Custom Metal Finishing in Hagerstown, IN

[Allen Blackmon]

I sent 22 die cast parts to Custom Metal Finishing to be stripped and chrome plated. I have an email stating that some pits in a few parts will be visible after the plating process is finished. I did find out that his process is to build up the copper until most of the pits are filled. He does not fill large pits and sand smooth. Should I pull the parts and send them elsewhere to be plated?

[Eldovert]

Some platers are using a low melt solder to repair pits. They follow up with the copper strike. If the parts have to be perfect you might consider sending the parts to another plater.                           Cheers,Pat MacPhail

[INTMD8]

They did all of the parts on my Brougham and I am pleased with the results.

Typically they would solder any pits after copper plating. Are your parts severely corroded or is it in an intricate/detailed area?  (Like a finned area rather than smooth)

[Allen Blackmon]

The parts for the most part would look good polished, they have microscopic pinhole pitting in the chrome. Only the exterior door handles and turn signal bezels have a few deep pits. He is warning me their may be visible pits on the hood ornament's wreath and textured finish on the interior switch panels. He states that he cannot eliminate pitting highly detailed areas, he goes further to state that remaining pits will be hardly noticeable.
The door handles and turn signal bezels have larger pits and he does not seem to be concerned about as much as I.
Allen

[INTMD8]

All I can say is they did a few corroded pot metal parts from my car and they turned out excellent. The tail light housings/bezels were really pitted and they are perfectly smooth now.

As for pitting within a textured finish, anything polished out would just become smooth and then it would have to be re-textured somehow. Not sure how that would be done if at all possible on a curved surface.

Do you have any pictures of the parts? Just curious what the possible trouble areas look like.

[Allen Blackmon]

These are parts he has mentioned as being a problem to finish perfectly.

[INTMD8]

Hmm, I can see how it could be a problem with the light pitting in the brushed area. (further complicated by the polished area around it).

I'm not sure how that piece could be done perfectly. Any NOS ones out there?

[Eldovert]

Allen,                                                                                            Those parts are new enough that you should be able to find them either NOS or very good used. I would imagine that you could get replacements for less than the plating cost. Good originals would still retain the texture.                                                                        Cheers,Pat MacPhail

[Eldovert]

For anyone having to repair potmetal, this product looks promising.                                                                                             http://muggyweld.com/repair-pot-metal-pits                                       

[Glen]

One of the tasks I was taught to do when working on submarines was brush plating.  I would repair pits in hull fittings with cooper plating sanded smooth then cap with nickel.  It had to be good enough that an O ring would seal on it.  It is not hard to do but you need the right supplies. 

I think it would work well on the chrome trim. Don’t need to put the nickel plate on it just the copper filling of the pits, then send it to the chrome plater. 

[Allen Blackmon]

I misinterpreted what Custom Metal Finishing stated to me. After plating all the parts will be beautiful, no pitting will be visible. They provide only the best quality plating.
Allen

[Allen Blackmon]

I should add that Jim told me that I will be very pleased with the plated parts.
Allen