Now that I have your attention, welcome to the forgotten Forum: Tech & Restoration!

I have a frame that is currently show chromed, but in bad shape. I want to strip it to bare metal. For the life of me I cannot find a local company to do the acid stripping.

Any suggestions? Does it have to be acid-stripped? Can it be media blasted? I find it amazing that here in Detroit, Michigan I cannot find a plating shop to strip it.

Advise?

I was gonna say i know a girl name Bambi...but that's another story in its own......

Can you find a local company to do the chroming?

If you can find a local company to do the Chroming, they will certainly be able to strip it.

There are chemicals as close as the hardware store that will take the chrome off. The Nickel underneath the chrome is the tough part.

Most of the plating now is industrial plating. Not the shiny stuff. They deal mostly with hard chroming of cylinder bores, and things like that. They dont have to strip anything, because all the parts are new. The EPA has killed off most of the cosmetic chromers.

Talk to your local Harley dealer, or custom car shop. THey will help you find a custom plating shop. Harleys and Street Rods, are a custom plating shop's bread and butter. and all the parts they get, have to be stripped and polished before they can be chromed, or Gold plated. They are around, but hard to find now.

Pauls chrome is where i get stuff done. A little expensive but they do a great job!!

I don't personally recommend it because of the dangers involved - but you can strip the chrome with muriatic acid found at hardware stores and pool supply houses IF the part is triple chrome plated. The acid eats off the chrome layer leaving the nickel and copper underneath which will come off with an aggressive media blasting (coal slag or aluminum oxide). I will say this and please pay attention...The chrome/acid combo makes some VERY bad fumes and you will end up with a very toxic liquid at the end - be careful what you do with it!!! It should be neutralized to proper pH levels before disposal. EYE, HAND, AND RESPIRATORY PROTECTION SHOULD BE USED IF YOU TRY THIS!! Now with all that said, i'll finish by saying that the chrome-reversal technique or acid bath is your best and safest bet if you want it done right.

save the planet

Try Cheetah's. Lots of strippers there.

Vegas has more strippers than we can handle!!

KIW-Try American Stripping or Strippers or something like that out by Metro Airport (no, not the Landing Strip). Bike frames are $10 (for steel -alloy is $$$ more!) and it takes about two weeks, depending on how busy they are. If you want the fork done too just attach it loosly with an old headset nut, other wise they will charge you another $10. If you leave the bearing cups in it will turn them black.

To any one else interested, they won't do mail order, I already asked, but if you wanted it done, I could be the shipping point for you.

Thanks...I must have called 25+ metal finishing shops, plating shops, etc. Most of them said NO as soon as I told them it is cromoly steel. "We only strip stainless.....sorry"

I'll try American today...thanks for the tip.

Fini Finish on Mound Road in Warren will do it, but they have a $250.00 minimum order. At this time, I don't need anything else stripped or plated to reach the $250 minimum.

Tom

I've worked w/ muriatic and hydrocloric acids for years in the swimming pool industry. You can pick up a gallon of muriatic at a pool store or a masonry supply house for 4-5 bucks.
It's not too dangerous to work with as long as some precautions are taken:
1- outdoor use only - the fumes can be bad, but if outside w/ the wind taken into account you'll be fine. Keep an eye on your kids and pets! Don't let them get into the fumes!
2- Glasses, rubber gloves, a respirator or heavy dustmask, and a garden hose ready to go just in case.
3- Sodium Bicarb (baking soda) to neutralize the acid when you 're finished.
4- a cheap baby pool to put the frame and acid in.
Absolutely DO NOT mix anything else with the acid. (except water) For example, muriatic/hydrochloric acid + Chlorine = Mustard gas. The same stuff the Germans used in WW1 trench warfare.
Once your piece is stripped, dilute the acid w/ water and neutralize it w/ bicarb. Rinse the piece thoroughly before handling.
You will still need to media blast the piece when finished.

[ January 19, 2006, 09:23 AM: Message edited by: Mike Corvin ]

If you can't find their number let me know. I can tell you exactly how to get there, I just can never remember their name. For $10, you can't go wrong! Because the piece is submerged in what is pretty much an acid-filled hot tank, it will also remove most of the rust inside the tubes as well. Just make sure that if you handle it with your bare hands when you pick it up that you don't pick your nose on the way home!

MCM, I need you to email me/instant message me the number or directions because I can't find a shop with that particular name.

I found another shop that said they will do it for $100.00!!! I asked why so much. His reply, "Because I really don't want to do it at all, but if you pay me that much, I will"

B & L Plating in Roseville.

Another thing worth mentioning.

Always wash out the tubing in a frame real good before givng it to them.

Even if you have prepped it, and polished it for chrome, and they just have to pre-clean it and chrome it. I have heard from more than one person, that they get really upset when they dunk a part, and gobs of gunk come out of there into thier vats.

That is another reason to have them do it from start to finish. Then it starts out in thier sludge tank, and from that point, it is not your fault if something bad happens in their tanks.

In, other words, they may not let you , or your buddys come back again, if your frame makes them mad by contaminating their tanks. They may refuse all future bikes.

So if it may be rusty on the inside, just let them do it all, and for sure let them know where the frame stands when you give it to them.

Honestly, Instead of calling the platers, call the Harley dealers. They send stuff out all the time.....they can just add your parts to the order, you are kind of adding a middle man, but getting a volume discount as a tradeoff.

Harley guys demand good chrome too. So, chances are, they aren't dealing with any crummy shops.

That's extremely good advise Ted - especially the part about notifying the shop about any possible rust inside. Anyone following this thread will appreciate it.

For my situation, I only need the chrome stripped. I am not re-chroming.

I am just frustrated because we have MANY plating/metal finishing shops in the Detroit area, and hardly any seem interested in doing the work. And the ones that do....(I have found three shops now that WILL strip the plating off)....all quoted me a price of $100.00.

That price seemed outragous 48 hours ago, but after getting three quotes for the same amount, I guess thats the going rate in this area.

[ January 19, 2006, 12:35 PM: Message edited by: Keep_It_Warm ]

The place just off Eureka & I-275. I emailed you a Mapquest link & directions.

-Dave

Thanks Dave....going to check my email....

D'oh!

It's International Paint Stripping, not just American Stripping!

If you don't mind me asking, if you aren't getting it re-chromed, why do you want to strip it? If you are just going to paint or powder it, sandblasting is the better way to go to give you a good surface for paint/powder adhesion. I can help you with that too if you want, but most body shops (and ALL powder coaters) have some form of sandblasting equipment.

I thought the same thing Dave. But all three powdercoating places I use said they won't blast chrome plating. They all told me to get it acid stripped.

The reason I am stripping it is the chrome is shot. Too bad, because it was newly plated only a year ago. Bad cracking and peeling. I bought it cheap with the intention of stripping it.

I emailed you back with an FYI: International told me they do not strip chrome plating. But I really appreciate the effort Dave.

If it's a normal sized 20" frame, I can take in to work and blast it. It won't be absolutely chrome-free, but the plating that is left on there will be ruffed up enough for good paint adhesion, that's all you really need. If it's larger than that, or you have a bunch of stuff, there a guy named Doug Tomkins (Thompkins?) that does mobile sandblasting (he mostly does muscle car/hot rod & truck chassis blasting). He's based out of Westland, so it might be kinda expensive to get him out your way, if he even would, but if you have a lot of stuff, it may be worth it. He does do a lot of work at a trucking company near the airport, and anything that I've ever had done by him I just brought it to him there-much cheaper than a house call. It's usually about $30/frame.

KIW, have you tried a bumper plating shop. They are capable of doing bigger frames. Just a thought.

Update: I have found three shops that will strip the chrome. Originally, all three quoted me a price of $100...but I managed to get one of the shops down to $75.00

It still seems like more that I would have thought to strip a frame only, but what the hell....I'm sick of calling these shops and begging. So it should be done in about 2 weeks I guess.

Thanks for all the input guys. I really appreciate it.

Is there a good chroming shop that anyone here can recommend that I can just send a frame to and have it done? I'd like to get a really good quality plating job done on a frame and a few parts...

I know I can call my local Harley shop.. yadda yadda yadda... but is there a shop that someone here has used that is BMX friendly and does good work?

Thanks.

Ian

Let's welcome to the caberet dance floor one more time Jazmine! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

http://www.customchromeplating.com/


They are about 3 minutes from my house,and stripped two Hutch Judge frame/forks,and bars for less than $50.They have my boxed Profile cranks now getting rechromed

Note: there rechroming price is not cheap,but they are the best at what they do

Heaven, Honey, Cocoa, Suger, Diamond, Spice, Baby, which one are ya lookin' for??????? ok I'm bored.....lol What's funny is that I posted like there here in my living room with me or something.... Wait, the doorbell is ringing. OK they just walked in.