Who repairs Chrome emblems and how much does it cost?

Restoring at the speed of a slow sick snail !

Charles in Pensacola

57 F100 adding Blown 312 auto
86 F150

 

Charles

I found that the cost to restore chromed potmetal emblems exceeded the cost of buying new repro pieces. Of course if you are talking about an uncommon year (non-48-56)it is probably a different story. I was told it is very labor intensive to repair the pits.

Dewayne

 

Charles,
Dewayne is right. Unfortunately 1957 is one of those "uncommon years" in which the emblems aren't being re-produced.
I did a search a while back on pot metal repair, and found several places. I called them up, and they told me that the price would depend on how bad of shape the part was in (in my case, it was a horn ring). They asked me to ship it to them, and then they could give me an honest quote. I think most of them pot metal shops work that way.

 

Since most of the cost is labor and not rocket science it pays to do the bulk of it yourself.

After stripping the chrome it is then necessary to dig into every pit and clean to new metal. Then fill with silver solder.
Once all the pits are filled then smooth all the solder down and polish.

Now its ready for the platers turn.

I believe Eastwoods has tools and instructions; I just use a Dremel and a big iron.

Did a 37 Buick grille some years ago, took 2 months of part time but it came out great.
Ive done numerous small parts since then and even considering getting one of those small platers. Its a 4 hour round trip to a decent plater and I always fear them losing or breaking the part.

 

286Merc,

You stated what I believed. I have thought about getting the small plater myself. Is it as good as the real thing as far as the thickness of plating or can you control that with the timing.

One thing I was concerned about is the stripping. Do you chemically strip or blast. The blasting might harm small detais and the chemicals are supposed to be highly toxic. Which do you use?

A soldering iron heats the area sufficiently to get the silver solder to adhere? I would think you would need a jewelers torch. I assuming that you heat the object till it is hot enough to melt the solder just like doing copper pipe. If you just let the iron melt the solder and then flow it in the crater the adhesion would not be good. Right?

Restoring at the speed of a slow sick snail !

Charles in Pensacola

57 F100 adding Blown 312 auto
86 F150

 

I do the chemical strip since most parts are too small for any blasting nozzles I have.
Yes it is toxic but I always work outside, upwind and with protective clothes.

Ive an antique cast iron 3 burner gas camping stove (typical yard sale find) I use with propane when working with sodium hydroxide and other solutions that work faster with heat.
Different size cast iron or porcelanized pots for one or more burner at a time.
I also work with phosphoric and muriatic acids.

A jewlers torch works with real small items that I can hold in a small craft vice with high temp jaws. It also can melt pot metal if youre not careful; that stuff is real fussy. The torch is more for work on sheetmetal trim (headlight rings for example)like soldering up a small tear, etc.
For items that have a hefty bulk of pot metal I use the iron. I use an eye dropper to put in a drop of plumbers tinning fluid and then heat the area sufficiently with the iron so that the solder flows.
The fluid dramatically improves the process. Wash thoroughly as you move along on the piece.
BTW tinning fluid is a mild hydrochloric acid, muriatic acid is a more robust 28% concentration. I suppose you can use that and dilute yourself.

The tinning fluid is also great on stainless, MuMetal and other alloys that are typically not soldered.

 

Charles - last year at the Turkey Rod Run in Daytona, there was a vendor there that does a 7 stage clean/chrome for pot metal. We checked with him on what it would cost to get our center hood ornament done and he quoted us $175 to $225. The samples of the chroming stages to finished product were very impressive. Like your emblem, no one makes our center piece.

We checked with a couple places down here that say they can do pot metal and they all wanted $400 & Up for this piece. I expected a markup for being in S. Fla, but not that much of one. We haven't sent it to them yet cause we're not quite ready for that and can use the $'s elsewhere right now.

If you want the companies name & number, let me know. The bus. card is at home.

Carlene

 

Carlene,

I would appreciate the information. I will try to find a part but if I can't I'll use a refinisher. I think I might look into a rechroming kit for some of the small stuff like interior that will not see alot of abuse.

Restoring at the speed of a slow sick snail !

Charles in Pensacola

57 F100 adding Blown 312 auto
86 F150

 

Charles - the place is called Advanced Plating. Their website is advancedplating.com

The site is pretty cool. Take a look of the process and they also have estimated pricing sheets. Also looks like they'll be back in Daytona this Nov.