It started with my gennie shifter, which I had to bend up to fit in my car. I decided to try polishing the raw part to blend in with the chrome, and didn't turn out too bad! So I then decided to polish this old oil filter I got from a fellow Hamber, creepjohnny. I was so dang impressed I had to write this post! I always thought polishing raw steel was impossible for some reason. But it's actually pretty cool! I'm not done polishing yet, but it's sure looking sweet. After I'm done I'm going to bury it in clear.
just get it chromed! you have done the expensive part of the plating process,which is the time spent polishing. if you give it to a chromer in that state, they wont charge too much to just copper,nickel and chrome it. you wont get clear to stick to highly polished steel for very long.
I do it all the time on anything going to the chromer short of a whole bumper. Can't trust the chrome shop hired help to do a good job you know + is does save a bunch of money. My customers get all excited, they come in and see a new bracket or something and think it's chrome already, I pop their bubbleand inform them that expense is still coming! We're dry here but I'm always surprised how long polished steel will go before is surface rusts.
Steel can polish up like stainless, it just will not stay that way without some protection. Looks nice what you have done. I agree to send it off to chrome shop now!
I use Rustoleum clear lacquer in a spray can on steel. It'll last about 5-6 years before you start to see some "orange looking veins" develop under the clear (that's on stuff inside a home). Just be sure to use a torch and burn out the moisture right before spraying.
Of course you can polish steel to a mirror finish, that's a standard step in the show plating process. Not sure why you wouldn't plate it. Plating will preserve the look of your work. Without plating it, no mater what you do it's going to rust. Unfortunately nature/physics always prevail. No coating, including painting and powder coating, has good durability when applied to a mirror smooth surface. And the more durable the coating, the harder it will be to remove when it does fail.
Chroming parts starts by polishing the steel first, the electro plating is just hanging and dipping it with a water bath in between.
Can't help you with a local plating shop. But, realize you have already done the hard part. A plating shop shouldn't charge a lot just to plate.
Exactly, so I'm curious to see how much that would be exactly... but it also gets me thinking "... could I do the chroming process myself?" But that sounds like a whole can of worms that I shouldn't open.
There are plating processes you can do at home. Chrome plating parts this size at home isn't a good candidate. If you want to play around with plating this is good supplier for the do-it-yourselfer. http://www.caswellplating.com It's not cheap to do. On the other hand, if the shop has a minimum it might be cheaper to just nickel plate the parts yourself.
From what I've seen on TV, there are a host of nasty chemicals involved, plus the electricity needed. Best left to the pros.
From what I've seen on the TV shows, there are a lot of nasty chemicals involved, not to mention the electricity needed. A job best left to the pros.
Electroless plating doesn't require electricity. Yes the chemicals are hazardous, but plater has worse stuff than one would be using at home. Electro or electroless, cleanliness is very important. Bath temp is especially important with electroless.
I use shark hide on a lot of bare steel parts but it kind of expensive and have had great results. I have also used minwax paste and warmed the part and wipe on a very thin coat, which have lasted several years on outside artwork.
Actually Electroless plating would require electricity. Not for the application of the nickel layer itself but for the massive filtering required, heating the tank and you would need pretreatment baths that also need heating, agitation, and possibly filtering. DIY chrome plating is very possible and has some following. However if doing it to save costs it could take a long time. Plate only on small parts shouldn't add up very much. Probably comparable to powdercoating costs. Liability is another major concern. Even doing it as a hobby has liability issues. Certainly something you should research before getting into. Especially to make sure you won't be violating any local ordinances ect. There is a nickel plating with an alloy added to give a blue tint to look more like chrome. I believe its Cobalt. Not as durable as chrome but less likely to come under EPA restrictions. Caswell as mentioned earlier has that as well.
yes, here it is...they do great work McKenzie Chrome Plating... Springfield, OR 97478‎ 685 34th St Springfield, Or 97478 (541) 747-6148
Within the bath itself there is electrical activity, but as you say, unlike electroplating, the electroless plating process itself requires no outside application of electricity. The name of the process implies that. If tank heaters are electric then power is needed for that. Large tanks will have electrically powered circulating pimps. Because the process requires no electricity, good quality electroless plating can be done on a gas powered kitchen stove with manual agitation and no electricity at all. I doubt the Amish are doing electroless plating on their wood stoves, but they could.
Does anybody have any before and after pictures? I'm kind of wondering how much the chroming process hides or shows imperfections.
And my reply to ScibJenkins.......... It's hard to get good pictures to show the difference that is apparent when the part is in your hand. Did you ever buy something on ebuy that looked great on line and looked like heck when you opened the box? If your headed to the the Portland Swapmeet stop by & I'll give you the 2 bit guided tour. Red
Anything less than a near mirror finish will be seen when plated with nickel and chrome. Even if the finish is even enough to result in a shiny part, it can contain scratch marks, dull spots, pits, waves, etc. Copper can be used to fill quite a bit of imperfection in steel, but it then needs to be finished to the same level as perfection because nickel and chrome will hide almost nothing on the copper either.
I was just curious, I had a bunch of wave marks on that oil filter and I had to sand it down heavily, then buff back out before it came to an absolute mirror finish. Was just wondering if that was unnecessary or just the way it's done. Apparently that's the way it's done!
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