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Does anyone have a recommendation for a chrome plating shop that does work on "pot metal", as I need the hood and side emblems restored? We are having trouble locating a local shop here in Southern California that is interested in doing this type of chrome work. Any referrals would be greatly appreciated!

jim,

have you checked the vendors forum for recommendations?..


epi

Check Hemmings Motor News under "Services Offered". There are some shops that do pot metal plating listed in the magazine.

Paul's chrome plating, evans city, pa. they do excellent palting of pot metal. ask for fred. good luck, mike

Guys, we have a great plater here in Chicago. Our region has visited the shop and taken a tour and I have had three pieces done to show quality, all of them pot metal. Greg is an honest vendor who will tell you if the piece is salvageable or not. If it is it is not cheap. They triple plate starting with copper base with nickel, than chromium.

The name of the vendor is "The Finishing Touch"

http://www.thefinishingtouchinc.com/






The Finishing Touch, Inc.
5580 Northwest Hwy.
Chicago, IL 60630
USA

(800) 403-4545
(773) 774-7349
(773) 774-5403 (Fax)



www.thefinishingtouchinc.com

Email us at:

mail@thefinishingtouchinc.com


Hope this helps.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Thanks for the recommendations. I will check them out and post a follow up with who we go with and how the items turn out. Thanks again!

Jim - Have you talked to Bumperboyz out in your area? I had several pieces of pot metal done by them about 5 years ago and got really good results after being told locally that the pieces could not be salvaged. 'Course they "love" their work but it's worth it.

Mike,

Thanks for the tip. We will check it out!

Yes and in Long Beach CA. Actually Signal Hill.

{Name ?} Superior plating. 2344 Orange SH. Ph: 562-427-0113

They just plated the bumper for my 41 Coupe and it came out beautiful.

Mike W.

A shiney 'new' bumper for Michael's '41 coupe!

:cool2:

Is it on the car yet?? What did you do about the 'back side' of the bumper??

Bill.

Do you have a email for Pauls Chrome in Pa. or a phone # Thanks.

easy money

Here is the telephone number for Pauls Chrome.
And its Toll Free 1 800 245 8679. and the website at http://www.paulschrome.com

Best Wishes To You
Classic Finn

I have had some 25 parts done by Royal Plating in Tucson AZ. While they took some time, the repair to dammaged metal is outstanding!I think the pricing was very fair.
Paul

Will most chrome shops do a nickle finish instead of chrome if the part was nickle finished originally?

Yes! And, nickel must be applied before the chrome if the part was originally chrome plated.

The three stage chrome process is as follows: Copper, nickel and then the chrome. For nickel it would be copper and then the nickel only.

For shops that only do the two stage process it would be nickel and then chrome. For the nickel process it would be the nickel plating only.

Is there a list somewhere of which parts on a '32 were nickle and which were chrome?

Where would I find this information if there isn't a list?

Again, you must have lots of literature to do be able to do the research on questions such as this. As a rule of thumb, in 1932 all exterior hardware was chrome plated and all interior hardware was nickel plated. There are some exceptions to both rules, and that's where the research comes in.

No......I don't remember. What did Thumper say? :confused: :confused:

Thanks JYD, This sounds like a good article for the G&D once it has been researched.

Do you know was or when was nickle dropped?

Nickel dropped? What do you mean? :confused: :confused:

What year did Chevy stop using nickle as the final outside finish on door handles and window cranks?

Thumper said "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all" in the Disney movie 'Bambi'.

I don't know for sure......maybe someone on Chevy Chatter can answer that one. I believe that it was 1927 or 1928.

gator,

electroplaters use a copper layer (or multiple copper layers) because it bonds to the base metal well and is relatively soft, i.e. easy to buff to a smooth shine...the copper is desirable, because it is used as a surface "filler," to infill the microscopic imperfections in the base metal (presumably, a base metal harder to buff than copper...you wouldn't gain anything by putting a copperplate layer over a piece of copper)...

the chromium is clear...it is very hard, therefore, durable, and protects the relatively soft nickel (or other finish, which now only serves to give the piece its color)...it's analogous to the clear coat finish on the painted body of a vehicle...

I guess, from dog's general finish rules above, the builders expected the exterior components needed more protection, while the interior nickel would probably last "long enough" (they couldn't have guessed we'd keep these cars for so long!)...


epi

Chrome is Clear, are you sure about that Kepi?How about black Chrome? I seem to think I have seem Chromeium plated right over copper, with out a nickle plated layer and it was Chrome colored......Or Was I mistaken?

Chrome is clear. (Someone may have a way or method to produce colored chrome, but not to my knowledge).

It would appear that chrome appeared on the scene in 1927. No chrome noted prior to that much less nickle finish noted later.

Like most changes it is not a stop----and go situation, but a phasing in of a change.

the chromium in a nickel-chromium plating process is clear...a chromium layer over copper would be copper-colored...


epi

When did Chevy stop nickle plating? When they stopped all plating in 1942 for the war years.

The 1952-53 cars that had the Korean chrome (all exterior chrome except bumpers) did not have nickel under the chrome.The chrome was applied over the copper.To protect the chrome a clear lacquer was applied.After a few years the lacquer broke down, exposing the chrome, and causing it to flake off.After the chrome was gone and the copper exposed it turned brown/green.Chrome is not clear - its "chrome" colored.

From at least 1933 and up I can't recall any nickle finish.Only chrome or stainless.

1934 & 35 trucks had nickle on interior door hardware and park brake handle. Chrome on insturment gauge trim.

The 1934-35 cars had chrome plated door and window handles.

Thanks Ray, Gene, I understand Chromium is not a color per se' but a metal, I don't ever recall a Clear metal (transparent), even though I studied Metallurgy at Texas Tech..rather than at A&M.
It was my understanding at the time that Chromium electroplated over nickle is more durable than when it is electroplated directly over copper because copper is so ductile. After watching the process an several shops, it appears to me that the electro-chemical process is pretty straight forward, the beauty and duriability is in the skill exhibited during the cleaning,preperation and polishing.

the nickel plate is usually deposited about a thousandth of an inch thick, then the chromium at less than ten-millionth inch thick...I'd always been told that, at that thickness, it's pretty transparent...


epi

At that thickness the Chromium is probably 40 to 100 molecules thick. The molecules aren't very large.

macky,

yeah, not too thick, but still...at 40-100 molecules, that might be enough to be opaque, or at least obscure...what do you think?..


epi

Once again Chatter has taught me much more than just the answer to the original question.

Hope this discussion continues with some more information...

Actually not much light of any wavelength will penetrate a layer of Chromium that is deposited by the electro plateing process, that is why it is so effective the more it bounces around and is reflected the less transparent the metal appears, and the more shiney it is, isn't that what makes the shine, reflected light of all wavelengths? Just a side note: Silver reflects more direct light than a equally pure layer of Chromium so why don't we silver plate our bumpers?

macky,

because the silver, unlike chromium, tarnishes easily...

I happened to be chatting with a friend today who is a metallurgist & nuclear physicist...he agrees with you that some, but not much light would penetrate a normal layer of chromium plate...

so, that got me thinking: many nickel-chromium electroplate processes use a thicker, first layer of semi-reflective nickel, followed by a thinner, highly reflective layer of nickel, before the chromium...

and, if the chromium were completely opaque, it wouldn't matter what underlying layers were applied first (colorwise, that is...the copper would still be needed to give a smoother surface)...

so, for now, I think I'll amend my statement: chromium is not clear, but translucent...it is inherently shiny metallic, but also relies on nickel for what we expect & like in an object that has been "chromed"...

I learn something new everyday...


epi

That is the name of the game making your stuff shiny, and durable. Physics and Metallurgy and electrical processes, hardly anything is "home-made" anymore, just think about it, If Henry **** had of been an mechanical engineer or perhaps a Liberal Arts grad, maybe just maybe he would have had a overhead valve, four cylinder, Faunce Green model "A" Sedan with a Dunsmire Grey Wheels, and Golden Yellow stripes! or maybe even a Paul Revere Green coach with a rear fuel tank and a Stewart Warner Vacuum fuel pump!

Engineers make things happen! and I don't mean drive trains!

Hey Dudes! Go here: http://freepages.pavilion.net/users/nickfull/chrome.htm

Kepi:

I sure enjoy reading YOUR posts. They're informative. A guy can actually

learn something reading what YOU write. (I left plenty of room in-between

the lines for folks to fill-in what they'd like!!!)

Bill.

interesting link, dog...

I didn't have a chance to read it thoroughly, but it does seem to suggest that it's the addition of barium (barium acetate & acetic acid) that makes "black chrome"...this was a question that came up earlier in this thread...


epi

JYD, your link is great...seems like this guy is also saying anyone can chrome their own stuff at home. This might give the EPA a heart attack...

Maybe the local club here (AACA) can get together and have a chroming party instead of a BBQ...

Glad that you liked the link. If you do a search on Google you will find a lot more information on nickel and chrome plating.

Of course we, the buyers, don't really know how many 'steps' were used and what thickness applied...until much later, after the warranty has expired...

Makes you want to watch them do your parts….

"Makes you want to watch them do your parts…."

Especially if you take some very rare and irreplaceable parts to your local plating shop!

years ago, I had a buddy (now deceased) that owned a plating shop...one day, I called about some parts he was doing for me and he said that they were all ready, except one...I asked why, and he replied that it was momentarily lost...down in the bottom of the vat...seems like it happens from time to time, as things get bumped off the tree...he had to go "fishing" to find it...

if the platers aren't on top of things, they don't even know a there may be a problem with a item until the piece is damaged or even disappeared (if it's the strip tank)...I lost one irreplaceable brass strip this way...only a few minutes too long in the strip tank and nothing left but the hook of the tree when he pulled it back up...ouch...


epi

And.......that happens way more often than we would like too! I know a dude that lost a rare passenger side door ashtray out of a 1932 cabriolet that way. The local plater didn't know what kind of metal it was so he dumped it in his strip tank anyway. The part was stripped alright....there was nothing left of it!

I have yet to be in a large industrial sized chrome plating place that was organized enough to be able to keep track of all the thousand of different parts that come and go, There must be a black hole somewhere that has jillions of lost freshly plated parts in a big old pile.......I have gone with my brother and he always really get involved with hunting every part that he takes in, sometimes they get out of order when one part fails to pass final inspection before polishing and has to be recycled back through the process. In short it just looked like a huge mess to me.

Chromium is indeed clear -

One chrome shop to avoid is Superior Chrome in Houston Texas. They destroyed two complete 1940 truck grills, trim and crowns through poor handling, novice boooger welding and poor packaging -

The owner was not willing to accept responsibility and on the one hand said he personally inspected them and that they "looked great" and on the other hand the parts could not even be assembled because of the poor welding that was done on the bars to stabilize them during polishing. Chrome was delaminating and grill crowns were packaged in carboard boxes and crushed in transit.

You are always better off if you can find someone local so you need only be concerned about one neck to grab.

Chrome plating is Chrome metal and is not clear! I wonder where this misconseption originated? anyone know?

That isn't what I have found about Superior Chrome in Houston for bumpers, anyway. I had a couple of bumpers and bumper guards done there a couple of years ago and they did a superior job, packing was really good and we had no problems with them. ( they are local to us)
They picked the bumpers up at the VCCA swap meet in Grand Prairie and then shipped them to me in Midland for a very reasonable price. One bad job is just one bad job, just the same as one good job is just one good job. You should always try to do business with the locals even if Vendors on the left Coast are nearly all very over priced.
(IMHO)

I just called my local chrome plating shop and the owner of the shop verified that chrome plating is not clear....it does have color.

hey dog,

could you look at my 04oct2005 post again and ask your plater, the next time you are speaking to him or her, if this is correct about the reflectivity of the underlying nickel plate?..


epi

Well one thing that one want to remember, Copper sticks good to steel, Iron or pot metal and is easy to smooth out. Nickle sticks to copper better than chrome does, nickle is a good shiny base, but it's shine and hardness isn't as durable as Chrome hence the three layers of a superior chrome plating job. These three layers also resist the expansion from temperature changes better than just a single or double plating process.
1) the base metal of the item Iron, Steel Pot metal, zamack, bronze, etc.
2) Then a nice easily worked Copper layer, next a nice smooth Nickle layer which was good enough for the 20s and very early thirties.

...and along comes Chromium plating...

3) finally a thin hard shiny durable relatively non-corrosive layer of expensive Chromium. There are a couple of chemicals that will corrode Chrome, H2S for one.

There is just one problem with Chrome plateing, it is not easy to apply to Aluminum, which is easy to form and is strong, so there had to be another process for making Aluminum shiny and the shine to be more durable, and what is that process/processes called?

Anodize!

Mack - I had been told that decorative chrome plating was clear in that if you chrome over copper, you see copper and if you chrome over nickle, you see nickle - perhaps it isn't crystal clear, but you can certainly see through it quite easily.

My experience with Superior was recent and unfortunately, it was a common experience with several old truck enthusiasts from another website forum where the owner of Superior had solicited business. Many a GM truck enthusiast were heartily dissappointed at the poor quality, lost parts and general lack of attention to detail.

"I had been told that decorative chrome plating was clear in that if you chrome over copper, you see copper and if you chrome over nickle, you see nickle - perhaps it isn't crystal clear, but you can certainly see through it quite easily."

I asked that question of my local plating shop as well, and the owner informed me that nickel plating has a yellow cast to it and when nickel is plated with chrome the color of the finished plating is sliver, due to the color of the chrome. Also, if the part is copper plated first and then nickled plated, when the chrome is applied over the nickle the plating has a bluish-silver appearance, again, due to the color of the chrome. Chrome is not clear.

I will stick with them on bumpers only, we have found an eonomical plater in the DFW metroplex, We take stuff in and pick it up, sometimes there are several customers there at a time checking off their list as they pick up their parts. We have found that not all of one batch is ready at the same time, some of it has to be recycled, after final plating and the inspector kicks it back for a flaw. What ever is done with the old cars takes some one on one attention to be sure you get what you expect, that has been my experiance anyway, a good reason to use the locals if possible. As to Chrome metal being clear, if you check out the metallurgy, crome plateing is quite dense. by that I am talking about density or unit weight / unit volume.

The experience that KenB is talking about is typical with many local plating shops. The chances are very good if you take your valuable vintage car parts to your local plating shop that the parts will either be damaged, lost or the quality of the plating is not what you expected. :( :( :(

That is the usual JYD, and when you visit a local plating shop you understand why, when you find a good plater that keeps track of your stuff, don't let him go!

Chronium, just the facts, Mam.
Chromium, Elemental, my dear Watson....

well i finally have to make a few comments first i have used superior plating in houston as i live close they lost parts even after i showed them the photo of them when i brought them in they sent me a pencil clip and said that was it and if not they would find another at a swap meet never happened . next my experance is if the parts are pretty good going in they they are usally good when you get them back so we usally get them stripped do the repairs polish and back to the plater you only get what you inspect and not expect meaning that some times they buff through a part and it may need to be re done . if parts need to be repaired they need to be sent to some one that can or a speciality plater that does quality work if that is what you want most plating shops do good work on thick heavy items bumpers etc . that can be ground and polished but when it comes to fine delicate parts it is something else usally get eat up by the buffer and discarded [lost] plating is not the hard part of the process its the preperation and that is where the time comes in . most that do restore know what i am saying . you cant send a radiator shell to people that mostly do bumpers and expect them to put the bottom back on that the hood eat up hope this helps