Carroll Electroplating said it costs me $140 + GST to chrome-plate the fork, stem and seat post.
Any better deal recommended :?
Thanks!
if the stem and seatpost are aluminium just polish them
seat post is aluminium
where can they be done? and the cost??
Thank you
most places that do chrome or electroplating probably have access to a polishing facility onsite.
just watch out for the tolerances so that you dont polish too much off the outside diameter
Great I’ll go ask!
Tube of autosol, a rag and a couple of hours.
Prahan Platers if you are in Melbourne. They did my Pogliaghi fork for $80 and do a great job if you are wanting a job done properly.
Agree with the comments on the stem and seatpost - just de-anodise them and get them polished - Andy at Fyxomatosis will do it for you.
SW
Recently bought a buffing wheel which fits on my drill. Comes with a waxy block of cutting compound. just the thing for giving the alloy parts a mirror finish and it’s such a satisfying task.
I have also had some fun deanodising bits with Draino (sodium hydroxide) - be careful with this stuff.
crap. i forgot to tell u guys i’m in Melbourne.
I’m thinking about doing the $80 chrome plating or changing it to a chromed fork for threaded stem. I want to get a threaded stem on my bike.
Mine is Charge plug racer, the seat post is easy for me to rag
But the stem would be hard.
Any ideas of those chrome forks in Abbotsford shop?
How much can I get from selling the charge fork and stem?
They are just 3 weeks old.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/images/charge-plugracer09-zoom.jpg
Threadless is superior, don’t bother with threaded. Easier to change bars/stem, simpler to adjust & maintain, stiffer…
Plus, that’s a 1 1/8" steerer isn’t it? There aren’t many 1 1/8" threaded headsets or quill stems out there.
Abbotsford’s chrome forks are probably 1", why don’t you call and ask them?
Stem $10, fork $30-50. Less if it has a short steerer.
All chrome bikes rarely look good btw. But if you have your heart set on it, get the current fork plated, and buy a silver anodised stem (eg Velo Orange, Nitto) and strip/polish it with your seatpost.
You can’t chrome plate Aluminium even if you wanted top. Strip and polish, like most people have said here, drano or oven cleaner will do to remove anodising.
Says who?
You just need to apply a zincate coating before you start the plating process. (Cu-Ni-Cr or EN-Ni-Cr)
You can even electroplate plastic if you want to (not the same as the common vacuum metalising with Al, like on toys, flashlight reflectors etc)
Also, hexavalent chrome is a very dirty, unhealthy process, so if you must get your items plated, try to find a supplier who will do trivalent chrome.
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I have some black risers. Ideally I’d like them to be chrome (or at least not black). They’re just cheap no-name bars. How can I tell if they’re anodized?
I also have Draino. Would like to strip the bars. Explain this process to me.
Thanks.
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I also have Draino. Would like to strip the bars. Explain this process to me.
My method (worked, but may not be the best):
donned rubber gloves and safety glasses.
I mixed a few draino crystals in a old tea cup with a minimal amount or water and got a kind of lumpy paste. Took a black anodised riser, placed it in a plastic tub and smeared that paste all over the bar with an old toothbrush. I reapplied every 5 to 10 mins over about half and hour then rinsed thourougly with water. thought it was worth running a bit through the bar as I imagine if a crystal of NaOH was left in there it could burn its way right into the wall and weaken the bars.
The result is a clean but matt finish which responded well to polishing.
well strictly speaking yes. Perhaps I should have said you shouldn’t chrome aluminium if you wanted to. The extra conductive layers and chrome not as hardy due to the softer Aluminium beneath, they are more susceptible to cracking and flaking than with a steel substrate. So not real good for a pushie 
Paint will scrape off more easily than anodising, you can sort of tell close up as paint chips but anodising sort of hangs on better making a cleaner scrape. It is a layer of Aluminium oxide with dye. If you get chemicals nasty enough, they will take off either.
I took the anodising off a set of rims with some badass oven cleaner. It was very messy.
Put down some plastic sheeting, sprayed rims with foaming oven cleaner and left for half an hour (I did this for each side separately). Scrub with steel wool (use rubber gloves) and anodised layer begins to come away. I had to repeat the process, depending on what cleaner you use it may take longer or shorter. Then wash and polish
pics of rims here, not really mirror finish.
http://velospace.org/node/21107
Cool. Thanks. Sounds easy enough to do. Am I right in assuming if they’re black risers that haven’t been painted (I bought them new and they were black), that they’ve been anodized… is there anyway to check this?
The surface finish is smoother and matte for anodising, can sometimes “feel” colder and leave a little mist mark for a second after you take your finger away. Look inside with a light, if they are black all the way down inside they are probably anodised as the whole part is dipped into a dye bath to colour it. Or scrape inside with a screwdriver or something and see what comes out, paint will be “flakier”
Or dab some paint stripper on it. If that doesn’t work, it’s anodised
I’ll follow what you guys said.
I will get the fork chrome-plated and do the seat post myself.
See whether I finish it and post the new look here.
Any good chrome platers in Brisbane?