Topic: Painting Chrome or chrome removal

[inline4]

Just curious. How difficult is it to remove old chrome, say, from an old fender?
Or how difficult is it to paint over old chrome?
Later I will post about a pretty cool (and smaller) tail light replacement for our CBs.

[Steve F]

Just curious. How difficult is it to remove old chrome, say, from an old fender?
Or how difficult is it to paint over old chrome?
Later I will post about a pretty cool (and smaller) tail light replacement for our CBs.

I reworked and painted the chromed front fender.  It wasn't a problem, just took a real long time in the sand blaster.  I used STRAIGHT aluminum oxide grit, and the chrome slowly came off (well most of it came off) since chrome is so damn hard!  I couldn't remove every last bit, I got throught the chrome enough in some places, the I was seeing the copper base plating, so I just gave up and primered and had it painted.  That was 3+ years ago, and still looks great. 

[inline4]

Thanks for your reply Steve.
I plan on buying a sandblast cabinet from TP Tools later this month; already have a big air compressor. Just need to get the air lines mounted and hooked up.

[Steve F]

Thanks for your reply Steve.
I plan on buying a sandblast cabinet from TP Tools later this month; already have a big air compressor. Just need to get the air lines mounted and hooked up.

Go for it!  Sand blasters use so much air that it starts to get expensive to operate for large projects.  I like using the blaster at work during lunch time.  They don't mind.

[JZEROE]

I use a stripping wheel attached to a drill. Works great; murders chrome.

[troppo]

I`ve done chrome bumpers on cars by using a grinder with a sanding head on it using 36 grit, no need to get it all off but make sure you get a good even scratching.
Then using a good acid etch primer give it a good coat and then a coat of high build primer, with a sand they look good and theres a bus doing the rounds of queensland with a blue bumper thats 10 years old.
quicker than sandblasting but not the "right' way 
cheers
troppo

[736cc]

 A commercial chrome plater removes chrome by a reverse process.

[lrutt]

whats wrong with scuff, prime, paint??? I've never had a rpoblem with that.

[JZEROE]

Yeah, not to belabor the point, but the secret ingredient to removing chrome is elbow grease. I'm sure it would be easier to use a professional chrome plater or a bead blaster, but my workshop is a rented half of a two-car garage. And in fact, scuff-prime-paint is exactly what I was up to last night. I find that those grit-coated string stripping wheels work particularly well:

[chrislib]

I have the same on my menu this week, scuff,prime paint.

[mystic_1]

So what process do you guys favor for removing bad chrome from aluminum parts?  I have a bin full of parts with badly flaking chrome, would be nice to clean up and polish them.  Plating shops I've inquired with say that because the chrome is so bad, the expose allow would be badly corroded by the time the remaining chrome could be stripped in their tanks.  Sanding would certainly break through the chrome on some of the flatter pieces, but one false move and the part would be history due to gouging.

Any thoughts?


mystic_1

[DONZIE]

If you want to remove chrome / nickel like the pros do
works good I have used it for years

http://www.parisho.com/

B-9 Nickel Strippers
A one-component, non-electrolyte, non-toxic, non-fuming nickel stripper that offers ease of operation, an almost complete elimination of operator hazards, and simplified waste disposal. B-9 systems will strip nickel off brass, copper, gold, aluminum, lead and lead alloys, steel, silver and zinc diecast. B-9 strippers will also remove tungsten-carbide cobalt flame spray coatings with no etching to the base metal. A patented product which meets Boeing spec BAC 5771.

DONZIE

[JZEROE]

SCUFF-PRIME-PAINT!

[Jinxracing]

So what process do you guys favor for removing bad chrome from aluminum parts?  I have a bin full of parts with badly flaking chrome, would be nice to clean up and polish them.  Plating shops I've inquired with say that because the chrome is so bad, the expose allow would be badly corroded by the time the remaining chrome could be stripped in their tanks.  Sanding would certainly break through the chrome on some of the flatter pieces, but one false move and the part would be history due to gouging.

Any thoughts?


mystic_1

+1