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Fitting re-plated parts


John N. Packard

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Interesting problem. Am surprised that the tolerances on the original fit would have been so tight that the few thousands of an inch build up would have made a difference. The obvious answer for preventing such a problem is to check tolerances for the original fit, predetermine the expected buildup by consulting the plater, have the plater remove the old chrome and give the parts back to you, then check the fit and grind the base metal on the part to assure the proper fit after plating.<P>Am I correct in assuming that the fit problem is in areas that will not be seen? If so, the only solution I can think of is to grind the chrome until the parts fit.<P>Other approaches may be applicable, but since you were not real specific on where the fit problem is and since I am not a '54 Packard expert, that's about the best I can offer.

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Ron,<BR> The hood ornament Cormorant consists of two pieces: the wings and the body. I had to file down the leading and trailing edges for the center section of the wings to fit into the body. The parts that I filed do not show. The back-up light assembly, the tail light assembly, and the rear fender top moulding all fit together to form one integral contour. It was necessary to file these pieces as well in order to get a smooth fit. The tail light lens and the bulb sockets no longer fit! The plating job is beautiful and it just tears me up to take a file to these surfaces even though they don't show. Your proposed approach of interfacing with the plater during the process is reasonable. I just wondered if other people have experienced the same problem.<P>John P.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 years later...
Guest Curt Fouse

Yes, it happened to me too. Some of my inside door handles are too large to fit in the trim escutcheons. I was thinking that maybe the pot metal had swollen some even before plating. I have worked on these with a Dremel rotary tool. I had very little luck filing, since the chrome seems about as hard as the file. I used a rotary stone in the Dremel tool, and it works, but it takes some time! I wish I had a diamond drum for the rotary tool. It would be interesting to see how well it would work. Good luck and happy New Year to all. Curt

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John N. Packard......This is an excellent point. When sending things to the plater a little pre-engineering should be performed. If the plater does not remove the old plating or if heavy layers are plated on after stripping, the dimensions will grow. Edges will be dulled. Planning ahead for the plating process can minimize subsequent fitting and aesthetic problems.

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Guest Randy Berger

I think we have all had some problems refitting chrome.

My outside door handles would not accept the push-button

assembly and I had to carefully enlarge the holes checking

continuously as I removed material.

YFAM, Randy Berger

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Well first contact your plater and ask him. The only solution is to file away and I think you really need to have a plater do it.

First off everyone needs to understand most platers have decorative plating on their minds. Most of us have restoration on our minds. By decorative I mean throw copper on and buff and smooth to make it look pretty. Most of the car parts need to be restored which means maintaining original dimensions. You need to make this clear and understand which parts you need to work together when done and specify and request hand work in critical areas, even though it will cost more.

Then hopefully this will get done on your parts. I had 10 pages of notes on how my parts needed to be plated and what parts had to be fit together and they never sent the instructions to guys doing the work. Of course these are all parts that are impossible to find so I spent a lot of money to have some very good and rare parts ruined.

You also have to understand on older cars, like the Model A, did not use a bright nickel plate so you may also have to shop around for a plater that can work with a dull nickel to get the correct look on some parts. This affects parts where one side or area might not get polished and was left dull before chroming.

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