Paint: Chrome Paint

[mike van]

Has anyone ever found a spray paint that actually looks chrome after it dries? Most i've seen come out a silver - aluminum look. I'm working on a good sized erector robot, the silver plated parts would look good with a bright chrome finish. HELP!!!!! :o

[robothut]

Well yes and no, many of the chrome paints look good when dry but if you handle them it shows up on the surface. Now there is a models master alluminum paint that is ment to be BUFFED and if you put this piant on a surface that is free from pits and so on and buff it, it will look like chrome but again handeling it over time gives it a poor look. you can not clear coat most chrome paints as that will change the look to a dull silver color. Since you have metal parts now whey not just have them plated. Nothing looks better or lasts longer than plated metal. Nickel plating looks fantastic.

[mike van]

Thanks John, do you know anyplace that would do a batch - 25 - 35 seperate parts?

[Grandpa]

Mike,

You can look in the phone book under platers or plating. But be forewarned, it won't be cheap for small parts. Plating is only as good as the finish on the raw part, the first step in plating is to buff out any scratches, pits, etc and that can take hours.

After you buff the parts the first time, it is copper plated and buffed again, then it is nickel plated for the final finish.

When we 24k gold plated roberts Buck Rogers gun we had at least 20 hours in it.

[mike van]

How would a Caswell Kit work for this? I've read some about them but never seen "hands on" :unsure:

[Grandpa]

electroless plating kits aren't worth the money...the plating will flake off.

I'll find where I bought my equipment and post the links tomorrow.

[robobob]

Grandpa,

Are you talking really long term here ?

I've got some Caswell electroless plated

parts that are 4-5 years old, and look as

good as the ones I did last year.... :blink:

Just curious,

Bob

[Grandpa]

Robobob,

If the parts are handled or they had previously been plated (copper is the base of any plating process) they tend to flake.

[robobob]

Wasn't aware of that...I'll keep my eyes

open, and my grubby little hands off !!

Thanks for the info ! :)

[Keith Palmer]

Just yesterday I took 24 legs from vintage pinball machines to a chrome plating company in Indianapolis to see about getting them refinished (nickel plated).

This outfit does a fair amount of work for the auto industry, and the work is top shelf. They wanted about $13/leg to do them. I can buy reproduction legs for the same money. Kind of a tough decision, but in pinball, replacement legs and replacement playfield glass are very acceptable to collectors.

One guy in the hobby suggested blasting and painting, but it tends to make me tired just to think about shuttling these things around for the sake of purist originality on a pin game.

Sorry to run off about pinball on a robot page, but it is funny that plating came up right when I was looking into it myself.

[mike van]

Thanks for the info Keith, 13.00 ea. probably isn't bad if you have one machine w/ four legs and you want it "just right". My biggest problem with sending parts out, is I tend to change my mind a few times building a robot [or anything] - So I would need a big supply of some of every Erector part plated. The other option would be to build the model, then take it apart and send the parts out, like they do on "American Chopper" I guess if I had a TV show and got 100 grand per model, that would work. Me, I hate doing something twice. One of the guys in the Erector club has had good luck with Caswells tank plating kit, about 95.00 for Nickel - I may go that route, I probably have 300+ pounds of erector parts, some good, some stink - I can't throw the tarnished or light rusted ones out, these haven't been made since '62. Anything after that is a different style we call type 3. Hope to get back to this thread someday with some good news - B)