Yet Another Chrome Plating Question

[meerkat333]

Being NEw to the site i am not sure if this has been asked i have searched thro many of the pages etc but not seen anything that answers my queries, and maybe this could be a good idea?

I have seen that most Chromers charge mostly for the time consuming poliching PRE plating process, whihc maybe is why it is quitre expenisve to chrome items?
I have also seem that Stripping old chrome also has to be done by a chrome plater (reverse palting process) but they are willing to do this for a small fee (£10 stated on some other posts about stripping chrome etc)

Has any one asked a chrome plater if they would strip the frame (assuming its bad chrome to start with) then return the frame for the owner to do his own polishing PRE plating, obviously u would need to ask the plater to what standard and also the would be the possibilty that your own polishing isnt up to required standard, but surely if u make a good effort at this, it will save the chromeplater some time and labour even if its not up to exact standard ?

maybe this would LOWER the price and the TIME or turnaround as i assuming that the majority of the time is the PRE plating polishing time spent, which is why the turnarounf time is sometimes longer than desired.

I ask this question as i have access to required equipment  but have lots of items i would need plating so this would maybe cut down the costs to me if i did all the polishing etc.

if anyone has asked if this is possible i would be interested to knwowhat the answer was etc

thanks

[BMX1973]

Most chromers would probably be happy to strip chrome if you were looking to then get painted. But they would probably want to polish parts themselves, or would not guarantee finish. I've not asked this question myself as I have always got parts polished and rechromed by the chromers. 

[snoopy72]

I don't think they would let you do half the job as when they remove the old chrome it will be rusty before it got back to your house especially this time of year, they also have the right grade of polishers needed for the chrome to grip, the chrome mirrors the underneath finish but if you make it too smooth the nickel won't grip and will fall off taking the nice shiny chrome with it.
Sometimes some things are best left to the experts.

[dancetothedrummersbeat]

You could get it stripped, polish it/prep it yourself/get somebody else to do it and take it back to be re-chromed, BUT I would imagine that any decent chromer would always do a bit of extra prep/polishing on it themselves prior to re-plating in order to makke sure they can make it as good as it can be. Although the prep is time consuming, I wouldn't have thought there would be much of a difference in cost between prep & re-chrome and a re-chrome only.

[Glynnyboy]

The answers to your questions actually depend on the chromer your using. That's partly why everyone's interested in finding who used which chromer & how they rated them.
Some chromers don't even polish parts them selves ( or only do so for large contracts). Some, work on a middle man basis. Ie they will take in plate work only from  polishers (these polishers you will see actually advertising a chrome plating service even though they don't actually plate).
So much can go wrong & get lost in translation.
Finding one that understands the hobby is priceless.
So ask the chromer you plan on using how  he operates. Some will let you do exactly what your proposing as long as they believe you understand the polishing standard required for plating.