blaise_f

Thanks, thanks. The story was just going to be a boring paragraph. The words just kind of fell out of my brain in the right order, and kept coming out. Soon as I know it, I have this novel story!

I have the luxury of an entire paint and restoration shop, so I can kind of cheat a bit. Airplane paint remover (the gel) is the best stuff, but will literally take all the paint / decals / etc off. I knew I wanted to start anew on this, so I went between an acid tank, carb cleaner tank, then gel paint remover, then glass bead, then acid wash, soap wash and off to the plater. Doing all that saves the plater a huge amount of work - he/she can literally just dip it at that point. Any competent plater can do the removal and prep work though.

thirdgenbird

campagnolo brake adjusters are very small. most normal ferrules will not fit (step downs will) ive run campy brakes for years without ferrules.

ColonelJLloyd 

Fantastic! Well done, blaise! Chrome!

repechage

In Southern California there are good chrome shops but the cost is silly expensive for a frame. A fork can get done.
While interviewing some chrome platers around here they are really wary of cross tank contamination. I don't blame them. Most frames have problem areas, the seat stays. Forks also have often a vent hole at one end, usually adjacent to the end, but not at the end, so tank fluid can get in and without diligent effort stays inside. A second hole is suggested to help empty the tube faster.

In addition, it is interesting the plater would work over a glass beaded prior plated part, normally they want to "deplate" the part first. Deplating chrome is interesting to me as many tubes have chrome in the alloy... too much deplating is no good.

Any insight into what the plater did in this case?

blaise_f

It was down to bare steel when it went through plating. The silica beads I use are extremely fine grain; you could polish right from it in most cases. We plugged all the holes, so there was no issue of them filling with chemicals, but yes, it can be an issue. Plating anywhere near water is crazy expensive. One of the people I know that makes parts and complete penny farthing / other antique bikes has complained about the excruciating cost for plating on the East Coast. He said something along the lines of "getting a bolt plated costs the same as plating five complete bikes around here".

repechage

You are saying then that the silica removed the original plate layer(s)? I have one fork with failed chrome, it should have been copper, nickel and chrome.
It appears to have had a flash of nickel then chrome, and not enough of either. Copper? not on that fork.

How did you plus the holes? Permanently or with some other temporary plug?

poprad

One of the best resto posts I've seen in the forum, well written, beautifully photographed, and the bike speaks for itself. Thanks for sharing and for the effort you put into documenting it!

blaise_f

Media blasting will take off plating, yes. Good plating doesn't come off easy, but it does. That's also where the acid bath comes in; muriatic / hydrochloric takes off plating (that's why you start in the acid, then blast, then acid again later on).

The plugs are little rubber guys. They range from small enough for vent holes to much larger than a BB lug. Good platers have plugs, because it's a very common thing. You plug anything not getting plated. You can tape up things like threads, but plugs work so much better, and leave a cleaner plate edge.

mapleleafs-13 

hey what did it cost you to chrome the frame? ball park...

illwafer

awesome job. cool thread.

blaise_f

I'm lucky in that aspect and get a greattttttt deal, but a typical show-quality plating on a bike like this is 200-400, give or take.

mazdaspeed

very nice

jril

Great job. I noticed you worked in the Nassau blue on the fork crown. I think it all looks beautiful.

art*deco

One of the most beautiful bikes on the forum.

jebensch

That blocky bb shell in chrome is one of the single most satisfying frame components I've ever seen. I want to peel off the wrapper and eat it. Great work.

Paramount1973 

It's beautiful.