Preparing for re-chroming

D

Domas

New member
Hi,



I have plastic door handles (OEM) that are nickel + chrome plated. They're scratched so I want to rechrome them. How sould I sand/polish the surface? I believe I should first sand with 2500 grit, then say 4000 grit and then polish? What polish would be strong enough to make chrome/nickel glossy?



Thanks in advance.
 
If you sand off the chrome and get it redone, I'd just keep it protected and not try to polish it at all. I've never been very successful polishing chrome anyhow...about all I've ever been able to do (and I've been messing around with chrome since I was a kid in the 60s) is clean it. Scratches/etc. are forever IME, the chromium is just too hard to abrasively correct. So all you can do is try to not scratch it in the first place.



Whoever's rechroming the pieces might want to do all the prep work themelves, or are you gonna do it?



For doorhandles I'd probably price replacements before I tried to fix the orginals. Unless they'r no longer available, I'd rather spend the money than spend the time.
 
One handle new costs $250 (and there are 4 on car), so I'd rather try to rechrome it...

Yes they can do the prep work, but I don't trust them, I'd rather do it myself... (what if they sand/polish to much and go through the plastic).



My question - will there be a problem if after I finish sanding and in some spots there will be some chrome left, and in some spots there will be no chrome left, only nickel visible? Or should I sand the whole surface to nickel?



What grit sandpapers should I use to take out the scratches?

And after that, will abrasive metal polish do the job as final preparation to plating?
 
Domas- Sorry, but I just don't know enough about the plastic-chroming to answer your questions. But I'd expect that you can get things good/smooth enough with just sanding (no polishing).



Check with the chromer about how well you really need to prep. Also, consider that if *they* do all the work you might be able to held them 100% responsible for how well it turns out/holds up. If *you* do the work they might blame you if there are problems.
 
Well, I found a place (through a friend) and they will chrome one handle just for $5, so it's very good deal, I just need to prepare it.



Accumulator - I know plastic chroming is a little different, but I just need to put some new chrome on the old one, so it's just like regular chroming (I won't sand to plastic, so the base will still be metal). You seem to know these chroming things, can you give me some advices?



How smooth should the surface be? After I sand it, it will be scratch-free and smooth, but it will be matted - is this a problem?, will that matted surface get mirror after plating with chrome? (will the chrome fill those microscopic matted scratches coused by let's say 6000 grit?)



Thanks a million for answers ;)
 
Domas said:
..You seem to know these chroming things, can you give me some advices?



How smooth should the surface be? After I sand it, it will be scratch-free and smooth, but it will be matted - is this a problem?, will that matted surface get mirror after plating with chrome? (will the chrome fill those microscopic matted scratches coused by let's say 6000 grit?)..
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I don't know as much about this as you think I do ;)



I don't know how smooth it'll have to be for the chrome to end up not showing any prep marks, but 6000 should be more than smooth enough (but I'm just guessing :nixweiss ).



I'd expect the new chrome to be nice and shiny so the matte finish of the prepped surface shouldn't matter. It might even give a better base for the new stuff to adhere to, but again, I just don't know.
 
Yes, I also think the matted surface should hold chrome better, just not sure if the the new chrome will fill the matted surface and turn it mirror...



Any experienced chromers here? :)
 
Joseph K said:
Sandblast them...
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Won't it blast all the chrome and nickel to bare plastic?

I think sanblasting will only make things worse, I'm not trying to remove everything, I'm just trying to take out the scratches and level the surface, and then cover it with nice new layer of chrome..
 
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