Triumphrat

loxx101

I want to get rid of more shiny bits on my bike. Not a fan of clean looking things (this is why I rarely shave!).

I've never dabbled with this before though. Some of my chrome parts are rusty as well so I want to paint it all black.

Can you chemically remove the nickel layer using anything at home? Could you wire wheel it with a grinder? I'm really not sure of the options.

Any advice would be fantastic. Thanks!

Magnum_J

I'm anxiously waiting to see answers to this one myself.

On my Jeep, I roughed up my chrome nerf bars with 150 grit, applied self-etching primer, and painted. They have held up very well through a lot of abuse - but that chrome was in good condition. Now I have foot pegs with flaking chrome, so I need to strip it off to get to a good surface.

-- Jim

therabbithole

I think the only way to actually fully remove it is to reverse the electrolytic (not sure if that's the right word) process that put it (all three layers) on there in the first place. I had a bunch of bits that I wanted to unchrome, some of which were in decent shape and some of which were flaking badly. I got quotes from a plater to strip them, and someone recommended a Caswell kit that could have done it. Both were more expensive than I could manage.

If you're just painting them then roughing them up first with a grinder to get down into the copper, and then smoothing back to something like maybe 100-grit before using the self-etching primer should be fine (just be wary of the dust). Especially if you don't need to worry about matching sheen, painting over old chrome might be the best bet.

My guess is that even with a badly flaking part, anything still stuck on after you grind off the flakes is probably stuck well enough to stay put. And I'm dubious about the wire wheel - that would get the flakes but probably nothing else.

But, again, if you've got a plater you already like, it might be worth getting a quote on stripping. I was quoted $200 for brake plate, side covers, air boxes, and fork sliders. Depending on the size of your overall budget, that might not be too bad.

Morris the Cat

Tail light carrier for '78 Bonnie.
Chrome scraped off with a razor knife, prime and painted black.

__________________

Morris of Main Street

Old Cafe Racer

I removed chrome from the bits on the Daytona project bike I wanted to nickel plate by electrolysis
Put the part in a pickle of sulphuric acid/water 50/50 in a plastic bucket, connect the part to a heavy jumper lead and connect to the positive terminal of a 12 volt battery and connect the negative terminal to a piece of lead or steel with a heavy cable and hang it down into the acid.
It will bubble, fiz and give off really nasty fumes which are bad for you.
Remove the part every few minutes, rinse it (preferable with baking soda to neutralise the acid) and inspect it.
I also wire buffed it between dippings to remove the grey deposits.
Don't leave it in the bath too long or you'll bite into the parent metal.

Here's pictures of the rear brake lever being de-chromed and after electroless nickel plating:

Attached Thumbnails

   

therabbithole

How long, overall, do you think it takes for this process to remove a standard-thickness plate? I assume it depends on the conductivity of the solution and the size of the bucket (in terms of the amperage the circuit can draw out of the battery) but... a guess?

Also - did you only do steel, or did you do any pot metal or alumin[i]um?

Old Cafe Racer

It depends on how many amps the battery has, how thick the plating is and what condition it's in.
I only have experience with steel parts.
That part took about 20 minutes overall.
.

Magnum_J

You definitely do not want to use hydrochloric or muriatic acid on aluminum. Do a search for "muriatic acid aluminum foil bomb".

-- Jim

therabbithole

how quickly do you think the workplace IT people show up after those search terms hit google?

but in (comparative) seriousness, that was my question - how non-steel parts would hold up in that process. And relatedly (for the chemists and metallurgists out there): would the hydrochloric acid electrolysis make steel weaker, or more brittle? or is it just a surface reaction?

[not in any way to criticize the method - i'm just a little afraid of chemicals and am curious about the breadth of its applicability]

Snakeoil

I've painted a few chromed parts over the years and used a similar technique to what rabbithole described. I sanded the chome to give the paint something to bite into, primed with a heavy coat of primer, wet sanded smooth and painted over that. Parts came out fine and held up well.

If you think about it, BSA tanks were all painted over chrome and you don't see many of them with peeling paint. Same for older Guzzi's.

regards,
Rob