The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop chroming anything I can ubolt :)

Following the successful DIY chroming of the engine bits -(still holding up well btw)


https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1090883&page=1

diy home chroming

I just couldnt help myself and started chroming anything that moves, or doesnt

first up, for the ultimate in truck bling....chrome hood hinges.



mmm shiny!

i have learnt a lot about this diy home plating milarky via trial end error but still its labour intensive stuff! to do these two hinges it took about 6hrs total !!! (sand blasting, sanding, polishing, cu plating as a filler), sanding, polishing, chrome (cobalt) plating (1hr) then 30 mins polishing.


next up...gear shifter, hood latch, steering column bracket, rear view mirror, brake, clutch and throttle pedals, windscreen washer bottle bracket, and um prity much anything i can unbolt

Pretty stuff. I would be afraid to put oil in it and run it. Does look nice, and no rust....might be a good thing. Be careful with the waste products. They are toxic.

This is copy chrome (cobalt)rather that real chrome so according to the mnf, with this (Copy chrome) kit there are `No Dangerous Chemicals - No Fumes - No Corrosive Acids` and no waste products (solution is virtually permanent)

http://www.caswellplating.com/elect...plating-kits/copy-chrome-kit-15-gal.html


i wouldnt want to be spending hrs a day leaning over real chrome plating vats, but this stuff makes home DIY hassle free


although a heck of a lot safer than hexavalent chromium id still recommend wearing a dust mask and gloves

Good idea when buffing anything if you don't want to have lung
problems down the road sometime.

I've very impressed with the way that's turned out for ya
Mike. My interest would mostly be in small trim parts, most
of which would be zinc castings.
I've read that they can really be a pain if they have any
pitting. drill, grind, scrape then fill with lead, copper,
copper, copper before sanding and buffing, seems to be the
best luck.
Are you planning on doing any zinc, such as door handles
or emblems?

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Hi Denny,

I did some magAL stuff that had light pitting.
but havent done pot metal yet


polish
dip in zincate solution
flash copper plating
very thick acid copper plating to fill in voids/pits
sand/polish
copy chrome plate

those castings are usually porous as hell and made of nasty quality metal so im not sure how long results would last

for pot metal heres some info that may be useful

pot metal plating


sounds like a lot of hard work! id go the repro part route if thats possible only if its not would I attempt pot metal plating i think