If I understand it correctly,those plastic parts that are so-called chrome plated are actually put in a vacuum chamber and an aluminum dust is introduced into it and that makes it look plated.Is there anyone who has tried to do this at home?Is there a "kit" out there that you can use to do stuff for your own use?Also do you think that this would be a cheaper alternative to use on metal parts if they are interior parts instead of real plating?Chrome plating is getting ridiculous.
I don't know of a kit like that but they do have spray chrome. if you look at any SEMA pix you can see cars with it. kinda a pain in the *** to do from home and if it gets touched a lot it don't last real long. for more info on it check out www.spectrachrome.com
Check your local hobby shop for Alclad2.This stuff works great.You have to put down a black base first.I have used this many times and got great results.
The parts have to be perfectly polished and I think sometimes they spray a glossy layer of lacquer to make the surface more glossy. Then they go in the vacuum chamber, then a hot filament or hot tungsten "boat" is used to vaporize aluminum and evaporate a thin layer of aluminum onto the parts. Think of it like spraying aluminum onto the part in a quick flash. The aluminum layer might only be about .1 microns thick. The aluminum layer is really fragile and aluminum is too bright looking to look like chrome, so they spray a slightly tinted coat of some kind of lacquer over it to make it more durable and to make it look more like chrome. With yellowish tinted lacquer they can make it look like gold or br***. It's also possible to electroplate plastic if they first coat it with a conductive film. Those are all expensive processes that would be tough to do at home. So the spray on stuff like the other guys are talking about might be the best bet. The secret is getting the surface as smooth as possible to make the parts mirror-like before whatever simulated chrome process you do.
There's a place here in Clearwater... if you can find somebody localluy who has purchased the system, it looks nice http://www.sprayonchrome.com/index2.html
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