chrome removal

[excess11]

I am trying to restore a Yamaha Virago. The problem is that nearly everything on this bike was chromed at one time but it is now mostly flaking off. What is the best way to remove this finish. I have tried bead blasting with little to no results. Blasting is very slow and seems to remove as much aluminum as chrome. What are some other options???

[Ken Talbot]

Another way is to take the parts to a plating shp and have them strip the chrome off. Basically, they put the pieces in a plating tank, but on the opposite electrode from what they would use for putting the chrome on. I did this for all the chrome parts on the project I've got under way right now.

[JWSanders]

www.caswellplating.com sells plating/deplating kits if you were inclined to want to do it yourself. Would take a decent investment though. Probably less than it would cost to have them stripped/replated by someone else, depending on the size of the biggest parts, and how many. Would take some space too.

Ah, one day, when I grow up, I'll have a big garage and all the space I need for both their medium-sized plating setup and and a decent-sized anodizing tank.

Sweet dreams, indeed!