anyone do chrome plating or....

2000xlt

Flashlight Enthusiast
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Dec 16, 2004
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1,302
anyone do chrome plating or know someone who does? i have 4 small items that i would like plated.
 

nerdgineer

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Joined
May 7, 2004
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Southern California
Don't know where you live, but I found it much easier to have things electroless nickel plated, which has many of the benefits of chrome plating. As it requires no electrodes, a local plater might be willing to add your parts to his next batch job for a nominal charge. A .0003"-.0005" layer of (IIRC) high phosphorus electroless nickel plating will be tough, satin sheened, very pretty, conductive, and corrosion resistant.

BTW, there are 2 things called chrome plating: hard chrome plating and flash chrome plating. Hard chrome is .0003"-.0005" and very hard (like Rockwell C72+) but is not naturally shiny, especially on aluminum whose surface will be roughened a little by the etching which must occur before the plating current is applied. Flash chrome is actually a layer of shiny electro-nickel plating over which a very thin (few millionths of an inch) of chrome is applied. Flash chrome (like the old automobile bumpers which were "triple chromed" - copper, then nickel, then chrome flash) is shiny and usually thicker, but the chrome can wear through.

Both types of chrome plating will require someone to make up an electrode which conforms to your parts which will increase the cost of doing it.

Good luck.
 
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