Re- chroming

[bobthebuilder]

Hi Guys,

Me back again asked this question on post about KO tyres, but in case you all missed it was wondering if any of you enthusiasts knew of a really great re-chroming shop, all blogs and people I have spoke to so far give conflicting replies, one says best since sliced bread another don't touch with barge pole, so will ask again anyone know of a really! really! great at re-chroming. 

Cheers Jock.

[SteveD CB500K0]

If/when you find one, post in the "Recommended Suppliers" thread.

[kaceyk2]

Bob. rechroming depends on so much...
A good rechromer will tell you if the parts you show them are worth rechroming..
It starts there.
A lot of parts are not, and should not be attempted..
Once the old chrome has been stripped off, only then can the "worthyness" of the part be properly assessed.
And thats just the start.. I personally have come across stories of old chrome being "ground off" (OW)
Once the chrome is off, the better the metal is polished, the better the end result.
So allready, we have three skills involved; Assessing if its possible, carefull stripping, polishing.
And thats all before plating.
Like you say recomendations vary, there are stories of long waits, there are also stories of lost parts.
There are stories of excellent service, and stories of shoddy outfits in general.
It does seem like a minefield.
Personally, I found an outfit here in Wales that are not only excellent, but very reasonable.
There main operation is chroming of bathroom fittings, like say heated  towel rails, taps and the like, when I took stuff there like a brake lever and pair of handlebars and headlight ears, they would say, "It will go in with the next batch say a week on tuesday"
And they were true to their word, I took the stuff in and picked it up though.
It has been a long time, so I will need to ring them up to check if they are still in operation.
I can do that tommorrow as its 5.30 now.
will report back for you.

[bobthebuilder]

Thanks Kacey K2,


Grateful for all info and help let me know how it goes, don't mind waiting a till/if they can do it as long as it is a good job, realise I will have to post parts but there is no place local.

Cheers Jock.

[UKROBK7]

I can only go on experience but recommend Quality Chrome in Hull (01482 589838 Karl) and also Howells in Walsall West Midlands (01922 649992 Graham), both a bit far from you!  Both are not cheap but they do a great job.  Both do their own in-house polishing.  Howells are used by the classic car people and I believe also by Westfield Cars.  I used Quality Chrome when I did my custom Shadow and they did a great job on chroming the alloy parts as well as on steel.  I am using Howells for the CB750 resto that I am doing at the moment.  They have done a load of parts for me and the wheel rims they did were fantastic, taking great care that the chrome went into the 17" rear wheel deep drop centre (K7 wheel).  They had to triple copper both rims before nickeling and chroming because of the bad marks caused when tyre changes were made.

You need to understand from them what finish you are likely to get on the particular parts you let them have.  So far I have not been disappointed.

Prices have risen steeply due to the metal pricing soaring and they keep rising!

Rob

[HondaFour]

I can recommend Derby Plating in Derby 01332 382408, again not cheap but the best chrome isn't . They do a very good job and look after customers. After plating my K4 rear guard, it lifted slightly after a year on the shelf so I sent it back and after they had dechromed it, they found it had pinholing in the bracing at the top back where the mounts are. So I sent them another in good physical condition and they did it free.

I used to live near to a classic vehicle restoration company and they only used Derby plating. I have also had my zinc plate done there, they don't loose anything like the small screws or washers.

[SteveD CB500K0]

Guys - can you copy your posts to the "Recommended Sources..." board

Ta

Steve

[AshimotoK0]

Quality Chrome are very near me in Hull  but I was not particularly impressed with the parts they did for me. Some of the parts cost more to re-chrome than you can buy them for new from David Silvers! They took ages to to get back to me and did not give a price upfront, so they basically can charge what they like. Depends on what you need rechroming really but anything thin like starter cover and clutch cover they seemed to remove a lot more metal that I thought necessary. ChrisR has a few nightmare stories about chromers he has used. It's the one area where you entrust your rare part to someone else  (e.g. K0 750 double-cut mudguard (fender)) and it can come back totally trashed. If you do the polishing yourself you must remove every trace of the nickel base. To check this I paint the part with a coppering solution made up of sulphuric acid and copper sulphate that the old guys used to use before marking out blue became popular. It will leave copper on the areas that are bare steel but any areas with nickel will show as a slightly yellowish colour. The copper will not adhere to the steel and can be easily buffed off afterwards. You can then tell chromers that you just want the part plating and it should be relatively cheap. I did this on my 400/4 parts in 1986. The place in Hull (who the Quality chrome guy used to work for) told me I had totally wasted my time in polishing myself but I told him to just chrome them and I would take a chance. The parts came out perfect and 26 years later still look the same. He obviously did not trust me that I had removed all of the base nickel plate. The Chrome plate can be removed by reverse plating with a caustic soda electrolyte and stainless steel electrode. Nickel is more difficult to remove by electrolysis and acid removal will get into any rust pits and cause even deeper pits to form. I think there is a nickel stripper around in the States which removes nickel chemically without attacking the base steel but not tried it yet. I find you can do wonders with a Black and Decker power file (with really fine belts cheap  off Ebay) and a buffing wheel. Mucky horrible job though (often entrusted by chromers to the 'tea boy') - but it's probably the most important job of the rechroming process

[bobthebuilder]

Thanks All,
This is like a merry go round, same old story some good reports and some bad ones. Wish I had your knowledge and expertise Ash, as I would not know where to start, that is why I am looking for good reliable firm who can do it for me. Can see this is going to take a while just for me to decide where to send parts. I have little enough hair will end up with none soon. 

Cheers Jock.

[kaceyk2]

ASHI< are you a Hull lad?  ( I was born in Hessle!)

[AshimotoK0]

ASHI< are you a Hull lad?  ( I was born in Hessle!)

Yes I am Hull born and bred -  live in Willerby not so far from Hessle in fact I bought a 1969 CB250K0 from Hessle a few weeks back!

[steven400/4]

derby plating are very good occ send there stuff from the u s to be done there