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Old 11-09-2012 | 07:42 PM
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Default What does it cost to chrome parts

Thinking of having my windshield frame chromed but having trouble finding anyone online that can give ball park pricing. Any idea what chrome cost vs like paint or powdercoat?

Any recommendations of good places to have stuff chromed?

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Jim
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Old 11-09-2012 | 08:00 PM
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$$$$$$$$ the chemicals and permits are very expensive. 10 years ago I had Pontiac trunk emblem chromed. About 2"x 38" cost $100. Powdercoat would've been $25-30
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Old 11-09-2012 | 10:54 PM
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The expensive part is preparing/buffing out the part to a mirror finish before plating it. Decrative chrome is extremely thin (.0005) therefore it doesn't fill or cover up scratches or dings. Shops usually figure 80% for buffing and 20% for plating. I assume it's aluminum your talking about. You would be better off just having it buffed out to a mirror finish. If it's chromed and gets damage to it you would have to have the entire piece stripped and rechromed. Aluminum you could just repair the damaged spot. Chrome don't work well in a marine environment either, especially salt.

You would be best to find a local plating shop which has tanks large enough to fit a windshield frame. Here's a place where I have Harley parts chromed. Check out the prices. It aint cheap that's for sure.
http://stlplating.com/
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Old 11-09-2012 | 11:26 PM
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I had this snowmobile sleigh frame and ski's sand blasted and chrome powdered coated locally several years and it was $100, and it has held up excellent. Looks close to real chrome but more like highly polished aluminum.
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Old 11-09-2012 | 11:34 PM
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Send it to strip poker 388 and a case of bud light, he will make it shine....maybe send a box of ammo as well.
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Old 11-12-2012 | 12:28 PM
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You might try having polished stainless covers made. It worked excellent on my 42 Harley.
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Old 11-12-2012 | 09:13 PM
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the rearend ,springs, sub frame connectors, ubolts,nut and plates was 900. in 1987.The rear end looked chrome before I sent it off.

Yea got to becarefull, some shops do what they call a industrial chrome, I believe the leave the copper off, its been along time since Ive done any,I would assume that it would be worse now, especially with gov reg

I was sending my stuff to a bumper place in La,being bumpers are not chrome anymore, prob not many of them around,I remember a shop in Tenn I think southwest,La had a bumper place that did allot of Harley stuff,Florence Al shop was always high but claimed better chrome,


Is the frame aluminium?
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Old 11-12-2012 | 10:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Strip Poker 388
Yea got to becarefull, some shops do what they call a industrial chrome, I believe the leave the copper off, its been along time since Ive done any,I would assume that it would be worse now, especially with gov reg
I worked at a place that engraved copper printing cylinders and when finished we plated them with the industrial hard chrome. The decoritive/show chrome they call triple plating. It's copper-nickle-chrome plating. Industrial chrome don't use the nickle. Prices have sky rocketed on plating due to gov and epa regulations. By the mid '90's we had to have a 30,000 gallon tank installed to catch everything that went down the drain, ie rinsing off cylinders after they came out of the plating tanks. Then we had to get high dollar permits and trucks to come empty it and haul if off for disposal. Also had to exhaust the fumes off the plating tanks and run them through scrubbers that turned them back to liquid and then ran back into the tanks. All kinds of hazardous chemicals, acids and solvents are used in the plating processes including cyanide.
I worked there 28 years and 2 years after it shut down I came down with Leukemia (AML) and had to have a Bone Marrow Transplant for survival.

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Old 11-12-2012 | 10:49 PM
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Try uschromecorp they are out of fond du lac wi.
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Old 11-13-2012 | 10:21 AM
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I happened to run across these guys here local to me...they were using one of our pumps for their nickle bath and was having problems with it so i went out to them and checked out their facility. Needless to say after i fixed their pump they gave me a tour of the facility and how its all done and i had them re-do my Chris Craft emblems off my boat. To do chrome like this is an artform i say!! its flawless!! The owner even showed me pictures of the car they did for Jay Leno that was in the pebble beach show!

http://www.thefinishingtouchinc.com/
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