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| | | | Joined: Apr 2003 Posts: 19 Junior Member | | Junior Member Joined: Apr 2003 Posts: 19 | Greetings, After leaving the chrome shop here in California I was much poorer with not a lot to show for my money. I was told that pit repair to the pot metal was very time consuming and that not all pits could be repaired. A little research revealed that pot metal can be repaired with low temperature zinc rod, finished and then chromed with good results. My problem is how to get the old chrome off to start with. Search in Stovebolt revealed one hit on using muriatic acid but did not say if the acid attacks the pot metal. Any advice or guidance greatly appreciated. Roy | | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 990 Member | | Member Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 990 | You could polish it off, especially if its already coming off. | | | | | Joined: Apr 2002 Posts: 1,571 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Apr 2002 Posts: 1,571 | I'd be a afraid of muriatic acid eating the zinc. I'm planning to try it with some broken parts one of these days. A chrome shop can de-plate items (reverse plating polarity). I'm going to find a shop to de-plate a bunch of trim pieces for me, then I'll worry about fixing the pits and smoothing everything out, then they can go back for chrome. | | | | | Joined: Apr 2003 Posts: 19 Junior Member | | Junior Member Joined: Apr 2003 Posts: 19 | Thanks for the feedback, I will be going to chrome shop next week and will check if they will remove chrome for me. I will also try muriatic acid on a old piece of pot metal. I will post the results. | | | | | Joined: Apr 2003 Posts: 19 Junior Member | | Junior Member Joined: Apr 2003 Posts: 19 | UPDATE: I was at the chrome shop last week and got the following information from the shop manager. Yes, muriatic acid will remove the chrome but not the nickel under the chrome and it must be watched as it will attack the base metal. For dechroming they use a process called reverse polarity in a sulfuric acid solution. He advised me this is the way to go; is bring the part in for dechroming, once done take it home for repairs then bring it back for chroming. He also warned by about temperature control using the zinc rod. He has seen many pieces destroyed beyond repair as a result of too much heat being used and running the base piece. Hope this helps. | | | | | Joined: Apr 2002 Posts: 1,571 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Apr 2002 Posts: 1,571 | There are low-temp pot metal repair rods out there. Google should turn up lots of options.
56 - the reverse polarity process is what I meant by de-plating. | | |
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