That's Voodoo Mr Bond....
I've been aware of this 'brush-on' electroplate system for a while now, and thought it might be time to investigate, since I had a really nice exhaust system which was too good to re-chrome completely, but which did need some attention to the underarm areas of the headers on both outer pipes.
At this point, the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice the zorsts in question are not Zed, not even Kwack......But at least they're not Hodna, so I reckon we're all safe to carry on.
The kit was bought on Ebay from a company called Gateros who do all the usual tank based DIY kits, but also offered the 'replica chrome' brush-on kit at a decent price. Put simply, the principles of brush plating are the same as 'tank' plating, you create an electrical circuit making the 'subject' the cathode (-), and the brush the anode (+). The metal to be deposited is held in solution and when you turn the juice on (in this case 9 to 12v, supplied by a 'wall wart'), the metal is attracted to the cathode when the positively charged wand, saturated with the plating solution, completes the circuit.
So, step one was to prep the corroded areas by stripping back to the undercoat nickel or, better still, to the steel. Since you can't really do this 'localised' stripping using chemical electro-strips, I resorted to good old-fashioned abrasives, starting with 80 grit on a flexible 3" pad which allowed me to follow the contours of the pipe without digging in. Follow this stage with 120 grade on the pad, then flat back manually with 240 wet and dry, then polish with coarse, medium and fine soap on the matching mops.
After all that, the finish looked pretty good, and it does need to be this good if you want to stand a chance of the electroplate layer looking any good.
To tackle the welded areas, I used a stainless steel rotary brush and a hand file, followed by polishing mops as required. You're not going to get rid of all the pitting on such a coarse surface, but it'll do for me. Maybe if you have access to a grit blaster then this could be used the really clean up these welded areas.
Next, it's cleaning and degreasing. I used two passes with cellulose thinners, then finished with brake cleaner - that oughta do it!! The area to be plated needs to be TOTALLY free of oil, grease and all other contaminants: if it ain't, then the plating just wont adhere properly.
Then it was time to break out the kit itself: oh, and read the instructions!!! - which are clear and comprehensive. The kit requires 3 stages: elector-clean with an alkali cleaner applied with one of the 'wands' supplied; rinse; electro-acid etch, again using the supplied wand, this makes the metal receptive to the plating; rinse; apply the replica chrome solution with the wand.
Sounds easy? Well I guess it was pretty straightforward, but it is important to shake and warm all the solutions since this speeds up the processes of cleaning and deposition.
I brushed the solution on for around 30 minutes - just to ensure good coverage. If I'm honest, I guess I was expecting to see a brilliant chrome finish emerge - like magic - but what you actually get is a slightly milky, discoloured layer, with a very pronounced 'border' where it meets the original chrome. "That looks like total shite" I thought to myself, "Yet another DIY kit that doesn't chuffin work!!"....
But keep the faith. Final stage is the real reward: polish with Auto Glym metal polish (other polishes are available), applied with a soft cotton mop, then wipe off with brake cleaner and finally burnish with a clean cotton mop.
Result - well pretty darn good I reckon. Acid test will be once the bike's back together and the plate is exposed to the elements, and to the intense heat of the exhaust. But I did check with Dan at Gateros (very helpful guy) who assured me the plate (which, by the way, is not actually chrome, but a clever mix of nickel and cobalt) will withstand that kind of heat without discolouring. I guess only time will tell! I should also point out that the pitting you see is in the original unrepaired chrome - I decided I had to stop somewhere or I'd end up 'locally' rechroming the entire header!
Conclusions then: this really seems to work - at least 'on the bench' - and would be a great system for re-plating all those odds and sods that you always discover just after you've taken a box of stuff to the chromers!
What's more, the ability to do 'local' repairs on larger items is really handy. Although in this, my first attempt, the border of the 'real' and 'rep' chrome is visible on close inspection, I reckon that, with a bit of time and care, you could 'feather' that border during prep, thereby giving a more seamless appearance.
OK, this system will always struggle to match the results that bath chroming can deliver so, if you're on the concours trail, it will probably disappoint, on all but the smallest items. But for those who want to keep their bike presentable - and avoid the big waiting times at the platers - I would happily recommend this kit.
Here's the Ebay link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Replica-Chrom ... 3cc6b1a55b
