Re: re-chromers

[Philip J Wardle <wardle@domain.elided>]

Hello all,

I have had all the chromework on my '72 Stag replated by Derby Plating
Services Ltd (located in Derby, strangely enough), and although they're
also not the cheapest the quality is good. I first heard of this Company
when I read an article in the November '92 edition of Classic and
Sportscar, and subsequently had a useful opportunity to see their work
and discuss their process at one of the NEC car shows.

To get a good result you need to strip, repair, polish, copper plate,
nickel plate, and finally chrome plate with various chemical cleaning
processes in between. This is called "tripple plating" to distinguish
from cheaper "cut corners" processes. The Classic and Sportscar article
gave a good description of what is involved and explained why the
quality and prices can vary so much.

So to save yourself some of the expense, Derby Plating will willingly
chemically strip your existing parts so that you can make your own
repairs and do your own fettling. Once you've done this, they'll take
the parts back and complete the process. The chemical stripping is
essential if you need to weld or braze because its nigh on impossible to
remove the old chrome by mechanical means, and if any is left behind it
will contaminate the repair. To avoid numerous return journeys to Derby
it is possible to do all this by post, but I've found that it's worth
making a few visits to get the benefit of their advice. The turn-round
time is variable but 6 - 8 weeks is typical.

For example, they'll rapidly give you an on-the-spot opinion of whether
you should re-plate or scrap and replace. The decision is, of course,
related to rarity of the part concerned, so that whilst scrap and
replace might be the decision for a Stag rear quarter bumper that's
peppered with holes, if the bumper came from a much rarer car it might
still be useable if you were prepared to spend enough on restoration of
it.

If anyone wants to follow-up on this, the contact info is:

Derby Plating Services Ltd
148 Abbey Street
Derby
DE22 3SS
UK

Tel/Fax +44 (0)1332 382408.

Regards,
Phil Wardle
Essex, UK