Technical Chrome plating on the cheap

As we all know chrome plating ain't cheap. From what I understand a big part of the plating cost is in the prep of the part, the stripping, sanding, grinding etc. My question is, can I do this prep myself to keep the cost down or is this something the chrome shop would frown at.
If I can do this prep work myself, what should it look like? How far should I go? The item is a bumper guard all steel and not very big, only about 12" tall or so. I have removed all the old chrome, repaired the dents and filed, sanded any flaws out. My final sanding is with 220, should I buff it also or is the 220 finish good?
anyone else done this?

 

If there are any scratch marks from the sanding... it will show. I would buff it before taking it to them.

 

Why not ask the chrome shop ??

 

I just ran a bunch of suspension pieces in last week ($3000!!! yikes) but, they said they would do the smoothing on all the parts, They have a reputation around here, so, I imagine things will come out looking good. Even if its three months from now

 

Every chrome shop rep I've ever encountered at a large show says they would rather do all the prep work themselves. I can understand they don't want to warranty any work that somebody else does.

Who says that you sufficiently cleaned the part before you brought it to them? This is way before we even begin to talk about sanding and polishing. Did you just grind the old stuff off? Did you get every single spec off the backside, and in all holes? Any folded areas you couldn't get into?

The good chrome shops will use chemical methods to remove all old chrome, nickel, copper, and rust. They basically stick the part in the same plating chemicals, but turn the polarity backward to take each layer off. This works so much better than mechanical methods, doesn't harm the part's surface, and gets everywhere.

I know how to polish metal. I've polished acres of aluminum, and understand how to do it from as-cast to mirror shine. Aluminum is harder because you don't have any extra surfaces to add and hide imperfections (copper). Start with rough grit to remove ALL imperfections, then the next grit to remove ALL imperfections, etc. Right up to basically a mirror.

If you can assure your part is clean, polished correctly, and are willing to sign off on a warranty, I bet the shop will give you a break.

 

What’s the name of the shop?

 

Don't be surprised if you find out that plating and paint shop calendar's 3 months is actually 12 months in the calendar we work from. Seriously, hope their reputation for great work comes through.

 

There was a Tread on Chroming on here I think it was last year or the Year
before, where you could Buy a Kit to do it yourself I think it was about 3or4
Hundred Dollars & it look Good, !

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

Consider the process.

1) Chemically strip all old chrome, done at chrome shop.
2) Repair any base metal issues
3) Copper dip, done at chrome shop
4) Polish and fix any surface issues in copper. May take second dip and polish
5) Nickel plate, done at chrome shop
6) Chrome plate, done at chrome shop

If you wanna grind down all old chrome and polish bare steel. You need to be GOOD, or you could double your copper application to cover any waves or scratches that are in the part from stripping at home.
That's why the chrome shops want to do the stripping themselves. I don't think it's a money grab, I'm sure chrome shops would prefer to just plate parts VS all the prep and repair.

 

That won't end well. If the part doesn't come out absolutely perfect, you will blame the chrome shop. They will say it was your poor prep. Everybody is unhappy. Suck it up and save money until you can afford it.

 

I think you're better off letting them do the polishing/prep work...they know their best 'starting point' for plating. I would however (especially since you've done some basic work on it already) smooth out any square, sharp edges, as these attract hairs and nubs during the plating process.

 

I've plated copper, nickel, zinc at home before. It's not "super easy", lot of trial and learning to even get plating to adhere. Getting it to apply evenly is another learning curve. Getting a bright coating is even more difficult. That's on small parts.

Caswell has kits that make it easier than setting up from scratch. The cost of a Caswell kit to do a bumper would be very high. You really need a dedicated variable power supply, battery charger ain't gonna get it done.

 

Might investigate the term microcracking, in the realm of chrome plating. Good plate is an Art.

 

All the shops I ave had dealings puts it this way, if you do the prep work and it looks bad after plating who is going to get the blame for a bad chrome job.

They are putting their reputation on the line so I don't think they will reduce the price, they will still have to prep the piece to their sanctification. HRP

 

When I was young a can of aluminum spray paint was our cheap chrome.

 

I used Sioux Plating exclusively. They let me do all the grinding & polishing of the bare metal. They were satisfied with prep work I did & said I cut the plating cost in half. Unfortunately they are now out of business. due to envirnmental concerns& their main employee died. speedshifter Greg

 

alchemy, Merry Christmas to you & please tell me about your projects that required acres of alu to be polished. Kidding you of course. speedshifter Greg

 

You can prep your own parts. I did these headlight/shock stands. My old boss at the rod shop once ran a chrome business and taught me how. First they are prepped with a folded flapper made out of several feet of sanding belt. Then you end up on a sisal wheel with course compound working down to cotton wheels and finer abrasives. My local gunsmith then plated them for me. In this case we stopped at nickel plating. But we could have easily done copper and chrome. The part needs to be polished PERFECTLY. As in a mirror finish.

 

What a bunch if bullshit some of these comments are. Makes about as much sense as you doing your own rust and dent repair on your car and take it to the body shop/painter and it turns out like shit. Is the body shop and painter going to blame you. The chrome shop guy is going to look at what you brought him and give you a price based on what he sees and if you want show chrome or just plating.
If you fucked up a piece, he's going to charge you to make it right and figure it into the cost.

 

I wasted a bunch of time doing what I thought was a fine job on some old handlebars, only to be told : what did you do that for, now we got to redo that...

 

I agree with MCjim and 1946caddy. I think there would be very few shops that would agree to plate something you've worked on, fearing that you will not be pleased with the results. If they do, they probably won't guarantee the quality. I think the same can be said for anything you start and then take to a reputable professional to finish. Their livelihood depends on doing quality work and making customers happy. Their primary concern, if it's a concern at all, is not saving you money, but staying in business.

 

Just be aware that the conversion ratio between Chrome Time and Standard Time is 8.7:1.

 

You cant bring in raw food into a restaurant and expect them to cook and serve it for you

 

Saving $ on chrome;;
If doing your own prep,you need to get the bear metal too the point it now looks like it is chromed *!!! before you actually chrome it !
But that brings me too telling you,I did that part my self back in the late 50's an early 60s,but being near empty piggy bank, I then sprayed gloss clear coated some of my parts. They did look like chrome pretty much*,about every 2 years/had too strip an recoat.
In the later part of the 1960s,some chrome tape* looked fairly good part that were shaped so tape would cover them>with out WRINKLES. Then in the 2000's chrome tape started to show up,that had some flex an could be done on limited round spots. The biggest trick to taping a part is; put any edge/seam on ether the down not seen side* or were the edge of a corner is anyway.* so eye is not seeing a seam.
Finding good buys on a few parts that have been chromed before you get them,is good too. Like headers.

I built a fair number of rods an race cars,used these cheep ways of making them look nice,done right,no one ever even ask;;"Is this chrome TAPE"
This is my old hot rod, I first built in 1959,see if you can pick out,if there is any chrome, paint or tape on any thing??

Shssssssssss this is all a SECRET

And guess witch 3 bolts I forgot to clear coat last time I polished them?

 

Had a buddy polish his headlight buckets to a mirror finish. Took them to a chrome shop, the guy said why do you want to chrome over chrome ? This is the finish you are seeking as a base for prep.

 

I just brought my two '54 bumpers, 4 bumper guards, 4 backup light housings and 1 small grill piece into a chrome shop in Hayward. $1600 and they said the turnaround time is 4-6 weeks. So, I guess in chrome time, I should figure about a year?

 

Unless you get lucky.

If you do, message me the name of the shop.

 

Of course you can save money by prepping the part. But the key thing to remember is there's two stages of prep for plating, one you can do and one best left to the shop. Stage one is usually done by the shop after stripping, but can be done at home with a few caveats. This is where any repairs/mods are done; straightening, dent repair, filling rust pits, etc. One advantage to doing this at home is you can 'finesse' the final shape to exactly what you want and not have to worry about a heavy-handed polisher altering the shape when trying to remove flaws. The biggy is being sure you removed all existing plating wherever you worked as any remaining will come off when the part is initially stripped and can show up as a flaw. Plating-contaminated welds aren't good either. It sounds like you've done your part, although a 220 grit finish is still a bit rough IMO, I'd go for 400 grit. Just like paint or powdercoating, having some 'tooth' on the surface helps the copper plating to 'stick'. The copper is essentially the 'primer coat', filling all remaining small imperfections and easily polished. I've always checked my work by shooting a thin coat of cheap gloss paint on, anything that shows now will show after plating unless fixed. Wipe the paint off with thinner before taking it in. Any time spent here is time you won't be paying the plating shop to do... as long as your work is up to snuff.

Once you take the part to the plater, explain what you want and listen to what they say. There are shops that skip the copper, run away. These are the guys that polish the steel to a mirror finish, but when the plating starts to fail it'll peel off in sheets.

Chrome is far past being 'cheap' anymore....

 

For sure. 3 months = 12 months. Many auto painters live in that universe too. It's the status quo.
It's like when you're waiting for your Wife to finish getting ready so you can leave the house for an event. If she says 5 minutes, that = 30 minutes...

Plan accordingly for chrome and paint, and it only gets worse as EPA and permitting regulations get tighter (more shops closing or moving away).