Restoring chrome plated hand wheels.

As the photos show, my leadscrew handle is very patchy and cross slide wheel patchy; I wish to restore them both to ex-works finish.

Were original Myford hand wheels "hard chrome plated"? If so I was interested in having a go at home chrome plating. But having read this reference, I realise that would be irresponsible! https://www.finishing.com/faqs/chrome.shtml

Does anyone have experience of sending bits off to be replated at specialist electroplaters (I am yet to get a quote)? Or is it cheaper to just buy new handwheels?

Any advice gratefully received.

When I refinished the handwheels of my original ML7, I stripped the paint and then gave them to a specialist plater who nickelled them and finally chrome, the so called Tri Chrome process, the best. Still good 60 years later!

"Tri" chrome process is copper, nickel then chrome. Be aware that copper will adhere to rusty surfaces whereas nickel will only adhere to sound clean surfaces.

Last time I looked into chrome plating for similarly sized motorbike parts I came to the conclusion it was cheaper to buy brand new replica parts. $120 to chrome a headlight shell vs $80to buy a new one etc.

On my ML7 I used a wire wheel on the bench grinder to remove the rust then rubbed the remaining rough spots with scrunched up aluminium foil dipped in Coca-Cola. Did a passable job.

If you really must have a chrome finish on your handwheels it will end up being cheaper to buy new ones .

There is a difference between hard chrome and brite or decorative chrome - hard chrome is chromium plated directly to the parent metal and is typically used on piston rods , bearing and seal journals because of its low friction and hard wearing qualities and can be built up many thousandths deep , it is not overly corrosion protective as chromium is porus so for harsh enviroments a thin nickel base plating is used .

Decorative chrome is plated over copper and or nickel base plating and the chrome is only a few tenths of a thou thick .

The labour cost alone these days to strip , clean up and re plate will be pretty steep and its not just a matter of chucking it in a tank and turning the power on , they have to be jigged up and anodes sorted or made to get the chrome to plate in everwhere then you have to find a shop that wants to do it as used cast iron or cast steel will have oil impregnated in it and this can cause all sorts of problems in the plating process ,

If it were my machine and i wanted to improve the look i would maybe fork out to get them stripped then polish the rim and knob with 600 grit emery or wet and dry then paint the spokes and hub , many old machines had this and a little light oil on the polished parts will slow the rust down .

I can't say i like chromed handles i fitted some to my mill and find they are to slippery but at least they are better than the plastic junk that it came with !

Ian

1. Chemically strip.

2. Polish.

3. Replate.

A high quality job needs all 3 processes above to be top notch.

No 3 will be crap to look at if No. 2 has'nt done a good job, regardless of the quality of the plating.

High quality triple chrome plating is never cheap because of the 3 processes above, the chemicals, the H&S, and the experience of the workers.

A lot of people still think "give it a quick dip and it'll come out like new" is what is involved. Could not be further from the truth...

Hard chrome plating = think hydraulic rams, m/c fork stanchions. Ground to size post plating

Decorative chrome plating = shiny things, think m/c headlamp shells, car door handles, even... lathe hand wheels.

Me, if the component to be chromed is a part of an original, valuable item i'd re-chrome it. If not, and good quality replica items are available cheap, i would'nt......

I have made your album "public" so we can actually see the photo's. If you or anyone else is going top refer to photos in an album rather thanbother to post them in a thread then you need to set the album to "public"

J

Actually it should be a 4 stage process. The nickel should be put on in two different layers under appropriate conditions. The outer layer of nickel corrodes sacrificially leaving the inner layer intact to prolong the period before rust gets through. This undercuts the chrome and eventually causes the chrome to flake off but leaves a dull nickel face for a few more months.

Just an idea, but give Myfords a ring. When they refurbish exchange lathes they fit new solid handles (not spoked) so they presumably have a pile of old handles somewhere. Ask them to sell you a good one.

regards Martin

The handles on my ML7 were all in pretty much the same shape, I just stripped them down and using various grades of emery, removed all the grot and pitting, then wet & dry papers until I'd got a good shine on them, gave them a wipe with an oily rag and they've been good as gold ever since.
Might not be quite as shiny as chrome, but quicker and cheaper than plating, depends really whether you want a showpiece machine or a decent looking workhorse, but if chrome is a must, then personally I'd buy new handwheels.

John.

I have done hard chrome plating for model aircraft engine use. I suspect you might need hard chrome on your wheels, decorative chrome probably won't cut the mustard.

What I can say, is that it is a b***s aching job to set up and tune in the process. Anyone contemplating doing this for home use, must be mad. It uses lots of nasty chemicals and there is a disposal problem and it isn't good for your health, unless you take stringent precautions. Just don't even think of doing it, I did, because I am an awkward old bastard, but I regret all the effort I put into the job. It also cost me a fair amount of cash and time

Advertise for some good handles or keep an eye on Ebay. Buying good second hand, at even inflated prices will make sense. I doubt if you will find any chrome plating works that will take on one off jobs and even if you do, you will pay very high prices.

Andrew

If you do want to rechrome you could do a lot worse than this lot.

**LINK**

They will triple plate for you.

I used them for a complete set of rechroming for a Yamaha 750, so quite a lot of bits and it was around £300 - £400 quid if I remember correctly.

Ask them and find out a price. It does get cheaper the more you send up to a point though, so ask your mates if they want anything done at the same time.

As far as the company goes your stuff will go in with a batch so the only extra for doing one offs is keeping track of who owns what.

regards Martin

Edited By Martin Kyte on 14/07/2017 11:17:05

When I was an apprentice, fifty years ago, I went on a tour of the Premier Drum factory. We saw the chrome plating set up there. What a time consuming process. Everything was hand polished to a mirror finish before the plating. The actual final chrome bath I think was for twenty four hours, as thickness increases deposition slows. Then if the finish was not perfect after polishing it was stripped and redone. Not a Chinese part in sight

I had a tatty handwheel on an old tailstock where the chrome was missing in areas around the rim - not worn but 'chunks' missing. I was surprised at how thick the plating was and how difficult it was to get the remaining chrome off.

After a while trying to chip the old chrome off and also using various abrasive substances, I gave up and sold on the tailstock with the wheel in much the same state as when I got it. The edge bits were very sharp and I cut myself a couple of times but I'm still alive to tell the tale.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Another alternative could be chrome powder coating. Eastwood supply a DIY system. Does anyone have any know if it is any good?

Graham

Forgot to add the photo;

Try giving it a good polish with Solvol Autosol. You may be pleasantly surprised at the result.

Mike

My advice is to avoid powder coating like the plague! It is great until you manage to damage the coating through to the base material. If it is steel, then rusts creeps underneath the coating and spreads like wild fire. The amount of powder coatings I have had to strip and repaint properly,runs into many hours of work. It has now got to the stage where I will not buy items that are powder coated and that is an awful lot of stuff!

Andrew.

When faced with Myford handwheels that had peeling chrome plating, I just turned off the chrome plate down to the cast iron then went over it with a form tool to get a good round shape and polished in the lathe chuck with emery.

Then polished to a high gloss on a stitched cotton wheel with polishing soap and they were shinier than chrome. A wipe over with an oily rag keeps them that way