Need a good chrome plating co. and an idea of price

[11Rider]

Hi my compadres. Can anyone recommend a good chrome plating company. I am in NJ but don't mind shipping my parts if quality and cost can justify it. Also, does anyone have an idea of what a box of parts that would fit into about a 2'x2' box would cost to do? I understand it could vary substantially based on a number of things, but are we talking about 200-300 dollars, or more like 800-900 dollars? Thank you

[crazy steve]

Well, as a general observation chrome plating is not at all inexpensive any more. There's a lot of factors that determine cost, but a quality plating job won't be cheap.

Are the parts already plated? This will probably increase the cost, as they need to be stripped before a re-plate.

What degree of 'finish' do you want? Just a straight plate job, or 'show chrome'?

Do you want 'triple-plate' (you should, as single or double plate is inferior in both longevity and appearance)?

Are you plating just steel parts, or do you want to do some aluminum? Aluminum can be considerably harder to plate (particularly cast), and the price can reflect that. Also be aware that if the aluminum part has any steel bits cast or pressed in, the aluminum plating solution can literally eat them away; I had a kick-starter bushing disappear out of a side cover that way, and had to have a new one machined from scratch.

For what it's worth, in the mid-70s I had a similar 'box full of parts' plated for about $200; today I would expect that same box would cost me about $1K if not more....

[11Rider]

Wow, thanks. That was very helpful

[foreda]

Cost

No.. It's much more that 1K.. Don't ask me how I know.. It's the reason I bought my own polishing equipment.

[crazy steve]

Let me add to this...

Being also a HD Sportster owner, I've bought my fair share of chrome goodies. I've found that it's cheaper (usually much cheaper) to just buy a new, already chromed part rather than have the used non-plated part I already own plated. As just one example, I was quoted over $1200 to plate my various polished engine covers (sidecovers, rocker boxes, etc) but was able to buy a brand-new, already chromed 'engine kit' with all the same parts for under $900... go figure. In fact, the chrome part will usually cost less that a non-plated 'stock' replacement part. So some of it has to do with economies of scale and dealing with new, unblemished parts. Plus the fact that much of this stuff is plated off-shore (no EPA regs to deal with).

And like Dale, I also bought my own polishing equipment...

[natemoen]

Do you want 'triple-plate' (you should, as single or double plate is inferior in both longevity and appearance)?

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the term "triple plate" refer to the fact that the plating process is actuall a copper plate, then a nickel plate, and then finally a chrome plate. It's not that the chrome is 3 layers (which guess you do not necessarily imply). Everyplace I have seen the triple plating is basically industry standard, not saying some guy somewhere isn't just slapping chrome on bare untreated metal. Also something else that really matters with chrome is thickness of the plating, don't know what is a good thickness though.

[ManagerMike]

The fuel door for my 78 all by itself was $60.00 to have re-chromed

[crazy steve]

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the term "triple plate" refer to the fact that the plating process is actually a copper plate, then a nickel plate, and then finally a chrome plate. It's not that the chrome is 3 layers (which guess you do not necessarily imply). Everyplace I have seen the triple plating is basically industry standard, not saying some guy somewhere isn't just slapping chrome on bare untreated metal. Also something else that really matters with chrome is thickness of the plating, don't know what is a good thickness though.

Yes, a triple plate is just that. But it's far from an 'industry standard'; you'll find lots of items that have only been single or double plated (some cheap aftermarket truck bumpers are single plate). Some of the OEM plating on the XS is only double plate (nickel/chrome) or at least I've found some parts like that; they did seem to be a bit inconsistent.

The copper base is used as a 'filler'; being easy to polish if need be (and for a 'show chrome' finish, it usually is), it's used to fill final imperfections before applying the 'finish' plating, as well as offering a last barrier to rust. Nickel is the rust preventer but tarnishes rather easily, which chrome does not. Chrome is also porous, which is why the nickel underbase is important. You want a minimum plate thickness of at least 2-3 mils with chrome, with 4-5 being better. The copper/nickel should be thicker IIRC.

With a practiced eye, you can tell where/how a plating job went bad. Blue-green spots on the surface? Too-thin nickel plate, allowing the copper to oxidize. Yellow or grey areas? Too little chrome, letting the nickel show. This can be hard to spot on new plating, and is a sure sign of a 'cheap' plating job. Poorly polished parts (buffing marks still visible; the bane of Japanese plating) will also have issues with the plating failing, as those imperfections will leave thin spots in the plating opening the door to rust. This can be offset by doing thicker plating, but generally if the polish job is poor they're cutting corners and won't apply more plating.

Chromed aluminum is the worst; no matter what you do, the plating will fail sooner or later. A first-class job is critical here, as the easily-corroded aluminum if not sealed properly by plating will quickly start blistering. If you ride in the rain, put the bike away wet (even after washing) or store your bike anyplace that isn't dry, you'll have issues and quickly. As one plater told me years ago...'kid, chromed aluminum is like a teenaged whore; look real purty the first time you see it, but just doesn't age well if you really use it...'

[b.walker5]

If you're game enough, you can do it yourself. Many of the model engineering fraternity do it on a small scale. http://electroplating-process.blogsp...roplating.html

[jmnjrpa]

http://www.finishing.com/faqs/chrome.html

[crazy steve]

http://www.finishing.com/faqs/chrome.html

What's particularly interesting here is the notes on the EPA regs...
There was a guy here a number of years ago who had a claimed 'hobby' plating setup in his barn and started doing parts for other people; when they caught him, he lost his home and property to clean-up costs and went to jail before it was all done. Chrome plating is a nasty process and the enviromental agencies don't screw around; get caught and you'll get slapped hard.

The risk/reward ratio of DIY isn't worth it...

[skids]

Chromed aluminum is the worst; no matter what you do, the plating will fail sooner or later. A first-class job is critical here, as the easily-corroded aluminum if not sealed properly by plating will quickly start blistering. If you ride in the rain, put the bike away wet (even after washing) or store your bike anyplace that isn't dry, you'll have issues and quickly. As one plater told me years ago...'kid, chromed aluminum is like a teenaged whore; look real purty the first time you see it, but just doesn't age well if you really use it...'

I have an xs11 with a lot of chromed aluminum and it all looks real good except for the front of the forks which shows some slight discoloration with small spots. It was chromed by the dealer (who owned the bike before me).

[b.walker5]

What's particularly interesting here is the notes on the EPA regs...
There was a guy here a number of years ago who had a claimed 'hobby' plating setup in his barn and started doing parts for other people; when they caught him, he lost his home and property to clean-up costs and went to jail before it was all done. Chrome plating is a nasty process and the enviromental agencies don't screw around; get caught and you'll get slapped hard.

The risk/reward ratio of DIY isn't worth it...

Damn, you guys must live in over regulated place. I was once a member of the local Model Engineers Society and am aware of at least three legal DIY hobby chrome platers in this town. With the right knowledge and safety precautions (and some common sense) it's no more dangerous than turning on the lights. Okay, maybe a little more dangerous but certianly not beyond the capabilities of a competent DIYer. The people I know off are model train fanatics that build beautiful, perfect, working scale models from nothing in thier garages. The type of guys that have everthing in minature, lathes, mills, etc and have plating baths similar, albeit on a smaller scale, to the zinc plating kit that appeared here some time back. It's probably not cheap, but then professional plating is astronomical.

I realise this goes against the grain of all the perfect world advocates but over here "on my little island" as someone put it recently, we've learned to do many things for ourselves and proved to many that the seemingly impossible is not only possible, but often very easy as well.

Sometimes, to think outside the square, first you must smash the square.

[crazy steve]

I have no doubt that there's a bunch of 'hobby platers' here too (with many of them in blissful ignorance of the laws, and the rest probably fearfully ignoring it), but the risk exists. And at the cost of the DIY kits big enough to do larger bike parts, it's just not economically justifiable...

[natemoen]

Yeah there are such large penalties for it here in the US, its just not really worth it.

I had thought about it and as I was researching it, it just became so clear that it was a REALLY bad idea to even bother trying I gave up.