Drill out pits in chrome?

Hudsy Wudsy

I guess that I'm still a little puzzled by the rechroming process. I've seen references here recently about drilling out pits and filling them. Could one of you nice guys explain to me what exactly is going on with this procedure? Is the point to drill all of the way through in order to get some material to anchor properly? What sort of material is used to fill these holes then? In an earlier posting someone said that the chrome shop could plate over a non-metalic filler (are we talking bondo?) by simply spraying on a copper finish? Is that true?

Maybe it would be easier if some kind person would point me toward an appropriate web site, as it's clear that I need a complete education.

Unknown

Call The Finishing Touch @ 1-800-403-4545. They are the best and can explain the process better than anyone. Or check out www.thefinishingtouch.com



Good luck

hudsonguy

Dave53-7C wrote:

Call The Finishing Touch @ 1-800-403-4545. They are the best and can explain the process better than anyone. Or check out www.thefinishingtouch.com



Good luck

Dave,



That link jumps over to an interior decorator company. Hardwood floors, etc. Didn't see anything about chrome pits!

[Deleted User]

hudsonguy wrote:

Dave,



That link jumps over to an interior decorator company. Hardwood floors, etc. Didn't see anything about chrome pits!

try caswell plating. they go into great detail in their full book.

http://www.caswellplating.com i bought their complete plating kit and intend to get it set up right after Christmas. i was going to do it in the basement but have been advised that being in the heated section of my garage would be much safer. caswell sells some paste for squirting into the drilled holes that you heat and it melts in.. then you sand, buff, etc and copper plate. i think you can copper plate nearly anything. when i had my plastic arm rests chromed, the plater sprayed a copper based adhesive onto the plastic then dipped them in the tank. at least thats how i understand it. copper powder mixed in the spray glue. . . workd pretty well.. but not perfect.

Unknown

I have had great results with Frank from Triangle Plating

You can see several of my hudson parts he did with the fill and chrome method.

http://www.triangleplating.com/main.htm

Give him a call. Mention the Hudson club he will treat you great.





You might want to read this thread

http://www.classiccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7932&highlight=chrome

rambos_ride

Cosmo@avaloncity.com wrote:

I have had great results with Frank from Triangle Plating
You can see several of my hudson parts he did with the fill and chrome method.
http://www.triangleplating.com/main.htm
Give him a call. Mention the Hudson club he will treat you great.


You might want to read this thread
http://www.classiccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7932&highlight=chrome

I wonder if Frank is using the Cosmichrome system?

I'm sure there are others - They use an epoxy primer and then spray or plate over that...http://www.cosmichrome.com/home.htm

I've seen a couple of these setups on ebay for around 4k a pop!

Unknown

hudsonguy wrote:

Dave,



That link jumps over to an interior decorator company. Hardwood floors, etc. Didn't see anything about chrome pits!

Ooops, my bad. Try this.... thefinishingtouchinc.com

Unknown

No Frank Doesn't use that process. He uses the standard triple chrome. Copper Nickle chrome. But it is in the prep that it is different.

The part is beadblsted or cleaned. Then filled with a nonshrinking high quality epoxy based filler. Next an expoxy primmer than the Conductive coating. Followed by the tripple chrome process. Very effective for bad potmetal.

Unknown

A word of warning, the Finishing Touch does work for very high end restorers and, as such, they are very expensive. However, after having toured their shop, they are a top notch operation. In other words, one would use them for restoring parts from a high dollar car. When I was there, I saw parts from Duesenbergs, Marmons, V-16 Cadillacs and the likes.

[Deleted User]

Cosmo@avaloncity.com wrote:

No Frank Doesn't use that process. He uses the standard triple chrome. Copper Nickle chrome. But it is in the prep that it is different.

The part is beadblsted or cleaned. Then filled with a nonshrinking high quality epoxy based filler. Next an expoxy primmer than the Conductive coating. Followed by the tripple chrome process. Very effective for bad potmetal.

i've noticed that the de-chromed work i have had done on pot metal will leave the copper plate on the peice. i would think this would make the part easier to fix with solder prior to re-copper plating. of course all the sanding, buffing and polishing is just a given in this work. extremely labor intensive. i have 13 peices of pot metal that have been de-chromed and need the drill / fix job. i will let you know how it goes. . . . .

Hudsy Wudsy

Guys, thanks for taking the time to respond. The web sites are really helpful.

essexcoupe3131

davidh wrote:

try caswell plating. they go into great detail in their full book.

http://www.caswellplating.com i bought their complete plating kit and intend to get it set up right after Christmas. i was going to do it in the basement but have been advised that being in the heated section of my garage would be much safer. caswell sells some paste for squirting into the drilled holes that you heat and it melts in.. then you sand, buff, etc and copper plate. i think you can copper plate nearly anything. when i had my plastic arm rests chromed, the plater sprayed a copper based adhesive onto the plastic then dipped them in the tank. at least thats how i understand it. copper powder mixed in the spray glue. . . workd pretty well.. but not perfect.

I have been talking to a freind of mine down under and they were restoring Jaguars and bentlys etc and he was telling me that you can fill most things with what we call silver solder( plumbers use it for soldering copper pipes), the higher the content of silver (15 0/0 is good,) the better and that you dont get that shadowing ( sort of orange colour) happening around the repair ,

It mighten be so good with pot metal as the heat required but great for grills and bumpers or anything metal etc

my 2 cents worth

Mike