Chrome plating.

[Johnny4428]

So the cost of replating. Someone mentioned going further afield to get some plating done, Poland in particular. Emailed a company with request for a quote from a company called Gálven Chrom for the refurbishment of kick start lever brake pedal and small brake lever (3 items) reply came back - one month turnaround and 52 euros per hour and 7 hours required to complete, plus carriage. Quick calculation tells me that’s £315 quid plus postage. So emailed Chromefix, for same work and comes in at £130 plus postage. No brainer! I have used Chromefix couple of times and am quite pleased with their work. O’ and three week turnaround. Thought I would post in case anybody else is in the same mind.

[Laverda Dave]

Wow, over £300 and the postage and the worry of the parts getting lost!
I think any chrome plater within the EU is going to struggle to actually undertake any kind of plating considering it's the EU's policy to ban the chemicals needed for plating. And here's me thinking that as we are no longer part of the EU we would be ok but no, this country just follows whatever the EU does!
I have taken the exhaust heat shield of the NC30 to Ashford Chrome (actually based in Crayford, S E London). The cost is £95 (I deliver and collect it). Their work is top quality but expensive but getting any chrome plating done these days is difficult.
I've given up trying to find anyone who does black zinc plating for a) reasonable cost and b) who can be bothered to do it anyway, industrial players don't want the hassle of plating 40 nuts & bolts! I have however been given a tip that may work. Have the nuts & bolts BZP'd and then use a black sharpie pen to colour the head of the bolt. It takes four coats of the pen to give the bolt the black look and you have to let the previous coat dry for 24 hours. It's a boring job though. I will let you know if it works and if it lasts!

[Johnny4428]

Wow, like the Sharpie hack Dave, easily touched up too if required! 😜

[magpie114]

I’ve been looking into blacking zinc plated parts for my NC30 project too. “Zinc black” by Frost looks like the ideal product. Unfortunately although listed as available in 1 or 5 litre quantities only 5 litres can be currently ordered which at £46 is for a relatively small number of components is expensive.



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[kent400]

Have you thought of chemical blacking? I use that for gauge dial face scews and some gauge bezels. it's easy as it's a three part process. Ceaning solution, blacking one and oil solution. Items came out more or less matt black. Not sure how well it would work on bolts but worth a bit of research.

[Laverda Dave]

I did look into chemical blacking Peter but apparently it does have a poor resistance to corrosion if parts are exposed to water, grime and genersal road use so I discounted it.
The Frost solution looks feasible as long as it contains the chemicals of old, sadly a lot don't these days, yellow passivate now being one of them.
I first treated the bzp'd nuts and bolts with the sharpie pen about a month ago and gave everything four coats over a period of two weeks so far its all held up but of course nothing is yet fitted to the bike!
I'll give an update after a bit of road use.

[Laverda Dave]

I took the exhaust heat sheild of the NC30 into Ashford Plating (I previoulsy had the chrome stripped off as I was going to have a cerakote finish applied). Ashford Platers gave me a price of £110 but I negotiated that down to £95, still expensive but the quality of their work reflects the price.