Okay, I just got a quote for re-chroming inner and outer door handles, early window crank bases, and the side mirror mount and post of $800. All of a sudden I'm seeing the minor blemishes on the parts as "charming patina."
Plan B is to just polish them up as best I can. They are all in pretty good shape. Mostly I'd like to get rid of some fine scratches on the outer door handles if possible (Looks like maybe they were cleaned with a scrubber sponge at some point). Anyone have suggestions on buffing wheels, compounds, techniques, etc.? I already went over most of the parts with Mother's which, of course, shined up the chrome but door handles will need a little more aggressive polishing I think.
@http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showuser=20845
See I knew you'd come around on that patina thing.
Buffing wheel is the way to go.
Mine is just a simple HF bench grinder on a stand. The stand is the key since it gives you maneuverability. I also ended up turning up an arbror extension on one side to get more reach on big parts. Of course, a real buffer would be nice to have but you would be amazed at what I've polished on that cheap HF unit. Probably not such a big issue with these small parts.
The real issue is the need to keep buffing wheels seperated by what compound you've used.
You also want a variety of wheels. In your case you can skip the coarse sisal wheels that you might use for stainless steel.
I'd start with a loose cotton wheel and try White Rouge. That should be just enough to shine them without any scratching or serious material removal. You can always go back to something more agressive like Tripoli compound but honestly that is probably too much for chrome. Then you'll end up having to go back to White Rouge to get a decent polish and shine. Jewlers Rouge is even finer but will barely touch hard surfaces like chrome. And it will just make a mess by sticking in surface imperfections if the surface isn't already perfectly smooth. It's intended for soft metals; gold, silver, aluminum, etc.
Also you could use a sewn cotton buff with the white rouge that will give you an in between combination where White Roughe on a loose buff isn't agressive enough but where you don't want to try Tripoli.
My experience is that you typically need to buy 2 or sometimes 3 wheels to fill the grinder arbor and to have enough useful surface area. Because of the permutations of buff (sisal, sewn, loose) and compounds (Emery, Tripoli, White Rouge, Jewlers Rouge, Plastic Polish) you can see how quickly you build up a stack of buffing wheels.
Also buy a buffer rake. Fresh compound makes a difference in the end result.
You are pretty creative - could maybe rig up a way to do on the cheap with a drill in the vise and smaller wheels but to be honest, you really want the bigger wheels (6-8") to get enough surface speed on the wheel to do the work. Small 3" wheels held in a drill are for OK detail work but a PITA.
I am just basing this on my experience, but for that small amount you are double + the price it should cost. I would say to make sure the parts were clean when you take them in for the quote.
Mothers on a cotton Dremel buffing wheel worked pretty well for me in the small areas. The Mothers on a 2-3 foam pad in drill worked on larger areas.
It seems to work pretty well on hard plastics as well. I picked up a head light polishing kit to see if that does any better on the plastics.
I'm not having much luck with the anodized aluminum I can't get rid of the clouding.
Thanks all. Phil, I probably have that same cheap HF grinder. I use it to wire wheel all my parts before zinc plating. I also have one cotton buffing wheel but don't know what is on it. Some green compound. I also have a stick of white rouge but it's at least 20 years old so probably should go fresh. looks like I need to pick up some supplies. I'll start with the wheels on the grinder and have the Dremel with cotton wheel and Mothers ready for any detail needed.
It is some comfort that the quote seemed high. This is our "local" (only 150 miles) guy and he does great work but I think cashes in on being the only game in hundreds of miles.
At this point, I think I'll see where polishing gets me and go from there. Except for the outer door handles, the rest of these parts could be bolted on after a light cleaning and be fine. They look more rough in that pic than they are because they've been sitting in an open box for months gathering dust that I didn't bother to wipe off before snapping the pic. If they were in worse shape, re-chrome would be worth $400 but right now I probably have better places to spend my limited funds on this build.
I doubt rouge goes bad with age.
I have both a hf grinder and buffer. The buffer has a different shaft than the grinder. They were each less than $40 and I’ve used them for years. They are fine for home hobbies.
The chrome pipes on my 1974 motorcycles were rusty and dull. I used aluminum foil with some water to polish. Turned out great but I was going for shiny from 3 feet, not show chrome.
Below is before and after.
Attached thumbnail(s)
I'd buff up what you can and get it on the car keeping the stuff you can't tolerate for sending off "later" - like during the winters in the future....you might like the patina. Some of it's endearing.
Looks like you have an early mirror on a midyear car.
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