Chrome plating guide Firstly, the chrome plate should really only be going onto nickel.

Chrome sits best on nickel, so if your surface is not nickel by the time you are ready to chrome plate it, then you need to nickel plate it first, then nickel activate. Lower down I will show the sequence of events that leads to high shine showchrome plating (like on bikes and custom cars etc but chrome, like all plates, will only mimic the shine it sits on (as will nickel etc so it is all about generating that shine if you are looking for super shiny chrome. Chrome will plate !ust as easily on a less shiny surface, it is not "#LI$%& on shinyness to work at all. 'e recommend the best way to start of practicing either brush (" tank plating with chrome, is to buy chrome pipe from ) and *, cut into small sections with a pipe cutter (about an inch and a half each or so and take one section, and chrome strip it. %ow , as we know that under $LL chrome is always nickel, we now know that we have a nickel pipe to plate onto+ $ctivate the pipe with nickel activator (but aim to go over each bit &'IC# rather than once, as if you are giving ,twice as much activation- provided you move the probe as fast as you ./(0L1 move it when brush plating, this will not result in over activation or burning.. To brush plate this activated nickel, 2 3set machine to 4.4 volts 5 1unk your probe6 swabbing into the chrome 7 'ipe over the item really fast, and go over and over the item again and again so that it receives a heavy plate, because the last !ob you do is to give the whole piece an abrasive polish to bring out the full shine and erase any black marks or burn marks (sometimes a fact of chrome plating is that parts here and there will burn, but underneath is shiny chrome 8 9ou may notice that brushing the part leaves black marks (% the part, but when you brush (:#" these marks they disappear, but a new one is left wherever the probe ends up. Ignore this; !ust focus on getting the whole thing evenly plated with a thick plate, redunk often (don<t let it get dry; catch all runoff remember, it<s re;usable and don<t miss any parts or skimp on any areas leaving only a thin plate. 4 (nce done, rinse off and get bone dry. = >et some compound polish on some soft tissue (if your compound polish is more ,solid- than ,runny- then mi? with some gold polish until it is runny >o over the whole item, rubbing it into any cloudy or dull areas, and use dry tissue to remove nice and quickly. It should all come up nice and shiny. Things to know about TANK plating chrome If you lift out or lower in the item with the power on, it will create black marks. .o whenever lifting out or lowering in, remove the anode from the solution to remove the charge. 1o this rather than turning off the power, as the part needs to have continual current flow right through until you are happy you have done enough plating (so if you lift out to check for eg, you still need continual current flowing through the item

If you check your progress when tank plating chrome, and remove item and rinse to see how it is coming, it must be completely paper towelled off before going back in. $%9 traces (even minute ones of chrome solution on the item when it starts to continue plating, will burn and ruin the piece If you are connected by biting the croc clip on (rather than say by having copper wire gripping the inside or and inconspicuous area that does not need to be moved and you need to move the clip around to plate the area where it once bit, then do this 'I&/(0& L(.I%> C(%&$C& 'I&/ &/# @C"(C CLIA++ &here must be negative charge running through the item the whole time you are doing this, even if you have stopped plating to check for eg, or it can result in plating burns. 9ou tank plate chrome at 5 to 7 amps per square inch of item for about 8B seconds or so for a regular plate. $fter $LL chroming !obs (brush (" tank give an abrasive polish where it may look a bit dull6 burned (this is omething of an inevitability when chroming; but !ust underneath these marks is shiny chrome+ 0se either compound polish or a buffing machine If you are looking for that showchrome look, then this is how they achieve that in workshops (and its a long job!!!) and is done by tank plating. 2 Aolish part to a high shine 5 clean and degrease part 7 If it is a steel of any kind, activate, rinse 8 copper strike, rinse 4 $cid copper plate for about 8B mins+, rinse = &hey now have a copper plated item that is totally matte and very heavily plated in a soft acid copper which can be buffed back to any shine they want (as it is so malluable 0sing a buffing machine, polish to a mirror finish. C Clean and degrease part D Copper strike again, rinse E %ickel plate for about 8B minutes, rinse 2B use buffing machine to bring out more shine 22 clean6 degrease 25 nickel activate, rinse 27 Chrome plate for about 5 or 7 minutes, rinse 28 )uff Chrome must $L'$9. go onto nickel, so if the part is not already nickel, nickel plating must be the penultimate part of the !ob (plating wise $s said before, if you are %(& necessarily looking for that showchrome mirror look, but F0.& want to chrome plate, then you may skip out the acid copper stage and the nickel plating need not last for 8B mins. &hese stages are purely to do with 1#:#L(AI%> a shine that the part does not already have. $ non shiny nickel will lead to a non shiny chrome+ Chrome like all plates (%L9 mimics the shine6 finish it sits on.