Any way to remove chrome from nickel?

[scott12180]

Hi all,

Is there any do-it-yourself way to remove chrome from plated parts that are supposed to be nickel plated?

My car has all of its brightwork chromed but being a 1924 is supposed to be nickel. I understand that there is nickel under the chrome as part of the chrome plating process. Can I remove only the chrome and retain the nickel? If I took it to a plater it will undoubtedly cost big bucks.

--Scott

[Guest DodgeKCL]

I dont' know if you could do it at home but the platers do it to strip the part for replating. It involves applying a reverse current to the part and removing the chrome,nickel and copper to the 'anodes' they come from. The bath is acid,I believe dilute sulphuric acid, and the voltage applied is quite low around 5-10 volts D.C. But the current is very high around 100 amps. It's the current that does the work in the plating business. Normally the plater doesn't care how far the stripping goes as he wants the part stripped to bare metal or as close as he can get before having to buff it manually. Doesn't sound like it's a DYI job?

[StevieG]

You could try looking at this site http://www.caswellplating.com/

They have a user forum.

[Guest backyardmachinc]

Hello,

The silver cast on the parts is nickel Chrome is just a hard clear finish. This keeps the nickel from dulling.It would be imposable to remove just the chrome layer So if you don't want to spent the $$$ to make it right just enjoy what you have .

BYM.

[Guest imouttahere]

When the part was cast from brass, I think they just nickel plated right over the brass.

Where the part was cast iron or steel, I believe they plated it with copper, and then plated the nickel.

I think that you can plate nickel over copper.

So all you have to do is remove the chrome plate, and then plate it with nickel, I think. I agree with "DodgeKCL", above, that you could do this by reversing the usual current; however, I don't know whether it is possible to do it at home. And whether or not you can nickel plate at home is an entire other issue.

I am asking myself these same questions concerning the existing chrome plate on my '22 DB touring. I have already had some of the nickel plating done, and now it's "polishing time"!

Old-timers have told me that, when cars had brass trim, you had to polish it almost every day to prevent tarnishing. And when they switched to nickel, you only had to polish it about once a week. I am finding this to be true. If you don't keep polishing, it tarnishes pretty badly.

[Guest pat gill]

Hi, I took a re chromed part back to the platers that was supposed to be nickel, he stripped the chrome in seconds and it left perfect nickel, talk to a friendly plater to see what is involved, I think you need a particular acid that may be hard to get at home,