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Re: Chrome plating plastic question

To: "mgs@autox.team.net" <mgs@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Chrome plating plastic question
From: Rocky Frisco <rock@rocky-frisco.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 23:28:10 -0500
Trevor Boicey wrote:
> 
> mga wrote:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > As I get down to the details on my '73 B GT, one of them is the central air
> > inlet on the dash.  Originally, there was chrome finish as a highlight
> > around the vents.  Now its half worn off.
> >
> > There is a firm in Texas that advertises in Hemmings to do plastic plating.
> > Does anyone have any experience with this or any suggestions?
> 
>   I have no experience, but Caswell Plating sells kits
> to do this:
> 
> http://www.caswellplating.com/
> 
>   Essentially, you coat the plastic with a conductive
> powder, and then plate that.

I used to "chrome" plastic model parts in the bell-jar of the vacuum system
in the lab I worked in back in 1964. I just would pump the system way down
with the part loaded on a spindle in the middle of the jar and the source
for the metal out near the side of the jar. I would turn the part by using a
magnet outside the jar to attract  another magnet on a bar hooked to the
spindle inside the jar. Then I would apply current to the filament with the
silver or gold or aluminum mounted on it. The metal would evaporate, coating
the part. I used a clear spray to protect the surface.

The system was very primitive but it did great work.

-Rock
-- 
Rocky, JJ Cale Band & Pratchett Books: http://www.rocky-frisco.com
Rocky's Mini Cooper Page: http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/6437/
Mini Books:  http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/6437/rockboox.html

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