Yeah, I know, blasphemy to strip chrome. But this is junk! The leaf spring on my T-bucket is peeling chrome and leaves nice slivers in anything it touches. Including my fingers. I tried grinding it, but all that does is scuffs it. I read about using 30% muriatic acid to dissolve it but after a week it hasn't touched anything. Anyone have a home remedy? Its not like I can just sand it and paint over because of the way its peeling. I'd like to find a way to do it at home. If all else fails I guess I'll take it to the chrome shop with some other parts and let them do their thing to strip it. (not planning to rechrome it)
My experience with sandblasting chrome just seemed to dull the shine but the rusty loose stuff popped off but the rest refused to lift. HRP
If you take it to a chrome shop it will come back with the nickel still on it. It might be more cost effective to buy a new spring.
Tiger paw type sanding discs will remove the chrome. they will also remove base metal. They are not as aggressive as a grinding wheel. Used in a sweeping motion with controlled pressure I have had success removing chrome. They are expensive and wear fairly quickly, The tigers work well on a narrow flat surface like a spring. They have for me that is.
I may just take it to the blaster and see what comes back. I'd love to have chrome, but the condition its in Im better off painting it. Nickle on it still wont hurt my feelings any, Just as long as I can make paint stick.
I saw a nice leather or pleather cover a guy made to cover the spring, had snaps to install it. Looked pretty cool.
Please don't attempt any further with grinding that chrome off, s you'll spend an eternity trying and even if you are successful, you will have spent more on abrasives and time that it will cost you to take the stuff to a plating shop and have them strip it. I worked about 24 years in the machine shop of a "Legacy" airline where our main mission was rebuild jet engines. Many of the parts were hard chromed from the start for wear resistance, but even then it finally got wear, and we had to repair those unbelievably costly parts if they stil passed X-Ray or other tests. So many parts had to be stripped of chrome before the machine shop could remove distressed metal down to a FAA approved limit, and then build make up with a variety of methods from weld , metal spray (plasma arc), nickel plating, and hard chrome(which requires a diamond wheel to precision grind the surface back to original dimensions. If parts had chrome to be removed, they had to be stripped in the plating shop, which was right across the hall from us in the machine shop. The stripping process involves a specific acid solution, a big tank, and electrical current similar to the process of applying the chrome originally, but in reverse. Ant other method to attempt to remove chrome is as the rock song said, just "Pissing Into The Wnd".
My one attempt at removing chrome was on a pretty crusty chrome Kerker header for a 900 Kaw. Figured I'd just blast it, no prob. Damn, that's some hard sh*t! Did rough it up enough to hold heat paint though..
My buddy used to take chrome wheels to the machine shop that had one of those high temp bake ovens to bake heads and blocks in and have them bake the chrome off but honestly I never had it done or have never talked to the guys at that shop about it. I'm thinking that a trip to the plating shop to have them remove the chrome the right way is the best shot. a shop that specializes in bumpers would be set up to do it and it probably not cost a lot if you took the pieces in and had them clean with no grease on them.
OK guys here we go again.. Plating 101. Decorative chrome plating is approximately 5 millionth of an inch thick and the under laying nickel can be several thousandths. Hydrochloric (muriatic) acid removes chrome. It does not remove nickel. You can reverse current in sulphuric acid to remove both. ALL PLATING AND ACID TREATMENTS WILL LEAD TO HYDROGEN EMBRITTLEMENT!! Hydrogen Embrittlement 101. FAA requires aircraft parts and fasteners to be baked after plating to relieve the embrittlement. Most of these parts are zinc and cad plated which is more porous and the hydrogen is relieved. Street Rodder did a series of articles on coatings back in the 80's where Frank Oddo quoted some engineers as believing that baking decorative plating could actually drive the hydrogen deeper into the part because the plating is denser. High strength, high carbon steels are more susceptible than mild steel. So what about all the chrome axles, springs and other suspension parts. Well, if they are new and done properly and carefully the parts have plenty of safety margin to withstand the plating. So, Gearhead Graphics, what about your spring? You soaked it for a week in acid! THROW IT AWAY! Better yet cut it into little pieces so nobody else will ever run it.
Damn @redo32 thats an eye opener! Though my mix didnt even touch the crome, or nickle. Im going to look for a new spring
Turns out a new unplated spring is probably less than the platers would charge to strip the old one. Looks like Ill just order that and use the old one for some knife making
If you have a chrome plated that you use regularly, they will probably strip parts for you for free Sent from my moto g(6) play using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I don’t think the stresses seen on our light weight cars will be in jeopardy by chrome. Especially genuine forged pieces. But I was told that this was a reason some early car builders, including early race car builders nickel plated suspension parts. I have wondered if this is true or just a myth. But as explained @redo32 that may be a myth. The nickel sure does look good. And I agree a new spring is a cheaper route than repairing the current spring.
I sent some huge 56 Pontiac bumpers to the chrome shop to be dipped in their acid. Came back with all the peeling chrome and rust gone. Price was very reasonable but it was 30 years ago. Underlying metal was not damaged.
When I worked in a chrome shop in the 80s we stripped the chrome with hydrochloric acid. We stripped the nickel in a cyanide based bath. The cyanide bath was nasty.
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