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De-Chroming

  • Thread starter Thread starter 97Intruder
  • Start date Start date
9

97Intruder

Guest
Anybody have any tips on how to easily de-chrome things... like fenders or other items.......reason I ask is that I have some chromed things that are in poor shape, I'd rather paint, but have tried to paint over chrome before, and it doesn't last. Even if you primer, it still will flake off over time, I think that the chrome has to be "etched"..........any info????
Thanks in advance
 
TheCafeKid said:
wire wheel??
Click to expand...

You'll be there for a LONG time. Unless it was a crappy chrome job..... I remember reading about a way to get chrome off involve some kinda chemical. Bad news is i think its an acid 8-[. Good news you don't need a license to buy it \\:D/ so you can do it yourself. Let me try and find those articles for you

P.s. I read that basscliff soaked his rust covered chrome in a chrome cleaner/shiner and it worked wonders

***************************************************************************************************************************************

*10 minutes later*

Alright I'm back. Sorry about that apparently the chemical i was thinking of doesn't remove chrome it removes rust OFF of chrome. Here's the link just in case you want to read the thread about it.
http://oldschoolbmx.com/community/index.php?showtopic=4004702

**************************************************************************************************************************************

*While later lol*

Alright buddy after some research seems like sandblasting is the fastest easiest solution. Usually a course grit is needed at first to get the chrome off and then you go back with a finer grit to smoothen it up. I also read that people use muriatic acid to remove chrome but Its only safe for non-ferrous metals so aluminum and stainless steel are the only one's i can think off. And if its aluminum or SS then they probably wouldnt be chromed in the first place
 
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Be carefull sandblasting sheet metal. You will scrap it due to warpage in a hurry! Ask me how I know!
 
I think your best bet would be to sandblast the surface to give the chrome some tooth and then paint on top with a good epoxy primer. Should work.
 
I kinda agree with Sac...with galvanized steel you need to use a self etching primer...i bet it would work with the chrome too...and since its self etching it might go a long way to holding/sealing the chrome on there.
 
Take it to a shop that does chrome. They can chemically strip it off and you'll get a clean bare part that just needs to be washed and dried before paint. Fairly well priced too as the high price of chrome normally comes from the application of the new shiny stuff.
 
Yeah acid is your only solution to de-chrome anything. I have used Muriatic Acid to remove finishes like parkerizing and bluing before. Its cheap and effective, but makes a mess and requires alot of safety precautions so I cannot advise it. I too sugest you use self etching primer over a blasted surface. I have painted chrome bumpers on cars with good results, you just need to be very good at surface prep.
 
I had really good results by sanding by hand just to scratch the hell out of it, using adhesive promoter then primer then paint then clear coat.
 
chrom removal.

chrom removal.

the guys at the chrom shop can just dip the part back in the chroming tank and reverse the polarity that makes the chrom stick.... atleast thats what i was told. my buddy did the same thing on the fenders for his cb450
 
The only problem is that it cost almost as much to remove the chrome as it does to put it on.

The fenders on my L were chrome and the black paint has been on there for almost 30 years without flaking. The bike was originally moron. Unfortuanately I didn't do it and don't know how it was done. I could probably find because I still know the guy that did it.
 
I'd think paint would stick if you just roughed up the surface with sand paper or steel wool... Then a little primer and wetsanding to smooth it back out again, and Bob's your uncle...
 
I just painted a chrome fender yesterday, scuffed it up pretty good with some 400 grit and shot it. I twisted and flexed the hell out of it to see if it would give and it didnt flinch, so you may be able to get away with just shooting it. Use some self-etching primer first and away you go. I also used hightemp engine black. the ceramic in it my help keep it on there, dunno.
 
I've actually found the hi-temp paints are less flexible. Dunno about "sticking strength", though.
 
Thanks!!

Thanks!!

Thanks a lot guys....gave me some good ideas....I believe the sanding will be the best bet.....I'm doing a " test " now of just a cleaned & primed fender, and will be testing an acid etched, then a sanded,(all of will be primered) and will post the results....although it might not be for a while cuz I'd like to get as much riding in as possible before the weather gets too unbearable, so unless this thread stays active with other ideas, I'll revive it when I get the results.
 
A friend of mine is an industrial chemist who has decades of experience running plating lines that have varied from decorative chrome on gymnastics equipment to circuit boards. Chrome plating is almost always applied over nickel plating, which sometimes goes over copper plating. Here is his answer:

.....immersion in a 25% HCl solution will remove the Cr in about a minute. I assume the chrome is over a nickel underplate which will be unaffected by the HCl. The nickel layer will have a slight yellowish tint, whereas the chrome will be silvery white.

The nickel is the problem. It’s a nearly pure electrodeposit so about the only thing that will strip it off is a very strong, very hot, very alkaline solution of sodium cyanide and formaldehyde. I don’t recommend it. Aqua regia would take it off but you’d damage the part

Instead, glass bead the nickel to make it frosty, immerse a few minutes in clean 10-15% HCl, rinse then dry with a heat gun (or rinse in a boiling kettle of water.) Do all of this very quickly in sequence. Before starting, see if you can get your hands on an acid wash primer. It will give better adhesion to the nickel. Once the glass beaded part is dried it should be primed ASAP. Dry nickel quickly develops a passive layer in contact with air which gives degrades paint adhesion. Glass-beading and acid rinsing the part activates this layer and the acid-wash primer activates even more. Make sure the proper air respirator for acids is used when spraying the primer. From there, it’s just another paint job.

If this is an original Harley part it will have a lot of nickel. A quality chrome plating job could actually have three layers of underplate, the 2nd one being 99+ percent, sulfur-free nickel which even the cyanide struggles with. Once the nickel is gone there could be a 3rd copper layer over the base material. Just about any acid will remove copper. If the base material is aluminum or die-cast zinc there’d be copper for sure. One of the challenges in stripping parts is to figure out what the base material is first then to choose a sequence of strippers to remove these layers completely and not attack the base material.
​

Note that he's talking about:
>sodium cyanide, the chemical used to kill people in gas chambers, >formaldehyde, which causes cancer
>hot, concentrated lye, which will dissolve flesh from bones.
>Aqua regia, which is concentrated nitric acid with a bit of concentrated sullfuric acid thrown in. Very dangerous stuff.

Hydrochloric (muriatic) acid, is tame by comparison.
 
Uh...yeah...I'll take sandpaper and paint for 400 Alex...

Repainting is easy...replacing flesh and bone is rather tricky...hehe
 
Great info.....thanks for the input, if it doesn't help me....it should certainly help others.....also, I think formaldehyde is also used in embalming if I'm not mistaken.
 
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