to start at the beginning

first of all i would like to say hello to everyone and hope that you can help me learn about all the metal finishes .
i restore vintage prams and am fed up paying trough the teeth to have the wheels and handle bars and the chrome bits and pieces  that most of the time need doing .so i thought i would have a go mainly because i have been asked if i could gold plate some bits for a pram to so i am looking to buy a goldteck 2000 machine it comes with so bits and pieces as well .have a friend that used to do this type of thing many years ago so between us we thought we see if we can do it lol.i have never done anything like it before  so this is totally new to me but im willing to learn .all i can say it the largest thing that i would ever have to rechrome would be a a 24inch wheel rim the rest besides the handle bars are all tiny pieces say 3" x 1 1/2 " and small like hub caps and nuts and bolts .so there you have thats what i need to learn to do and the items i need to buy to do it with . any help would be great