shown below after polishing the brass you them immerse the item to be plated into the degreaser and scrub it with something like an old toothbrush (Not your wife's from the bathroom as that is the road to divorce:) then wash it very very very thoroughly in clean water, as the degreasing agent tends to be a bit sticky, (10 out of 10 if you spotted I have no gloves on, photographic licence, or don't do as I do just do as I say:)

Below you can see the two side terminal posts in the Nickel plating solution, they are attached to wires and hung from a piece of brass rod either side of the bath are Nickel plates, with an electrical positive connection to the plates and negative to the rod, I won't go deeply into the process as it is very well documented on the internet other than to say as far as very small parts like key bits are concerned you need to adapt ,as what you normally read about is plating huge tanks for Motor bikes or similar, here for these parts you used tiny currents, these two are taking about 50ma and I use a constant current charger to supply the current, adjusting as I go, a little more for bigger parts etc, and it is fairly quick 5 to 10 mins at the most, any more and the plate will start to thicken and go grey and then will require heavy polishing, to much current and the plating will flake not enough and it will be patchy,

Below you can see one of the post fresh from the plating tank, after being washed well to remove any solution

So finally the key is mechanically complete all that remains to do on the last page is to strip it down completely and sand, stain, and varnish the base then remove as much surplus solder as possible from the brasswork and sit for a few hours polishing :()