copper 8 3/4

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joe440

joe440

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a guy at a local car show saw my chrome rear end and wanted it done for his, so for the right price im doing it for him. over the winter ive been working at it. he came over to check it out and i was just buffing it after i put the copper on it and he wants to leave it copper. i tried telling him to just chrome it, it will look better with his set up and less maintenence but he wants it coppered and clear coated. its starting to grow on me. i think my next project is gonna be all copper instead of chrome the trim, rear end, bumpers and wheels. with the right color it will look good. heres some crappy pics with my walmart digital. it still needs a little more work but its almost all done

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That looks great! Forgive my ignorance, but is the copper a process before the chrome plating? Also, will the clear coating keep the copper from turning patina?
 
If someone was building a rod, and the color of the car was green ,copper turns green over time it might look kind of cool if it matched the paint.
How long does it take to clean that up and plate it.
 
ya copper is before the chrome, i told him his best bet is clear powder coat but it still might tarnish under. he doesnt wanna leave it bare copper so he's gonna try that and see how it goes. worse case we strip the powder coat and he has a little more maintenence to tend too.
T67POWER- the guy was in no rush for it so ive been working on it probably 3/4 days a week for around 3 hours a night for about a month and thats where im at. if i had all day with out work i could finish one a week. im building a 36 ford pick up rat rod style and im leaving some bare copper for it to tarnish, also got some really cool colors i can do in zinc that i wanna do the wheels with
 
How long have you been plating and do you plate parts for people or just for yourself.
Stuff looks great.
 
its electric plating. its starts in an electric cleaner (time in tank depends how dirty the part is) then into an acid tank to really clean everything off the part. you can double or tripple clean the part going back and forth in these tanks till your happy with how it looks. then into a copper tank. the electric charge comes from the tank and part, one having a + charge and the other having the - so when it makes contact the copper gets shocked onto the part. that was about an hour in the copper tank. ill take some pics tomorrow at work. its pretty interesting stuff but a good canidate for dirty jobs with mike rowe haha

my grandfather started the business in 1965 and were still running, my father is now president and our entire family works there which can get a little tense sometimes haha. we do a lot of commercial plating like screwdrivers, saw blades, deck screws/nails for home depot or lowes, craftsman nut drivers, john deere parts, nurf bars for sprint cars. its mostly small stuff at high volume but we probably have 5 people a week come in looking for something custom to get done and we'll possibly do it depending on the condition of the part
 
joe440 said:
its electric plating. its starts in an electric cleaner (time in tank depends how dirty the part is) then into an acid tank to really clean everything off the part. you can double or tripple clean the part going back and forth in these tanks till your happy with how it looks. then into a copper tank. the electric charge comes from the tank and part, one having a + charge and the other having the - so when it makes contact the coppers gets shocked onto the part. that was about an hour in the copper tank. ill take some pics tomorrow at work. its pretty interesting stuff but a good canidate for dirty jobs with mike rowe haha

my grandfather started the business in 1965 and were still running good, my father is now president and our entire family works there which can get a little tense sometimes haha. we do a lot of commercial plating like screwdrivers, saw blades, deck screws/nails for home depot or lowes, craftsman nut drivers, john deere parts, nurf bars for sprint cars. its mostly small stuff at high volume but we probably have 5 people a week come in looking for something custom to get done and we'll possibly do it depending on the condition of the part
Click to expand...

Thanks, I would love to see pictures.
 
joe440 said:
my grandfather started the business in 1965 and were still running, my father is now president and our entire family works there which can get a little tense sometimes haha.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a candidate for a reality show to me!

I like the copper look too. Could really set off some colors.

Grant
 
heres the pics
this first one is the main chrome line, if its metal we can plate it here. the closest tank to farthest order is cleaner,rinse,acid,rinse,nickel,rinse,chrome,rinse and the last tank by the guy is zinc
ratrod013.jpg

here are some parts we do on the chrome line
tire pressure gauge, this was a rework peice not replated yet
ratrod021.jpg

screw drivers big and small, every one is hand racked
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ratrod012.jpg

these are the blocks on newer doors that lock magnetically
ratrod015.jpg

a tub of flat scred drivers
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ratrod018.jpg

these are gun carriers for ar15's and m16s, we plate the inside then black phosphate the out side after
ratrod019.jpg

ratrod020.jpg

nickel tank, runs around 110-130 degrees (gets hot in the summer) all the bags are filled with nickel
ratrod025.jpg

this is the chrome, nothing special. the copper v is where you sit the bar to make contact, only takes about 10 seconds in there
ratrod026.jpg

these are the zinc barrel lines, there are 6 lines in the shop. this is for peices that dont matter if they get scratched while tumbling in the barrel, just getting the coat for protection
ratrod024.jpg

all the barrels are air powered, we have two air compressors that are actually big block fords running natural gas
ratrod014.jpg

the wood crates are for john deer
zinc and blue
ratrod022.jpg

zinc and yellow
ratrod023.jpg

some small springs, we run peices small as a half a tic tac
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some type of special nail that i believe goes through the wood then welds to metal behind it, one line runs these all day
zinc yellow
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zinc blue
ratrod008.jpg

some bigger peices that get zinc'd
ratrod011.jpg

deck screws get zinc and cleared, probably do 20,000lbs a week of them in a line
ratrod030.jpg

thats pretty much the shop in a nutshell, theres a lot of other different stuff we do but we didnt have any of them in the shop today, everyday theres different stuff running from space shuttle control boards to door lock springs for nissan
 
Is there any chance that you could strip the chrome/nickel off a set of aluminum bicycle rims for me? The local place is asking a small fortune. Shoot me a PM if interested, thanks.
 
well thats very cool!! must be a pretty chill job! im in the wrong business! I appreciate all the pictures you have taken for us, and the explanations..
 
How Bout Me Shipping My Bumpers To You?lol
 
I think that's awesome!! I appreciate the behind the scenes look.

We have a resident powder coater here on FABO, we sure could use someone we could trust to do our chroming!!!
 
no problem with that! bumpers are too big for are set up though. we use to have the room and time for bigger stuff to get buffed and polished but now its all volume. valve covers, any little brackets or breathers, nuts&bolts we can do. as long as its bare metal and sanded down really good we can plate it. chrome works like body work on a car, the nicer and smoother you sand it down the better it comes out.
 
Great stuff, Joe. I just wish you were closer to the 'left coast'!
I've worked for a couple of companies that had stripping/plating lines as part of the production process and can verify the amount of labor that goes in a quality plate job.
 
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