How to restore the chrome on motorcycle parts

hi there today we're going to be restoring the Chrome on some parts from a Honda CX 500 this is from 1981 and the strange thing about this job is these parts are actually brand new in the respect that this bike was never started up it was never ridden but it is a little bit the worst for wear because it's been sat in a shed for 41 years it's amazing how rough an item can be and how badly corroded when it's never been used but just badly stored this is what it's going to look like when it's finished so to see how we're going to do that we're going to get on with the job first thing first we've got to book it all in and list it all out then we photograph the job that gets printed out and it gets put with the job and follows it all around the workshop is we've got to remove all of the old plating and rust and all that sort of stuff so we're going to actually plate the old plating off it's reversing the process that we use for plating it so here we're wiring it up on copper wires so that we can pass a current through it now we're going to put it into a tank this is mainly sulfuric acid with some other components to it and we're going to reverse the polarity and plate It Off [Music] this will get swilled but you may notice here that the rust hasn't been removed to remove the rust we're going to put it in a tank of hydrochloric acid which is the same acid that you've got in your stomach but it's a little bit stronger now all that rust has gone it's time to give it all a good swill again [Music] and then we'll hang it up to dry before it's ready for polishing here's the parts before we polish them up to a mirror finish they're free of rust and old plating time to get the gloves on now we're going to be using abrasives to remove all of the old marks the first operation in polishing is what we call cutting out or bottoming out where we've got to remove all of the corrosion marks then all of the operations after that we're actually removing the marks we just put in with this abrasive belt this is probably about an 80 grit as you can see it does remove metal and material that's why all the Sparks are flying so let's see a bit of lovely slow motion of them Sparks because it always looks great if you enjoy our videos please like And subscribe to our Channel as it really helps our videos get noticed using abrasive belts and wheels like this is the quickest way to remove these marks but also if you're not careful you can actually cause a lot of damage that's where experience comes in to prevent that acne [Music] on these roof abrasives you try as much as you can to keep away from edges Etc where it's possible you could polish through [Music] [Music] [Music] the grease is used to slow the cut down so you can use the grease to control how fast it's cutting [Music] this is going to take quite a long time to go through this operation so let's speed it up [Music] now we're using a finer abrasive we have to go through several grades so we'll probably go 80 120 180 240 320 so we have to do this several times [Music] as you can't get into all of the recesses and awkward bits with that abrasive belt then we're gonna have to use other tools this is actually a mop made of felt it's been dressed up with an abrasive so we can safely and effectively get inside and polish those little internal bits [Music] now we're moving on to a stitch mop that's been dressed up with abrasives now the idea of using a cotton mop that's been stitched together like this is there's some flexibility in it so you can actually put a bit of weight on it to make the tool go into recesses [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] being put on that's been dressed up with abrasives to do a job like this you need a whole array of different tools that you've made up with different shapes to them so you can use different ones to get into different areas [Music] there's another one going on that's even smaller than the last one [Music] ideal for getting into those interior curves there [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh now we're actually moving on to making these things shine this is a brush made of sizal [Music] because in a small one again to get into those recessed areas [Music] now when you're doing the brushing procedure you're actually leaning into that machine and putting a lot of pressure on it [Music] with these brushes you dress them up with a Polishing Compound and that's what does the cutting [Music] oh now we're going on to a bigger brush Just For Speed the areas that you can get to eat more easily you'll use a bigger brush it's gonna take a little while to brush all the rest of these parts up so let's speed it up [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] now this is the last part here being brushed up ready for plating there are some parts that we haven't finished off at the moment because they're so thin that we're not able to polish them up and finish them off in this way in the next little section you'll see what we're going to do to those so that we can actually get a nice finish on them these parts here that are ready for plating we're going to give them a nice wipe down with some lime that's to remove any polishing composition that we've used while polishing them [Music] foreign there they are ready for the plating now we're in the polishing shop for the first time the parts you can see here are the ones that were too thin to be able to polish them up in one go so what we're going to have to do now is put some metal back on them when we copper plate these it's a little bit like in paint work using a high Build primer we're putting some material on that we can work with can see Happening Here is we're wiring it all up on copper wires now the reason for that is we need to pass an electric current through this it's not called electroplating for nothing and it's the electricity that makes the copper deposit form on the surface of the metal [Music] into the cleaner they go now this is a hot soapy cleaner and we're going to physically give them a nice wipe over to remove any grease dirt oil or any polishing combo that's been left on them thank you it's just a case of methodically working your way around them and making sure that they're all clean now they're going into the electric cleaner time to throw the switch and what's happening there it's fizzing away and it's removing any oxides from the surface it leaves it in what we call an active state so that the plating will bond to it properly now it's time to rinse off all the soap and cleaning solutions to leave them perfectly clean [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] worked through what's called a counter flow rinse system where we work from dirtier water to progressively cleaner water before we finally give them a quick rinse and a dilute acid solution [Music] now they get a final rinse in clean water before they go into the plating tank now the first tank they're going to go into is the cyanide copper [Music] this isn't actually the copper that we use to build up the thickness to give us material to work what it's for is you can't use the acid copper which is the high build copper directly on top of Steel it will attack it so we put some cyanide copper on first which protects it from the acid copper solution for the first few seconds when it starts plating [Music] there we go into the acid copper [Music] put some power on and we're going to leave it to Bubble away there for a couple of hours [Music] now that we're out of the acid copper solution it's time to hang them up and let the water dry off now we're in the polishing shop again and we're going to polish up those copper parts so that we can finish them ready for nickel and Chrome we're using a fine abrasive belt this time you may have spotted it's a 600 grit [Music] the polishing procedures here are similar to the ones we used before but just with much finer abrasives so we can get that shine that we need before it can go for nickel and Chrome if you like what we do please give us a thumbs up subscribe to our Channel the notification Bell you'll be informed when we release a new video [Music] here and there we touch it with a DA where it's difficult to get into with the bow [Music] now we're going to start actually building that shine and polishing up here we're doing all the awkward recesses first foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you can see the shine starting to build now [Music] [Music] getting close to being finished now [Music] this gets wiped down with lime again to remove any finger marks and compound [Music] just got to do all the rest now [Music] we're just finishing off the last item that was coppered [Music] there they are all ready for plating now we're back into the plating shop again for the final time all of these parts are now going to go through nickel and chrome and then they'll be finished same as when we were copper plating it's all got to be wired up onto copper wires so that we can pass a current through it it's very important that you wire everything the correct way up or else you'll get defects here it goes again into the hot soap cleaner come on it's all got to be wiped down again to make sure it's free from any oil dirt grease or polishing compost that's left on it any failure to clean stuff thoroughly now will end up in reject parts now we're into the electric cleaner again switch his throne and we're blasting the oxides off the surface so that we've got an active metal surface that will bond the plate into it absolutely 100 percent through the rinse system getting progressively cleaner in each tank then into the dilute acid one last rinse and it's into the nickel tank it's the nickel layer that gives the parts all their good looks and weather protection time to do the same thing with all the rest of the parts [Music] [Music] foreign to put some power on [Music] now we're going to leave those cooking away in there so we can get a nice nickel deposit now they're ready to come out [Music] and it's through the same rinse system again and then it's into the Chrome now the chrome doesn't actually afford any weather protection it just stops the nickel layer from tarnishing if you didn't have the Chrome you would have to polish your nickel every week to keep it looking nice so the Chrome means that you don't have to do that and it does change the color from the slightly yellowy color of the nickel to the color of crayon [Music] all right now there's very little Chrome applied it's not normally any thicker than 200 thousandths of an inch after being in there for two or three minutes time for it to come out [Music] it's then rinsed put in a tank to neutralize the chromic acid then rinsed again in water and hunger for the water to dry now it's time to see all the other parts go through the same process [Music] all right [Music] the seat rail on this was a pain because it took a long time to drain in between each tank [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] and there they are with the water drying all finished [Music] before we can send them to the customer we've got to inspect it all so the first thing is to get them on wide [Music] foreign once everything's unwired we've just got to check it all to make sure it's dead right so we've got to wipe all the watermarks off so here we're using some Polish [Music] and it's just a case of methodically going through each part wiping it down and making sure that it's the right quality for the customer oh [Music] what you're looking at there is that there's a bit too much Chrome on the ends and it forms a gray deposit we call it a chrome burn so we're just going to polish that off and then the job will actually be finished the reason for this chrome burn is that chrome doesn't want to Plate very well you have to use a lot of power to get it to place at all and that's where it burns on the tips of things which is a very very fine polish on a soft mop just to remove that from the edges [Music] [Applause] [Music] if you enjoy our videos please like And subscribe to our Channel as it really helps our video to get noticed [Music] there it is now with the burns removed [Music] foreign so here's the finished items see there's been a major transformation since they came in let's just remind ourselves what they actually started out like the customer should be very happy to put these on his bike they're going to look an absolute treat if you need any chrome parts restoring just contact us the details are at the end of the video and in the description below

Channel: Chrome and Car Restoration

Views: 183,556

Keywords: restoring motorcycle parts, chrome bumper restoration, how to restore chrome, show chrome, restoring chrom, bumper, chrome, restoration, how to, Restoring your chrome, chrome restoration, chrome plating, chrome repair, restoring chrome, rust removal, Restore chrome, classic bike, classic motorcycle, removing rust from chrome, metal polishing, how to remove rust from chrome, motorcycle restoration honda, motorcycle restoration, restoration videos

Id: dRvrWLHv8CU

Length: 31min 19sec (1879 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 28 2023