swap meets in Calif used to have many chrome bumpers sellers show up - most had plating done in Mexico - have tried many so called chrome plating in a spray can products - useless, unless you want silver - no where near chrome but, for a strong gloss metallic try Rust-oleum
Glad you found someone. I have been thinking about a good base coat of silver metallic paint. And several coats of clear, with lots of big chrome flakes. I think it could turn out cool on the right part, on the right car. Probably more of a custom application than a hot rod.
I mentioned in an earlier thread about a company that quoted a price to do a show chrome finish on a 40 Desoto grill. Got it back with the pits still showing, no more sharp corners. When I called to complain, they told to ship it back and it would be $100 an hour for stripping and replating before the chrome was applied. I paid over $1,000 f0r the grill originally to be done. Used them because the STREET RODDER magazine used them all the time for their projects. They had a fire and burned down. Guess they went back to business. Company name: ADVANCE PLATING out of Portland, Tennessee. Unless they let me watch every step, I would never recommend them for your plating. Mine was done over eight years ago so I can just imagine what they would charge today. Their show chrome isn't what they said it would be. I foind a company local where I am at, and it is better than what I got fro, Advance Plating. Never again.
Those big ol diecast grills are an awfull lotta work to do properly .They cant be done with a home plating setup as you need a rectafier with at least 1000 amps DC current for the chrome process ,which im doubtfull a home electrical system would offer ! The stripping and polishing , atleast on the one I did , was two days work . I charged 2k Au ,ten years ago ,and it still looks great .
I agree with @Rusty O'Toole, you can do electroplating of small parts at home. I use the Caswell "Plug N Plate" system to restore the chrome on vintage toys. It's a brush-on electro plating system that works quite well. I do 2 applications of their "Flash Copper", polishing in between, and a final of "Copy Chrome" then a finish hand polish with 3M Machine Polish.
I apologise, clem. I really spaced out . I'd say these were done in 2016 and installed in 18 or 19. I probably have between 5 and 6 hundred in total cost. I would have been better off spending 3 times that for chrome. That's what I'm going to do this winter, hopefully. every place there is a screw, the finish "splits" and not too long after it peels.
1000 amps at what voltage? My father used to bronze plate baby shoes back when and I used to help him so I know a little about plating. I got an old 550 volt arc welder and thought of using it as a power supply for chroming larger items. Plugged in on 120 it puts out 6 volts. Would need to be rectified and regulated for plating. 1000 amps seems like a lot.
1000 amps isn't a lot, that's one reason plating is so expensive. I looked into this at one time, thinking like you that I could possibly 'rig' something to work using my electrical knowledge. It's just not doable with mickey-mouse methods. And you do not want to get caught with unpermitted hazardous materials; years ago a local guy here bought up a closed chrome shop and tried running a 'backdoor' operation, he did hard prison time and lost everything. The 'rule of thumb' is that it takes about 1.25 amp per square inch of surface area to be plated. Voltage is less critical, but usually in the 6-12 V range. So a thousand amps will plate about 800 sq in. An average bumper measuring 72" long by 6" tall will come up as 432 sq in, but remember, that's only one side. In reality that's 860 inches. So much larger rectifiers are common and needed for commercial plating. And the current in the tank has to be controlled for the size of the item; you wouldn't put a 200 sq in item into a 1000 amp tank.
I would have recommended Dan’s Metal Polishing in Adamsville, Tn if I had read this earlier. Quality work, VERY reasonable prices compared to Advance, and family owned. They did all the polishing and chrome on my old roadster many years ago and it still looks great! He also does the plating on the reproduction Nottingham 33 grilles.
@joel , No need to apologise, but I really appreciate that you came back and posted photos that we all benefit from. - Thanks !
I've done home setups for copper, nickel, zinc. It's not easy and takes a lot of trial. It's line of sight so you really have to plan you tank and layout, then have enough chemicals to fill that tank. The Caswell kits are pricey. I wouldn't suggest home method for anything bigger than a door handle, mirror etc. Chrome doesn't coat to steel well, need a substrate, hence copper nickel chrome. Large industrial coaters make it work "flash chrome" and have the equipment to do so, it's not as bright and doesn't hold up as well. I use a variable power supply from a school science lab that I picked up at an auction, without that control it wouldn't have worked well at all. Controlling the application rate for fine particle is the key to getting shiny. Zinc for example- fence posts are dull because it's applied as fast as possible. Slow the zinc application down and it will polish out. I really like the look of nickel plating, think you'd have to do all the part on the car for it to look right. If I was going fake chrome, I think I'd use a high quality chrome wrap before the spectra paint. With either, plan on redoing it every few years as it get knicked up. I helped a friend do some wraps on off topic panels, not "chrome". Little bit of learning curve but not bad to work with. Nothing beats real chrome, whether or not you can put the $ towards it depends on the project.
Yes, that's the kit...but you also NEED to get the "Flash Copper" Kit as well (it comes with a c copper electrode). I've been using the Caswell Kits for over 20 years with great success...but it takes some practice to get really good results...here's what I've have learned... Follow instruction for applying the supplied electrode cover (medical gauze also works). Clean, sand and polish part you are plating. 220, 400 and OO steel wool. Brush plate part with Flash Copper, dry off and polish with OOOO steel wool...do this procedure twice. Brush plate part with Copy Chrome, dry off and polish with OOOO steel wool. It will have sort of a dull zinc appearance. Brush plate the part a second time, dry off and hand polish with 3M 39009 Machine Polish...this will bring up the luster. Hope this helps.
I agree with chrome only way to go especially with a huge Desoto grill first thing you see. I used some chrome powder coat that’s clear coated but just barely looks like an aluminum finish. It’s just more durable than regular paint
“Hey” let’s all put our hand’s together and thank the EPA and OSHA for the chrome shop prices we have today !!! Our tax dollars are hard at work …
It’s a good thing all the countries w/o an Environmental Protection Agency are on a different planet!
Yes...sorry I forgot to send pictures. Car is in body shop for paint. Hope to get it back by end of April. Took about 8 weeks longer than original estimated time. He priced me about $2100.00, final bill was $1900.00. Never heard of that before, but pleasantly surprised. Tickled pink at the results. Do not know how it looked in 1948, but I will betcha didn't look as good as it does now.
Suspension parts on my dragster are all spray on chrome. From 5 ft away it looks like real chrome but if you look close enough you can tell it's not
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