Tim, chrome plating a plastic grille....I know that there is a process out there for plating plastic, you can plate anything, but I wouldnt know about plastic. You would have to call around to a few plating shops to see if they actually can, or could. Every type of metal has certian types of qualities to it, so, there for a different process. But, its about the same thing whether it be a bumper or a valve cover to a piece of old cast pot metal. Being as clean as possible is the very first step, taking off paint, rust, whatever...then off to the polisher.
Depending on how bad the piece is to begin with is the amount that has to come out of your wallet... if there is large holes that need to be filled and pits caused from rust, I always used brass to fill the spots. Of course dents and dings get pounded out and filled with brass also. Polishing consists of just like sanding a piece of wood, till its smooth, and then the piece is buffed with a sisal wheel and polish. Then the piece is cleaned again and if there is spots that get missed from the sisal wheel, back to the polisher it goes. If the plater is content with the polishers work, the piece is cleaned in a caustic solution and rinsed a couple of times. The very first plate is a what we used to call a copper strike. What the copper strike does is put a very small amount of copper plate to the piece to see if there are any imperfections in the polishers work. If there is, it goes back through the process of sisal wheel and compound again. Then cleaned, and then
re-struck with a copper strike. It also give the the next copper plate somthing to stick to. Once the piece has a good strike, the piece goes to the first copper plate. The copper is used for an even coat and it is what adds depth to the piece and makes it as smooth as babys ass. A show piece will be copper buffed many times and copper plated many times. But not enough to fill in holes that shouldnt be filled. Through a series of rinses and washes, then off to the nickel tank. The nickel is for the chrome to stick to and where the chrome doesnt "throw" into places that it wont go, it covers the copper. You dont want copper showing though where there should be nickel or chrome. Once a good coating of nickel, through a series of rinses and washes, off to the chrome tank. Now a good plater who knows what he is doing can "throw" his chrome into small places. I remember my plater using a "wand" and sticking it in and out and around the piece. And he knows
how much juice to give the piece so that it attracts the chrome and doesnt "burn" the piece and the chrome. Then its rinsed and there ya go.... Thats about it in a nut shell. Electrolisis plating is a complex process and if one thing is messed up.....the whole line is messed up.. Not rinsing a piece good enough will screw up things in a heart beat. May cause blisters to form, may cause the whole piece to be completely lost and ruined. If the P.H. isnt right in one tank it can mess stuff up. I amagine plating plastic would be about the same process. I know it can be done, just how deep your pockets are. I even used to work at a shop in Seattle that did 24 carat gold plating. The gold used in the tank used to come by armored truck and stored in a safe. It was in a liquid form and poored into the tank. You plan on plating a grille or somthing?? That would be kinda cool, a completely
chrome plated grille!! I have pieces that are from AMC (original) that are plastic and chrome plated. Like the inside door cups or even parts of the plastic dash are plated and then painted. Bill ID.
From: "Tim Braswell" <braswell@xxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: BaadAssGremlins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: BaadAssGremlins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [BaadAssGremlins] grille
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 21:46:28 -0000
Has anyone ever tried chroming the grill. Or can it even be done.
Thanks Tim
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