another simple set up instead of using a stand alone rinsing spray gun, a water hose its used instead of using a dedicated sensitizing spray gun, a plastic hand sprayer its used http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVcu57xN538 Simple uh? now protecting the Silvered part its the tricky part...
Hello everyone.! I thought I would share my knowledge in this subject as I have 8 years experience actually doing the spray on chrome proccess. First of all what you have to realise is that there is no spray on chrome there is no such thing. You are spraying silver nitrate. Second of all this is not a paint application it is a chemical application and you are appying a reaction of silver onto the basecoated part so you are trying to controll a chemicall reaction as it happens in front of you. here are a few tips n tricks i do to make this proccess easy and i mean easy. step 1 basecoat all parts 24 hours before silvering to make sure your basecoat is 100% dry. step 2 when mixing your chemicals be sure to mix the sensitizer 30 mins before the other chemicals this ensures that the tin has bonded to the water molecules properly and will there fore wet the surface for longer. step 3 if your chemical is reacting too fast for your liking half the chemical mix not the water. this will slow down the reaction time and the deposition of the silver making it more controlable. Dont forget your controlling a reaction this reaction is called (autocatalyst) read up on Brashears proccess and tollens theorys. I hope this all helps if you have any questions post me.
Thanks prolab for the clarifications. Have you ever tried this process on old thermoplastic injection molded interior parts? I have some Ford armrest bases that were vacuum metalized in the 1960's. I am wondering if this nitrate would be a better restoration option than the vacuum metalizing.
Have you had this car out on the road for an extended period of time yet? I'd be interested in seeing how it holds up under normal road conditions.
I have a pair of '53 Buick headlight bezels that were started down the road on this processes when the company went belly-up. They are primed and ready for the final coatings. Anybody up to finishing them?
I have had a few companies send me their swag on this since I am thinking about offeri.g it at my shop. it seems to be nearly the same process as silvering mirrors.
In the Sacramento, CA area there is a shop of South watt Avenue that does this type of work exclusively. Their finished product looks great. They did a valve cover and a set of headers for me. Good work, reasonable prices and one year later with daily use no complaints. Norrmbc9
I can't wait for the low buck solution to this process! Drag racers will be lined up around the block to get their fiberglass bumpers done. One of many huge markets for this process.
Glen, not following you on this. 53 buick bezels are stainless and you just have to polish them up. 54 buick bezels are potmetal. Those would probably work. Fryguy
I use it time to time. Works good, doesnt really look like chrome but more like polished aluminium. IMO
These are the ones i have: This is a pic of one of the ones I sent them before I sent it. It is now in a gray primer. Looks flawless, but in primer.
Yep, glen those are 54 buick bezels. They are potmetal so you wouldhave to rechrome or alternative chromethem. Thanks for the pic. Fryguy
Just read through this thread and the problem seems to be the final clear coating over the silvering process. A few pages back someone mentioned clear powder coating but no one ever responded, has anyone tried an industrial strength clear powder coat? Many are made specifically to prevent fading and to not yellow.
well it was me, I had the idea of Clear Powder coat over the silvered surface. an nobody has tried yet. it will be up to me to do it I guess.. I ordered Liquid Powder from Caswell plating. it should allow me to spray it over a plastic surface then, slowly bake the powder(will not fully cure due to low heat).. I will be also testing it over metal piece
Waiting to hear how it did go...! Clear powder is great, and strong enough to keep up against the environment, trouble is that it could chip by som small stones/gravel. And, of course the sulotion by heating to cure it! Normal paint woudnt hold up, and dont it uses quite normal similar ones at the "primer"?.. Perhaps try some preheating of the part primed to outgas , let cool, before powder it..... Try it, nobody will know before someone had done it!
Marvin, I just want to tell you I really admire your tenacity, hope you will find all of the ansers you are looking for. I have owned a 54 buick skylark with really bad potmetal parts (fins, head light bazels etc.) and have been looking for a system that I can use to repair these parts. Please keep us up to date with what ever you find.
I do a lot of gas pump restorations ,some have a lot of pitted brightwork.Im going to look into this rather than sending everything out to the chrome shop.
Just wait for a few more days... the Packages just arrived to Nicaragua, I need a few more days for the long customs paper work... coming soon... Alsa Chrome FX(small Pump system, same chemicals) vs Off the Shelf counter part vs Also I will also use a drip method(instead of spraying it) I got a few items for Caswell plating(Ultra Chrome Powder coat, Liquid Powder, Cerakote Chromex ceramic coating) and a CopyChrome Plug and Plate kit. I will try to plate over a silvered surface(using the spray on chrome/silver systems) the spoon on the pic was silvered, at the time I did not have the plug and plate kit) I also ordered an small sample of Innate Chrome paint. I´ll be using their special clear to see how well it does perform all in all I´ll be very bussy testing all of this chrome like products, I´ll be posting pics as I get them... wish me luck
. I checked Pchrome's web site and it syas "just as hard, just as durable as real chrome" I find it hard to beleive that any sprayon top coat can be as hard as real chrome. (real chrome 1000. on the rockwell scale). In the sales world this is called puffing, in my world it's called bull shit! Now I'm not knocking spray on chrome, in fact I am very interested in it, but let's stay honest here. It looks to me that they are more interested in selling instruction $5000.00, wow, for a 2 day coarse than any thing else.
I have read through most of the post on this thread and can understand the confusion about spray on chrome. In general it works some time but not at others. 3 years ago I was asked to research the problem by a company that had purchased the UK rights too one of the systems but could not get it to work. After a good deal of work we built a system which worked every time but the commissioning company had financial problems due to another project and went bust. Our system has now been revived astrachrome.co.uk take a look I think you will find it interesting also see Gammascience.co.uk Story of a project
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