DIY Spray On Chrome

Just to lend encouragement to the efforts of the 2 of you, I'm willing to bet I'm not the only DIY oriented hot rodder to be silently lurking and soaking up the info in this thread, which has now become a joint effort initiated by the OP.
Dave

 

one tip I forgot to mention, when you´r doing lots of small pieces(like spoons) at the same times, it better if you take a small jar and and fill it with Di water add 3ml of the sensitizer to every 100ml of di water(just confirm that 3ml is way better than 2.5) you just dip the piece for like 30 seconds and rinse outside, or have all the pieces inside... that way you dont waste this chemical... you will be able to do like 100 piece with this and the chemical will still be good for the next 18 hours.. I use gerber food container and dip 4 spoons at the same time

Awesome, let us know how they look once you clear them... many issues can come out at that stage, if you dont use enough sensitizer the piece will turn dark almost black, even if it looked good once dried....

 

I cleared it with my violet tint then regular clear it intensified the bad areas that I knew were there can you help me with the cause of these imperfections? I am assuming sensitizer issues

pic 1 shows them all the worst is the 2nd picture the staining looks kind of like drips maybe didnt get the sensitizer rinsed well enough??? im not sure ant help is greatly appreciated

 

I from time to time have this problem also, whe there is a hole in the piece it will turn darker around, this is caused by not enough sensitizer and rinsing around those areas. rinse the piece very well and blow dry it very well also because if the piece has some quemical left and is driping and you are not aware of it it will cause issues too

 

thanks old man,

 

Thanks nic I was wondering about the duration of the sensitizer if you leave it on too long what kind of problems does that cause

 

nothing, you can leave your spoons dipped on sensitizer(3ml per 100ml of di water) for like an hour and the bond gets even stronger than spraying it, I dont know if you want to test this out..

prep 4 spoosn, spray the sensitizer on two of them(wait for 20 seconds, then rinse and start silvering), dry them with the blow dryer, then put your thumb on it and rubb the surface, most likely the silver will come off

now grab a small jar(small enough to dipp to spoons, I use gerbber glass containers) mix your sensitizer(3ml of concentrate per 100ml of di water) leave the spoons for 2 minutes, rinse and start silvering, the blow dry and do the thumb test.... the silver just wont come off untill you do it real hard...

seems like the weak link in our process is the sensitizer from angel gilding, I wish I could dip my large parts on it to save on the sensitizer and to make the bond stronger but the shelf life of the mixed(concentrate and sensitizer) is of 24 hours only, so... we are left to only spray it.. this is going to be our trick ok.. spray the sensitizer, leave it for 20 seconds(never let it dry) then spray again and leave it for another 20 secons, repeat untill we get 1 minute, the rinse and start silvering

 

Thanks I will try that on the next piece

 

plan on doing several pieces today different sizes and shapes to find the problems with them

 

what base color are you using? I find Black the most usefull, you can tell if the water if flowing or not, you can tell if you have a mirror before the actual mirror

 

the 2 larger pieces were painted silver and i just cleared em again going to take a piece and start from scratch today (with black)

 

ah dont worry about it, if you already done with them, I was thinking on using silver for larger pieces, where if I miss a small percentage of the hard to get places they are going to be silver instead of black....

 

ok I slowed dowm a little got a decent piece the prep isnt very good but I was more concerned obout the black streaks and dull spots I am gonna go ahed and clear it even though I will eventually have to redo them but thats why we practice

 

thats true, please keep us posted... at this stage dont worry about how your basecoat looks, train on the silvering and once you have mastered all thins will come together

 

I´m doing a few pieces for a Dirt Bike, they are brand new and shiny from the start, but I am doing the whole nine yard this time(have the time to do it)


this is how they looked before the prep..





after sanding it with 600 grit(before Krylon Fusion)



Krylon Fusion
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8Mz0K2lEl-8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

after Sherwin williams 2k primer(after Krylon Fusion)





sanded primer after 1 hour and Purple glossy basecoat(single stage)







<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k664enJvA28" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I´ll be "Chroming" this pieces tomorro afternoon.. wish me luck...

 

yeah slowing down has helped i am learning alot for sure
doing a shotgun receiver for my son inlaw did real good silvering put a little too much on got some chalky areas but overall a big improvement

 

yeah this happens to me too, there is a point that if you add more it will start getting chalky, seems like the pro system dont have this issue, well we are on a budget and cant afford the pro system, we have to learn to deal with this system weakness

 

good luck nic looks great so far

how do you redo a piece that isnt quite perfect

 

sand with 600 grit, re clear and do the silver again

 

thats what i figured but was hoping for an easier solution

 

is the not so perfect piece only bad on the silvering? because if is just that you can take some hydrochloric acid and remove the silver from the piece and re silver the piece again

 

I finished the pieces just now.. they will be ready to go tomorrow

before clear





after clear..




I´m uploading some videos I´ll post them later

 

this is the piece I have selected to show you how good prep can lead to good results

piece before wetting agent, see how the water beads? this is not good

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IzYlWqN-syo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

degreasing the piece before the wetting agent

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ldI32whI_iE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

wetting agent

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/u-03etwt6U4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Silvering

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rubS4rihD0Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Drying with Hair blower

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UoaYaYhI4fM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

just before clear coat

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2lL5zSWp9P0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

After Clear coat

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B512CmWUakw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I´ll take some pics tomorrow against triple chrome, good night guys

 

good job man i am impressed

 

Love this thread. I have recently began testing spray chroming here in Ireland. I am also using angel gilding chemicals. Do any of you guys find the tin/ sensitiser is weak. Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I have the idea of mixing it a bit stronger. Has anyone tried it. I have mixed at the stated amount on bottle but I find after clearing that everything peals.

Some excellent work guys. As I said, I love the post keep it up...

 

the angel gilding tin/sensitizer is the WEAK link here boys, I now use 3ml of the concentrate per 100ml of Di water, you could use more, but I dont want to use all the chemicals just yet, what I do is, spray the sensitizer, allow 20 seconds, the spray again the sensitizer allow another 20 seconds and repeat untill you do 1 minute, then rinse and start silvering

 

You are free to not bother with this thread for the rest of however long it lasts....

Chrome-On NicaMarvin, Chrome-on..........................

 

i agree chrome on nic im learning how to make this work even if i never use the knowledge what you have learned from using this system is interesting , how did the exhaust pipe work out ? have you run the bike much ?

 

hey nic my tin has seperated does that mean it has gone bad?

dont want to waste the silver have a couple projects to do as soon as i get another sprayer

 

I hope your just too busy to answer me and that the morons who buy all their parts off the rack and dont have a creative bone in there body havent deterred you from posting anymore chroming tips


While I am sure some of these guys who just pay the guy to get there parts done dont understand we are the guys he is paying and we have to learn somewhere

Im ordering some more tin anyway I will post pic's