AirSpeed VW Community Forums
General Forums => Air Speed Lounge => Topic started by: T-Dot on November 21, 2013, 03:05:13 PM
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I have never had anything chromed in the past. Has anyone re-chromed their exterior door handles with any luck locally? From reading on the The Samba, because the handles are Pot Metal it is difficult to do, perhaps they will charge more if there is pitting as there is more copper required. Also wondering how much pitting can you get away with and how do you prep them up, Sand Blasting first? Any thoughts or information regarding this topic would be appreciated.
Thanks.
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Bruce T has a process he's talked to me about.
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as a painter, my advice would be leave the prepping to the plater. they can probably prep it for less than you can too
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Yup they have their ways and anytime I've had stuff done they don't want you to do anything (you could take material off they need to work with)
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I think Bruce's way was to have the old chrome removed, then do filling on pits before you give them back to the chromer. That way, the don't grind so much off when leveling the pit holes, often changing the profile of the handle. I should have taken notes, but missed some of the details. ;)
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Key word is "have" chrome and nickle plating removed by chemical striping at a chrome shop. Lead is used as filler for very clean pitting.
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Thanks for your advise guys! Much appreciated.
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What year handles are we talking about?
My recommendation is to work with Superior in C'dale. I've seen rechromed handles done by some of the other shops locally and their work is inferior to Superior's.
Here's the process.
You must first do a complete disassembly. Lock cylinder has to come out and the wafers and springs out of the lock cylinders. Then the chroming shop strips off the existing plating. They will sometimes leave some copper since removing it isn't necessary. Next you have to bead blast the handle thoroughly to remove the oxidized metal everywhere including at the bottom of the pits. Now comes the fun part, sanding. Most of the small pitting can be removed with sanding, but the big ones should be left. This is the difference between the good shops and the others. Other shops will grind down to the bottom of the worst pits, changing the shape and profile of the whole handle. In one case a shop made a genuine handle look like a repro!
It costs more $ to fill then sand, but then the part still looks original. To fill, they do a quick copper plate. On that they use solder (must be lead free) to fill the pits. After they are filled, file then sand smooth. Next is the copper buildup where they plate a thicker layer of copper that will allow them to polish. After the polish is nickle, then chrome.
The cheaper shops will not do the soldering to fill. Instead they just grind away.
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Thanks Bruce, great info. I am impressed in the fact that I have only spoken to hand full of people regarding my project and everyone has mentioned Superior Plating in Cloverdale. Good on them to have the reputation of being the best.