Topic: Chrome deplating

[mardimus]

I have a few engine covers that are chrome and have been flaking and pitting.  They are all toasted.  I have been reading for weeks on how to recover them and have decided that I want all the chrome off so that I can either paint the engine myself or have pieces powder coated.  My problem now is getting this flaking chrome off.  I have done the following with much dismay: Sand blasted, soda blasted, soaked in brake fluid, sanded, and even started to slowly and carefully grind off the chrome.  All with very little luck. 

I called three different plate shops and they all quoted me around $300 with extra fees to have the stuff chemically de-plated.  This is extremely high as the process takes a few hours in a nitric acid bath.   

So my question, or a search for an opinion, is what do I do?  I would like to do this myself at the rate they are charging me.  I did get a quote from a reputable plater and it was almost $200 less and they are super busy so turn around is longer (weeks rather than a day and they are further away). 

I would like to do the Nitric Acid bath on my own and do well with chemical safety but Its not easy trying to get a hold of Nitric Acid locally and it would have to be ordered with a lot of hoops to jump through.  Yes, I thought about making it myself with fertilizer, nitric salt, etc.  But that is again, way too much work. 

Does anyone have any thoughts as to what I should do?  I have attached a few photos.  The pieces are from a 1975 kawasaki Z1 900. Thanks again to all those who take the time to read through this.

 Also, if it helps, I am not sure there is a  copper plating underneath. I flaked away a few large pieces and could not identify copper.  The pieces are aluminum with what appears to be a nickel or chrome plating and my guess is chrome as it is extremely hard. 

[Powderman]

Take them to a commercial sand blaster, they can remove it in minutes.

[mardimus]

Looking into it now. Thanks and great idea. 

Take them to a commercial sand blaster, they can remove it in minutes.

[fendersrule]

I'm in the same boat. Sand Blasting will remove the chrome, but it's not going to remove the copper or nickle underneath to my knowledge. Even with glass shards.

Let me know what you find out though. I'm wanting to do this with my fenders.

[Lostboy Steve]

The aluminium rims on my truck started to peel. The chrome was bubbling and was terrible. I brought them to a commercial sand blaster and had them blasted. Only the loose stuff came off. Then I had a wrinkle black powdercoat applied. Looks ok. From what I understand chrome removal has to be done with a chemical process and in my case is extremely expensive.

[KJ790]

Blasting chrome off is very difficult in the areas where it is still adherent. It will come off easily in the areas where it is flaking. The biggest problem with blasting is that it will leave you with a very rough surface finish when you are done that you will have to deal with to get a good looking part again.

As far as stripping the chrome it would be hard to do at home. You need to strip the chrome in nitric and then strip the nickel underplate with either a cyanide strip. Any plating shop should be able to do it easily, though it normally takes 24-48 hours to strip the nickel. I'm not too sure why the plating shops would charge you so much to strip it, they must be hurting for business and are seeing dollar signs.

[Elan]

If you are going to powdercoat over it, you dont have to go crazy trying to get all the chrome off. The flaking areas you do for sure obviously. But if you sand off those areas so there are no ridges or bubbles, then sandblast, you will have a nice powdercoated finish. I did this at home with a few parts and was happy with the results, and it has been like new for a couple years now.

[SF]

i have had rims,signal housing,many brake light housings De-chromed cheaper than $300!! talk to your local guy and tell him you can wait for a batch to be done/sent out. if they say its the same $ its BS companys make $ on volume in batches. btw i paid $300 on a solid aluminum v-rod rim to be de-chromed and black chomed

[fendersrule]

De-chroming parts with a professional chroming place should be very cheap. I think I was quoted $25 for both of my fenders.

[Powderman]

Blasting chrome off is very difficult in the areas where it is still adherent. It will come off easily in the areas where it is flaking. The biggest problem with blasting is that it will leave you with a very rough surface finish when you are done that you will have to deal with to get a good looking part again.

As far as stripping the chrome it would be hard to do at home. You need to strip the chrome in nitric and then strip the nickel underplate with either a cyanide strip. Any plating shop should be able to do it easily, though it normally takes 24-48 hours to strip the nickel. I'm not too sure why the plating shops would charge you so much to strip it, they must be hurting for business and are seeing dollar signs.

Your statement about blasting being a problem is only true if you are a hack blaster. There are many different medias and grits of sand to use that will leave a perfect finish for a base for paint or powder.

[Powderman]

I'm in the same boat. Sand Blasting will remove the chrome, but it's not going to remove the copper or nickle underneath to my knowledge. Even with glass shards.

Let me know what you find out though. I'm wanting to do this with my fenders.

Again, not true. A good commercial blaster will remove everything on top of the base metal, PERIOD. Of the 3 metals used in plating the chrome top coat is the hardest metal, the copper and nickle are much easier to remove blasting. Some chemical removers will only remove the chrome and not the nickle.

Unfortunately there are too many places out there that because they have a compressor and blast nozzle and a bag of sand claim to be sand blasters. There is as much technique and issues to learn in that business as any other. It's the same as someone painting with a rattle can and a custom painter, they both claim to be painters.

[2wheels]

I cannot help but I googled and got this.
http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Chrome-Plating

It includes soaking in Coke a cola, brake fluid and lots of other things.
?

[Retro Rocket]

Blasting chrome off is very difficult in the areas where it is still adherent. It will come off easily in the areas where it is flaking. The biggest problem with blasting is that it will leave you with a very rough surface finish when you are done that you will have to deal with to get a good looking part again.

As far as stripping the chrome it would be hard to do at home. You need to strip the chrome in nitric and then strip the nickel underplate with either a cyanide strip. Any plating shop should be able to do it easily, though it normally takes 24-48 hours to strip the nickel. I'm not too sure why the plating shops would charge you so much to strip it, they must be hurting for business and are seeing dollar signs.

Your statement about blasting being a problem is only true if you are a hack blaster. There are many different medias and grits of sand to use that will leave a perfect finish for a base for paint or powder.

Absolutely correct...

I'm in the same boat. Sand Blasting will remove the chrome, but it's not going to remove the copper or nickle underneath to my knowledge. Even with glass shards.

Let me know what you find out though. I'm wanting to do this with my fenders.

Again, not true. A good commercial blaster will remove everything on top of the base metal, PERIOD. Of the 3 metals used in plating the chrome top coat is the hardest metal, the copper and nickle are much easier to remove blasting. Some chemical removers will only remove the chrome and not the nickle.

Unfortunately there are too many places out there that because they have a compressor and blast nozzle and a bag of sand claim to be sand blasters. There is as much technique and issues to learn in that business as any other. It's the same as someone painting with a rattle can and a custom painter, they both claim to be painters.

Correct again...

There are lots of relatively easy ways to remove chrome, even some oven cleaners will work, no need to strip the nickel or copper either, with the correct primer they can easily be painted over and as long as the surface is clean, powder coating should not be a problem either.... Just make sure whatever method you decide on to remove the chrome, will not effect the aluminum, some methods will...

[KJ790]

Yes, there are many different types of blasting media, but most will not touch chrome or nickel. Plastic media, baking soda, walnut shells, and glass bead certainly won't. Aluminum oxide and black beauty will, but by the time you get through the plating you will have made the aluminum substrate very rough. Yes you can fill this with primer if you are going to paint it, but if you ever wanted to replate it with chrome it will never look good again.

Whether you need to remove the underplates depends on what you want to do. Very rarely does only the chrome peel. Many times it is one of the nickel layers that is actually peeling (there are typically 2 separate layers or nickel with copper between them underneath chrome).

Trust me, I am an engineer at a very large industrial plating shop. I get sent parts that were professionally blasted to remove old plating all the time, and the surface is always rough and very rarely is all of the plating actually removed.

If you are going to chemically remove the plating then you need to know what is actually on the parts. 90% of what people say is "chrome plating" is actually nickel or zinc plating. There are not a whole lot of things that are actually chrome plated. This makes a difference when it comes to stripping the parts. Any good plater should be able to tell you what type of plating it is with a quick x-ray reading.

As others have said, if you are just going to powdercoat it then you would probably be alright. But if there is any chance that you ever want those parts plated with anything again, do not blast them.

[fendersrule]

How about my situation?

I want to blast all the chrome off of my CB450 fenders because I want to actually paint them (epoxy, 2k, bc/cc).

My blaster said he won't be able to remove what's on there, but he isn't "commercial" grade.

Are you saying that I can take my fenders to any commercial grade blasting shop, and they can remove the chrome + nickel (or copper, whatever is underneath the chrome)? I've been really fretting about this because there aren't any chroming services in my area.

No, I don't want to pain over chrome, nickel, or copper. I want a fresh start.

[Powderman]

Trust an engineer? That's a not likely to happen.
 Yes a good commercial blaster will be able to remove the chrome from the fenders. Just ask them to be careful with the pressure so as not to warp the metal. If he is a good blaster he will know this and not have to be told.

[tlbranth]

Ask these guys what they would charge. Email them pics. Free shipping both ways

http://www.ogdenchrome.com/

[Stev-o]

May be cheaper to buy some covers and I may have a few spare (I also have a '75 Z1).

Here's a clutch over for $18.....


http://www.ebay.com/itm/KAWASAKI-KZ-1000-CLUTCH-COVER-1973-79-Z1-KZ-900-/161084047465?pt=Snowmobile_Parts_Accessories&hash=item25815b8069&vxp=mtr

[Garage_guy_chris]

when i did my CB450 i decided to strip the stock rims to paint them the best thing i found was muriatic acid sold at most home stores. that removed the outer chrome after that i attacked the under layers with crushed glass in my sandblaster.

[tlbranth]

when i did my CB450 i decided to strip the stock rims to paint them the best thing i found was muriatic acid sold at most home stores. that removed the outer chrome after that i attacked the under layers with crushed glass in my sandblaster.

Chris - how long did it take and did it attack the steel?

[KJ790]

It is important to think about the base material when choosing a way to strip plating. You don't want to use muriatic (hydrochloric) acid to strip chrome from an aluminum part because if any of the bare aluminum is exposed then the acid will eat right into it. Muriatic acid is fine for stripping off of steel, but will easily damage aluminum. Nitric acid will remove chrome and will not damage aluminum.

[mardimus]

This is classic.  LOL  I read this too and its complete BS.  Too funny.  I did try the brake fluid with no luck.  Thanks for the thoughts and laughs.  Classic. 

I cannot help but I googled and got this.
http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Chrome-Plating

It includes soaking in Coke a cola, brake fluid and lots of other things.
?

[mardimus]

This is turning into a great thread with a lot of possible solutions on how to get these parts de-plated.  I have been researching for a few weeks now to try and find the cheapest and most effective solution combined.  So far, I do agree that all of these shops are over pricing for the parts to be chemically stripped.  I am at the point where I think I will put an order in for 50% nitric acid from Grainger.  You have to have a business account but I think that is all you need and I happen to have one.   I called a few powder coat shops and they quoted a $100 to have it blasted off and they were certain they could sort it out.  Most places I talked to (dozens by the way) have a $100 minimum to do work. 

$50 for 50% 800ml of nitric acid from online stores.  There are a lot of online options.  I just want to know if someone has a step by step of how they did this and how much did you dilute the acid. What percentage of acid did you start with (50, 70, 90%).  I know pure acid will not work as it would need H20 to combine the process but I think 50% would work with a 1:1 ratio of H20.  What did you use to contain the acid so you could dip the pieces etc.  I was thinking a plastic bucket from home depot, or a glass tray of some sort (deep dish glassware/cookware.  If anyone has any experience with this and has a step by step, this would be great.  I will take video and pictures and post a write up if I can get a little help on some procedures.  I did well in chemistry in college and have some knowledge of chemical safety, etc.  But its always nice when I can learn from your mistakes.  lol

Muriatic acid and hydrochloric acid are not a good option with aluminum.  It will eat through it in no time.  Steel, they would be good but aluminum is a no go.  I researched this a lot.  Caswell is a great website for all things plated. 

So in sum of all the posts above.  Thanks, this is great info.  I am now contemplating to have them blasted at a powder coat shop or do a home Nitric acid bath.  Any thoughts? Any good instructions from anyone who has done this? Thanks again.

[fendersrule]

I think these types of acids from chrome stripping are not for the home DIY'er. This is another "pay the man" item.

Thanks for the Ogden Chrome link. They are what everyone recommends around here. I've heard that they aren't cheap, though.

[mardimus]

The problem with Nitric acid is the fumes from the chemical reaction with the Chrome/copper/nickel.  Red fuming, I think is the term, and is highly toxic.  Nitric acid (concentrated at 50%) on the skin can be diluted with water to avoid burn.  The skin will turn a little yellow due to the reaction with Keratin in the skin.  But as long as you treat it with distilled water in a timely manner, you should be fine.  Its got its harmful attributes but not as bad as the other acids.  This would be one of the safer methods compared to removing chrome from steel etc. 

Nitric acid (50%) when diluted with water should be concentrated enough to do the job.  Again this is all easier said than done.  But for 50$ and the possibility of keeping the acid for later use is a huge benefit.  If stored properly too. 

Ogden chrome is a good company and I spoke with them on the phone.  I sent them details for a quote a few days ago and they replied they would get back to me. Ill post their response when I get it.  So people will have an idea what they charge. 

I think these types of acids from chrome stripping are not for the home DIY'er. This is another "pay the man" item.

Thanks for the Ogden Chrome link. They are what everyone recommends around here. I've heard that they aren't cheap, though.