DIY Spray On Chrome

its a chemical and molecular bond, the sensitizer is doing the job here and helped by the wetting agent..

maybe I forgot to mention this important piece of info, you will need a wetting agent so the chemicals flow nice on the surface of the piece, its a must for a successful process. its so cheap($13 the 250Ml bottle) I just re ordered 3 more bottles(to be in the safe side) aside from more chemicals.

here is how the wetting agent looks

its so far from high tech its not even funny.. I think silvering mirrors using these chemicals(was not sprayed back then) goes back to the 1800s

from the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror
"The invention of the silvered-glass mirror is credited to German chemist Justus von Liebig in 1835.[18] His process involved the deposition of a thin layer of metallic silver onto glass through the chemical reduction of silver nitrate. This silvering process was adapted for mass manufacturing and led to the greater availability of affordable mirrors. Nowadays, mirrors are often produced by the vacuum deposition of aluminium (or sometimes silver) directly onto the glass substrate"

see above..

that´s correct. remember how I was going to polish the piece? well I did and I left no orange peel to be seen, but I was not able to get back that same shine you get from a fresh painted untouched painted surface, so the silver looked like semi polished stainless steel and not like the shiny chrome I was going for, so as of today I´ll be outsourcing the preping and basecoating of my parts, I´ll be doing the Silvering and clear coating myself.

True. but the best mirrors were made to last 50 years and more. these mirrors that are going to be subject to road use can´t be expected to last that but more like a few years with dedicated care.

 

I would say about $200 total for about 60 to 70 Sq/f of silvered surface.

Alsa Killer cans are not real Silver, but tiny Aluminum flakes. if they are as good as their mirra chrome and the pieces are prep to a mirror like black base, then I can see them giving you a nice look.

you need to understand that the prep its the same for both chrome paint and spray on chrome. why? well they both need to have a mirror like black base before the chrome or spray on silver. because if this is not achieved then you will end up with a dull finish. depending how good of a painter you are you may expect minor orange peel.

 

Have you tried to a piece that doesn't get completely coated? Something like a interior trim piece that has chrome outer edge and maybe an interior edge but the rest is painted black. How good can you mask the non chromed area? I just want to throw these questions to see what you have done and maybe give you another scenario to think about. We all are follow your research, I sure it's going to help all of us.

 

you can do it two ways, to silver the entire surface(applaying more silver to the outer edges) and clear coat the entire piece. then paint the black parts with black at a later time, removing any excess..

or you could tape the black parts and just treat the outer edges, remember that any part not treated with the sensitizer its not going to be silvered.

I´m actally learning all of the paint tricks as I go along, I am far from a master painter, just learning as I go.

 

More of a master than the rest of us.

 

Thanks, I´m trying my best. I´m out for today buddy... I´ll see you tomorrow

 

You may want to look into these guys for rechroming the plastic stuff. They've been doing it for years.

http://www.mrgusa.com/rechrome.htm

 

Mr G's uses the old vacuum metallizing method. Deposits aluminum in a vacuum chamber. Not durable.
Mr G's quality has been spotty from what I have read.

 

Hey, Marvin;

You mentioned pot metal. Have you played w/this yet? For what your dad charges for bumpers, it's about 1/2 what a decent one would cost here in the states. I'm interested in this, to see how it'd work on the grill for a '55 stude. Lots of expanse, & resulting stupid expense for the brightwork in real chrome. . Tough to justify. Also kinda wondering how black chrome would turn out (how close to the orig type/look), after seeing your blue chrome.

Thanks for taking on this project, & posting results. .

Marcus...

 

I have yet to work on pot metal parts with this process, but it should be the same as plastic. prep, basecoat, spray chrome, clear..

I am doing a pot metal piece but in Innate Chrome Paint instead. you can read more about it here http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=677707

labor its real cheap here thats why he is able to charge so little and I will be doing pieces he cant do like plastic, wood, fiberglass and things like that

I have yet try black chrome, but I am sure it would look awesome

No problemo I am glad to help out

 

updates..





a cookie to the first one to spot the mistake my prep man did in this piece(which so far is fine with the customer)

 

Marvin;

Looks like one hole is missing out of the three. & is it just reflection, or is there ripples/low spot near the center hole?

Marcus...

 

you sir. get the cookie....

just reflection...

 

One should ALWAYS put a piece of plywood under a jackstand when working on dirt

 

that´s right...

 

I am doing the wheel center caps for a customer..

here is how it looks after the spray on chrome, I am geting better at shooting paint without orange peel, that´s the secret to mirror like shine..



here is short video of the cap..
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QwUCmVPHPNw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

guys I know you have questions, so go ahead and ask

 

I´ll be doing this plastic part from a bike..





this is my Paint team..




this is the SW 2k urethane paint I use as basecoat/topcoat

 

I´ll be doing my first Large piece, seems I´ll be dusting off my old hand crafted dual headed spray gun..

 

since I dont have cany paint dies, I use a few drops of color in the clear to give it a colored chrome look, so far this are the only colors I can produce, I have tried others but they just dont work at all..

Blue chrome




Blue Chrome Videos

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-GluSXjXag4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tIu9s0XILs0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Violet Chrome




Violet Chrome video
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xlMTxSB4g8Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Magenta Chrome




Magenta Chrome Video
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nrO0ii2O3QI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Green Chrome




Green Chrome Video
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ShIrUye8uUo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Ive been wanting to post videos of how the wetting agent works and why is important in this process, but I keep forgetting, next week I will have that video done..

 

subscribed!!this is cool...

 

updates on the large fiberglass bumper

this is how it looks after all of the prep..






and this is how I plan to "Chrome" this bumper, I plan on doing it in 5 segments, this is the first one ready to be chrome..

 

some updates pics..

here is how the large fiberglass piece is looking now, I am not done with it yet, I will show the finished piece latter..

 

Dang!! That's pretty damn sharp!!

 

Bookmarked.

 

Whhaaatt!! That's it?? You're a cruel man to keep us in suspense. Show us the end results of the bumper.

BTW - subscribed.

 

I´m still working on that large piece, those pics were from yesterday, I have untill friday to le the piece go, I am doing it in segments because the DIY System is for small to medium pieces, but I was begged to do the piece and the $250 price forced my hand, takes lots of prep work, so far I have only used 8 ml of the spray on silver chemicals on the piece, I expect to use a total of 14 ml out of the 120 ml bottles, so is not bad...

I am Also going to do this piece


and I did a series II Land Rover front grill wich I havent uploaded the pics yet..

 

Updates..










and the series II land rover grill

 

Video of finished product

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PX9D0YQRRng" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Hi all,

I am really green at all this forum stuff, so I hope I have done this correctly!


I am so grateful for all the hard work been done on this thread.

I do have a question to ask if I may, if possible could you please list all the equiptment neccasary to replicate the D.I.Y. kit, also what products do you find work well together?

I noticed you like to use clearcoat as you basecoat, have you found this to be sufficient enough instead of an actual basecoat tinted black? (obviously for those jobs that are not black already!)

Thank you in advance my friend.

Oh and how is that number bar turning out mate, it looks wild.

 

this is from page 1 of this thread

this one is from page 2

this is from page 5

now that´s for small to medium pieces, now for larger parts I would(I wish the had this kit when I was making my kit) use this pump kit.
http://angelgilding.com/A1114.html

for $340 you get the complete pumping kit(120ml chemicals, wetting agent and equipment) and you dont have to pump as much as with the hand trigger sprayers. but for small to medium pieces the hand triggers work like a charm

Clearcoat is good enough, it will stick to primer just like single stage will. I only use Sherwin williams clear as my base coat, tinted clear and clear coat, I like to simplify things.

Thank you in advance my friend.[/QUOTE]

what number bar?