Chroming accessories

This article dealing with equipment for chrome plating, is really about the technique of silvering which is a kind of chrome effect, the appearance of which is obtained by a series of chemicals sprayed by a chrome plating system and often superior in quality to real chrome made by galvanizing. This aspect, more like a mirror than chrome, is made possible by the inherent purity of the precious metal silver (Ag) compared to the metal chromium (Cr).
By the way, did you know ? The mirrors are made with the technique of silvering : it is in truth a microscopic layer of silver deposited behind a glass plate which makes it possible to create this very clear mirror reflection. To make it simple, we will call chrome plating, the technique of silvering by spraying. To project all these different liquids onto the surface that you want to "chrome", you need a certain number of pieces of equipment which are, to put it simply, tanks, pipes, sprayers.

Of course, anyone who has ever tried to make their own chrome plating machine has realized that it is a little more complicated than it seems to make a complete machine which works well.
First, there is the choice of tanks or containers: these tanks must have sufficient capacity to store a comfortable quantity of products. In general, volumes between 8 and 16 liters are the most suitable for the adventure technique.
It is above all the material of its tanks, that is to say the material that composes them , which is important, because the chemicals that are going to be stored in these tanks, with the exception of distilled water of course, are very reactive and it does not support contact with metals for example. The ideal materials for making its vats would be ceramic, glass and plastic. A new factor must be taken into account, the products are pressurized and this pressure can reach 8 bars. It is therefore necessary to find tanks that can withstand the pressure and that do not react with chemicals. For our chrome plating systems, we use stainless steel tanks.

Spare parts for chrome plating systems

To drive and transport the various chemicals from the storage tanks to the gun or sprayer, hoses are needed. These hoses must be resistant to pressure and must not be too much because the volumes of sprayed products are relatively small. The hoses we use have a bottom diameter of 0.4 cm and an outer diameter of 0.6 cm. This represents an ideal size to maintain a good level of pressure from the tanks to the gun. Of course, there are many materials and it is necessary to choose the most resistant to acid and corrosive products among the various existing plastics. You can find plastics of different colors with blue, transparent black. Some of its plastic pipes are usually reserved for the passage of air, while others are reserved for liquid. It remains to find the compatible connections between the tanks and the pipes. Often these are fittings that make it easy and quick to connect hoses with sprayers or tanks. As we always work with compressed air to expel the products, it is important to have particularly clean air, free of humidity from the action of the compressor, or grease from the compressor motor : for this reason it is imperative to have several filters at different places in the chrome plating machine. These filters can block particles down to 1 µm and even below. The cleanliness and purity of the tanks and products is a very important point in the success of this chemical process, because the slightest contamination causes stains or appearance defects.

Chrome Plating System Hoses

The hoses will therefore lead the liquids from the different tanks (between 3 and 4 tanks depending on the machine system) to the spray gun. It's easy to understand that having several meters of intertwining chrome system hoses can quickly become a problem. For this reason, it is advisable to use flexible hoses wound in a circle like a spring, which allows you to move and work at greater or lesser distances from the machine, keeping the hoses always perfectly positioned.
When one is in full action, and that one is going to link the various stages of the silvering process, with the activation, the wetting, the various phases of rinsing and finally the spraying of A+ B, it It's really essential to have a practical machine, with flexible hoses that return to their place as soon as you put a gun on the machine and grab another gun.

Vats for chrome plating system

Stainless steel tanks are very efficient and more economical. There are certainly plastic tanks, these are very thick to withstand the pressure and their materials allow fewer reactions than stainless steel. Nevertheless, these tanks for chrome plating systems are very difficult to find and very expensive.
On the machines, it is very practical to use these stainless steel tanks which, not only are offered in different sizes of 8 or 16 liters, but are also very affordable in price. The tanks can be interchanged, going from a small volume to a large volume, if for example you need to chrome very large parts.
The stainless metal allows a very low level of reactivity with chemical products. In any case, the storage period should not be long, because one should always mix only the necessary amount of products.

Chroming gun

Here is a big topic, on which everyone has their own opinion and preferences : it is the topic of the chrome gun. There are a number of equipment with widely varying prices. Most of the guns are made in China and many of them don't work extremely well, ie they are unreliable or difficult to adjust, if not totally unusable.
A good double nozzle gun can reach prices of 200 to 400 euros each. That's not much higher than a real professional body gun.
However, what most users don't know is that twin nozzle guns are often the worst pieces of equipment to use : the reason is that they are made of metal, needles and nozzle. All of these react very strongly with chemicals. The result is rapid clogging and regular cleaning is required, either by brushing and scrubbing all metal parts with water and bleach, or by using ultrasonic baths. There is a much better way, which is also much more economical, and that is plastic sprayers.

Pro Chrome Plating System
Expert Chrome Plating System