The Fine Things are Always Hand Made
Chrome Plating
What are your experiences with plating shops?
Specifically, I have a cover for a McMurdo Silver Masterpiece V that I would like re-chromed. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I had one shop quote $1500.00. Another said he wouldn't do it saying it would warp. I don't want to ship it to an out of area shop without a recommendation from someone who has similar work done. What would be a reasonable cost?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Norman S Braithwaite on
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What does the $1500 quote include besides the basic tuner and power amplifier chassis? Transformer covers? Coil shields? Tube shields? If the quote is just for the basic chassis, it is on the high side. Warping of the chassis occurs during "grinding" on a belt sander prior to polishing and can be avoided by taking breaks during the process to allow the chassis to cool. Another problem is drawing of the holes. This is caused by sanding in one direction only and can be avoided by rotating the chassis on the belt sander. Another method employed for the grinding process is to use a pneumatic rotary sander. Heating of the chassis is less of a concern with this tool but it is near impossible to get a perfectly flat surface. A less than perfectly flat surface on the top of the tuner chassis will not be very noticeable because of the density of shields mounted on the top of the chassis. Warped and rotary ground surfaces, if present, will show on the flat aprons of the chassis. One final note... Require that the plating service either not plate under the chassis or that the plating under the chassis stick. Unless otherwise directed the plating service will concentrate on the top and outside surfaces and will not pay attention to what occurs under the chassis. Pealing chrome and electrically charged circuits do not mix.
Norman
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Permalink Reply by Jim Bradt on
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Thanks for the reply Norman.
What I'm interested in getting plated is the cover for a McMurdo Silver Masterpiece V. Just the cover. And yes, he was sober.
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Cover only? Seems like a high price. That being said, I took a rather rusty Masterpiece V cover to a very good local plating service for an acquaintance and had it replated for a much lower cost. The plating turned was good but the plating service instructed me to never bring in another Masterpiece V cover! I suspect that the degree of rust coupled with the minimal thickness of metal contributed to this ultimatum. If made of new cold rolled steel, I'm pretty sure that the service would plate the cover for somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 (grinding to remove rust, and/or filling of rust pits not required). Grinding and polishing of the louvers on the sides of the original Masterpiece V chassis has to be done by hand.
Norman
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