I have seen some new trends...what do you think about redoing chrome parts in just the copper look? I saw it on the tv...looks cool.. What do you think
to de-chrome a part they reverse the chrome process . as far as copper plating they use it first in the chrome process... copper,nickel,chrome. so copper plating should be cheaper right? probably not much. my 2 cents
The majority of plating cost is in the prep and metal finishing. It has been done before, there have been a number of cars built with copper rather than chrome. Bare copper tarnishes fairly quickly and requires regular cleaning to stay looking shiny. A coat of paste wax helps preserve the finish without the down sides of clear paint/powder coat/phenolic/etc.
Here is what I said on this recent thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=611862&highlight=chrome+or+copper The Schwinn stingray in my avatar has a copper plated frame. I did it over ten years ago, and it still looks good with maintenance. It still has its original clear, but needs a new coat. The copper itself is just fine. Bare copper needs a clear coat. When the clear coat gets crappy in a few years, strip it off, repolish the copper, then reapply the clearcoat. As long as it is plated as thick as it should be, you will never rub through it unless using a power buffer. Another option is a clear powdercoat. I have had copper clear powdercoated and it looked great, but I was never able to check for longevity. For increased rust resistance, have your plater put a layer of nickel under the copper; that is what I do when a customer wants a copper final finish. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->__________________ To add a little about the idea of stripping the nickel and chrome from the copper; it won't happen. It is way too difficult to remove the nickel without damaging the underlying copper enough to need more plating, unless the plating is newer and the nickel is really thin and the copper is really thick.
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