Chrome Plating

[Chipper]

You can see on bike stanchions, no copper, just chrome. I always thought the copper was as much a "filler" as anything, for cosmetic chrome.

Philpotts in Luton do good hard chrome. Though the price has nearly trebled since I used to go there waving tenners on a Saturday a few yrs ago

 

[busastars]

Reason I asked about Ally is because I have a Single side Swingarm ( Lump of Cast Ally ) and for me bike build would like to get it Chromed / Nickel Plated and also some yokes. ( dependant on price )

Rang to places local and both instantly said no to Ally.

Also thought about an Ally look powder coating ( chrome like look ) but I'm a little unsure.

 

[Shox Dr]

Old ALi is a real pain to plate, as the cast tends to be porous, and unless all the moisture is removed the chrome will lift.

 

[Weldinator]

I thought the zinc coating is what made it hard or is it just the standard process or using zinc plating ?

 

[hotrodder]

No zinc involved, that's galvanizing or stuff like zintec (a thin electrolytic coating). Chromium is a hard, corrosion resistant metal that makes stainless steel, err, stainless

As with anything shiney the smallest of flaws become exagerated. Not an issue with hard chrome/industrial plating as it's not there to look nice but a big deal for decorative jobs. No doubt there are other reasons but the copper plating step is as much about the final steps of the polishing process as anything- polish, clean, copper and then polish again. Nickel gives the 'depth of shine' to the final flash coating of chrome which is really an ultra thin protective coating

london chroming are 100 percent not cheap but u cant fault them

That was once true but not anymore.

Any ideas what happened? New ownership or something?

Very nice Langy !

Would you say that chrome would be more resistant to damage and road salts etc than epoxy, i imagine it would be due to how hard it is ?

As said, two very different things. Harder isn't necessarily better as it typically means more brittle. Paint can be touched up/repaired/reapplied easily, plating can't.

If you're gonna use (as in really use) the car the finish will get damaged and rust WILL find a way in. Just stay on top of it and the rust won't get a proper hold.

 

[langy]

Just thought i would mention that my friend coppers everything, bumpers get heavy coppering as there is often pitting to fill in.

I take around £3000 worth of work to him each month, most of this is Classic Car & Hotrod chrome but i've seen a huge increase in people bringing me car & bike stuff that has been repopped in China, the chinese chrome is just a flash coating and often has no copper whatsoever on it just Nickel, this cheap chrome has been known to go rusty in a few months

Also i would point out that the quality is all in the polishing, the finished surface will only be as good as whats underneath !!!

I often get asked if people can do some of the ground work, its ok to remove flashing and welds etc etc but anymore than this is not advised as you end up putting in marks the polisher will struggle to remove. HTH

 

[vdubz]

How does one go about getting chrome straight? as lots of rechromed parts i see are always badly rippled, and it just looks horrible. Obviously dents are hammered out as close as possible, but how are they finished off? is filling/shaping all done with copper? and blocked down straight?

 

[langy]

How does one go about getting chrome straight? as lots of rechromed parts i see are always badly rippled, and it just looks horrible. Obviously dents are hammered out as close as possible, but how are they finished off? is filling/shaping all done with copper? and blocked down straight?

Ya wanna know all the secrets

 

[vdubz]

I'm just trying to figure out how much my rusted rippled bumper is going to cost me to straighten out, and i'm hoping your going to tell me thers a magic filler they use like upol chrometastic

 

[langy]

I'm just trying to figure out how much my rusted rippled bumper is going to cost me to straighten out, and i'm hoping your going to tell me thers a magic filler they use like upol chrometastic

No such luck i'm afraid, I wish there was such a product.

 

[brightspark]

I'm just trying to figure out how much my rusted rippled bumper is going to cost me to straighten out, and i'm hoping your going to tell me thers a magic filler they use like upol chrometastic

any dented parts are pannel beated out . the only filler for deeply pitted parts is silver solder or braze ground and polished then a heavy coating of copper then polished again to smooth the surface for chroming

 

[vdubz]

So sadly theres no real way of giving the part a skim coat (other than copper) to iron out any ripples? my bumper will probably need about 100 coats of copper and alot of block sanding