oh cool... are you able to purchase 1/16 or 1/8 of a gallon of clear coat? that could help lower the cost down...
I don't know, I'm not in the autobody industry, used to be but it's been a long time. I'll have to check around.
if you still have a few buddies on the business then they could help out with 1/32 of unused leftovers.. hey I also bought the harbor freight 69$ powder coating kit to see if I could powder coat the "chrome" parts.. but I have not test it yet, If it works out then this should be almost as durable as the real thing..
Spectra Chrome freshly done on bumper- Same bumper after a few months in the sunlight- it has turned yellow, pink in some spots, clouded/hazed in others, peeling, blotching, etc. Lovely, isn't it? Total garbage!
I know you are disapointed buddy but lets take a closer look at your work.. whe I see your silvered bumper I see a flawless prep work, I see a flawless silvering, its a mirror, a work of art, dont you agree? if not then you are too hard on yourself.. but if yes? then let me continue what you have there its a mirror..! now both of us know mirrors are ment to last years if not decades, but what happened here then? your mirror was not protected correctly from the weather, not because you fail in protecting it, but because the base coat/clear coat combo you used failed you, thats why. now granted protecting this mirror from both side its harder then protecting a mirror that only needs a back paint, because the front glass just wont oxide or let oxigen thru. so silvering plastic parts it a lot easier than silvering metal... you created a perfect mirror, thats not so imposible to create, the question is. do you have to pay so much to creat a mirror?.. I dont think so, there are dedicated silvering mirror chemicals that are up to 5 times less expencive than the so call spray on chrome chemicals, at first I thought the super expencive price was because they created a super duper base coat/Clear coat combo that would prevent the Mirrors from tarnishing in the out doors as most mirrors never see rain water... but thats not the case here, so what can we do? well we know we have inexpencive silvering chemicals, and inexpencive spray silvering equipment, now what WE NEED is a good Base Coat/Clear Coat combo so our Automotive Mirrors las as long as our Home mirrors.... I would love to hear from mad scientists like my self and their experiments on protecting our mirrors from the weather, I am sure we all can learn if we work together....
you could try to powder coat it... Yes... and I kow your thoughts... chrome plate a plasticfiber bumper that has being silvered....Nice, dont know if it will last...
Sounds like a great way to chrome a part if you do not have a chrome shop available. But luckily I have many choices in my area at least 4.
With the proper clear coating I would think this process would be ideal for interior parts. If a better UV resistance clear coat could be found maybe it would be used for exterior pieces. A pieces like a grill or front bumper experience the most harsh conditions, not only UV and rain but small and larger projectiles hammering into them at 60-100+ mph. That's extreme. Find a clear coat that would adhere to the silvering. Automotive clear coat is made to bond to the paint below, does the same clear coat bond to the silvering?
nicamarvin, Stude-sled, and HotRodHabit thanks for the in depth info. I hadn't really looked into what those systems actually were. Great information and pix. This process would have its uses but I doubt using it on bumpers and grills would work for a driver. Common sense tells me I wouldn't want to use this system on my exterior bright-work, or in any extreme conditions. Kind of like not using those home powder coating systems for headers. Obstacle # 1 - Almost all, if not all, clear coats require some kind of tooth (de-glossed or scratched surface) to adhere properly to its undercoat. The smoother the surface, the less likely it is to bond adequately. If prepared correctly, silvering is glass smooth and metal, not paint. Any ding, pinhole, or other access to the elements will cause the clear-coat to begin separating from the silver. Obstacle # 2 - Silver tarnishes really easily so any pinhole or other access to the elements will cause the silver to begin tarnishing. You can't just touch up a ding. You have to strip it and start over. Beginning to see a pattern? I wouldn't hesitate to use it on interior pieces except for possibly window frames where I would hang my arm out.
Any of you other guys with the professional spray chrome systems have samples of parts that were sprayed and left outside for a while?
I will take a picture of the center cap on my O/T driver. I chromed it about a year ago and it has NEVER been washed, it is always outside and it has been through one SW MO. winter and it looks just like it did when I snapped in on.
Alot higher than paint but cheaper than chrome and has more options to chrome odd things. I fix lots of pitted pot metal parts and I chrome a lot of household items.
My quest is Not over, and will not give up just yet, I have tried a lot of things, from shoe polish to nail polish and I have 1000 more clear coats to test, from industrial to automotive, I just wished I had a little help from others, now that you found out that silvering does not have to be that expensive... all we need its a good BaseCoat/ClearCoat combo... just to quote a grate mind, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work" Thomas A. Edison
I have been looking into Spectra Chrome system for another business venture here, I was going to go to FL the first of next year to check it out, looks like 20-30 grand to properly get set to go. I think the product has a good area but I really do not want to be restoring rusted out bumpers and grilles so I will stay from that field of work.
Ahhh, one of my favorite quotes, I didn't say to quit searching. Many of us consider the phrases "You can't do that" or "That's impossible" a personal challenge. Probably why we're hotrodders. I'm not ready to take on this particular challenge right now. However, it would be nice to have a drip system around for small projects. How long can you store the materials?
the concentrated chemicals are food for up to a year, but once mix with Di Water they have a 8 hours pot life, so its better to mix what you plan to use in a day...
I will be performing the old and tested iron Nails corrosion test over "Chromed" parts to test different BaseCoat/ClearCoat combos...Whish me luck...
not even 1 day has past since the test began and the Nitro lacquer test piece its out of the competition...
PPG has a mid coat clear, and then I thought about the blending clear that you soften up original paint surfaces before you blend paint on them, like on a repair. Could you use that to chemically bond the first coat of clear, or would it soften up the chrome surface to the point of moddling it up? Since you can't sand before clearing, maybe some kind of chemical bond would work. Or just spray the first coat dry and misty.
I will be testing blending clear or clear(no color)base coat also.. I am using regular iron nails, preped them, then I used a dipp method to silver them like in this youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUX_cpFWNso&feature=fvsr and then use different types of base coat/clear coats, I put them in separate clear plastic cups and added tap water,I will be adding more types of clears as I go, to begin I started with Nitrocellulose lacquer(failed before the first day was over) Acrylic enamel(holding so far) synthetic Enamel(Holding so far) Acrylic lacquer(holding so far) Waterborne Polyurethane(Holding so far) Thanks for the Big Idea, maybe you have some more I could use..keep in mind I live in nicaragua and I am limited to what I can have at hand...
so far... Nitrocellulose lacquer(failed before the first day was over) Acrylic enamel(hold for 4 days) synthetic Enamel(Hold for 3 days) Acrylic lacquer(hold for 2 days) Waterborne Polyurethane(hold for 5 days) as soon as the nails show some tarnishing they coating its deemed a failed.! will be testing more nails soon....with industrial and automotive coatings...
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