How To Do Chrome Plating

A. Chrome plating is a dirty filthy nasty setup! There is no such thing as a cheap and safe setup. Initial cost is high. Chemical vendors will not sell to you in most places until you have a waste disposal permit. This is a HELLO EPA, come get me. The fines for bad record keeping in a spotless shop are high -- very high -- because they do not want a lot of chrome tanks out there. Quote- highly carcinogenic.

I work on my truck, but I sure would not work on a Corvette because I have not been trained. Cost of a boo boo is high on it and is astronomically high in chrome plating.

Bad idea. If you still want to do it, check in with your local EPA and then buy some books, then spend a day in a chrome shop. Most localities have zoning regulations against doing this at home and most will not let you do it in a commercial zone -- requires industrial zoning here.

A. Hi, Heath. We have a Chrome Plating Tutorial on line here that will help you understand what is involved, and what alternatives you can follow if you wish. As James says, though, learn a lot about it before you buy anything (you remain legally responsible for that chromic acid forever no matter how much you may pay to dispose of it).

Please review our tutorial then get back to us with your questions. Thanks, and good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi, Andre. Yes, used equipment is available, but calling it a "machine" can be misleading, because chrome plating is done in a series of tanks with extensive support systems comprising a custom built small factory rather than anything resembling a standardized machine -- it's probably not something you should do on a casual basis, as an ancillary to your main business so you might prefer "chrome-look" paint.

We have an FAQ here, "Introduction to Chrome Plating" that may help you clarify for yourself exactly what you want to do. Good luck!

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Matt.

Thread 197/26 offers a list of the items you need for a chrome plating factory, but first make sure that you really need to do real chrome plating. It's probably the most environmentally problematical finish.

Going into the chrome plating business is unlike going into a carpet cleaning business, drywall business, or glazing business, because electroplating was the nation's first environmentally regulated business.

This means you need to know the laws. So I would suggest starting by accessing 40CFR (the EPA portion of the Code of Federal Regulations) and getting a feel for the Chromium Plating MACT Standards, the 40CFR433 electroplating wastewater standards, and the standards for accumulation and disposal of F006 and related electroplating solid wastes.

Unlike many other businesses, you just can't jump into the plating business without risk of fines or even jail. Don't even think about buying chemicals until you understand the environmental laws because once you buy them they remain your problem forever, and beyond.

P.S.: I know it sounds crazy that you could be responsible for a waste forever, but here's the explanation: Historically many companies contracted waste disposal companies to dispose of toxic wastes, but some waste haulers were 'midnight dumpers' -- collecting money for disposal but then tossing the waste in the woods or burying it ... and then disappearing. The many resulting Superfund sites cost our country a fortune to clean up, so the government decided that the fair way to deal with it in the future was to hold the waste generator responsible forever. It's your job to follow that waste all the way to 100% sure safe disposal ... and even then laws and opinion can change and the waste can be your responsibility again years later.

I don't think anyone will sell you chromic acid unless it's going into an actual established industrial facility. Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Please see "Understanding Chrome Plating"

Try AESF website [www.nasf.org]. Good luck!

A. Check out thread 95/27, "Starting a small plating business". Good luck!

A. OK folks, use the search engine to read the archives first. There are dozens of people that want to get rich and have asked the same questions before. Some answers are quite complete, some are borderline snotty and some just too simple or short. So, there is no reason to spend time going over what is already available to you from several people.

A. Gee, I'm not the only one who gets daily inquiries about going into business dipping parts in chrome?

What I would suggest to all those interested is to talk to someone who operates a chrome shop or any other plating facility. Find out what type of expenses and regulation they have to go through. Then if you are still interested, as Ted has told others, get a job working in a shop.

A. Hello Sarah; hi, Marty.Similar questions have been asked and addressed many times here, so you may wish to search the site for those other discussions to see the perspectives of the many different people who have responded. You may also wish to see our Introduction to Chrome Plating to quickly understand what is involved. But, to not leave this particular thread unanswered ... Chrome plating is an industrial science rather than an art. Just as you can theoretically make wheels and bumpers yourself with an anvil and bellows arrangement, you can electroplate them yourself. But just as, in reality, wheels and bumpers are made on hydraulic presses and other large industrial equipment in a factory, they are electroplated in million dollar (and up) plating lines in factories. People spend their careers learning a piece of this science, so when someone asks how to do it or what is involved, it unfortunately is a bit like asking how to build an airliner. We're delighted to answer any highly specific question, but to cover the whole thing in sufficient detail to be useful requires at least a book-length answer. Plus, electroplating was the nation's first categorically regulated industry -- which means that there are a mountain of regulatory issues (wastewater discharge permits, hazardous waste accumulation and disposal permits, air pollution permits, MACT testing standards for chrome emissions, neighborhood right-to-know reporting requirements, mandatory medical monitoring of chromium accumulation in blood) before you can get started.The best way to learn chrome plating is to work in a plating shop for a year if at all possible, or certainly a summer.

Lacking that, you can attend a plating training course put on by Kushner Electroplating School, join the American Electroplaters and Surface Finishing Society (www.nasf.org) and attend local meetings and national conferences, build a library of plating books, subscribe to industry journals which will include 'plant writeups', and visit a few plating shops to get a general feel for it.

But once you buy and use a plating chemical, you are legally responsible for it forever, no matter how much you pay the disposal company, so start with the learning, not the buying  🙂 Good luck!

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Ryan, hi River.

We would love for you to open plating shops. Please figure out how to get a job at one for a little while, certainly at least a summer so you can see what is actually involved. That's certainly the smart way to get a general understanding of the work. I'd love to answer any questions you have, but "how do I start a chrome plating business?" is just so broad. Or start by downloading and at least skimming through the Metal Finishing Guidebook, and you'll soon be able to ask small enough questions that they are answerable.

Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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A. Please try to phrase your questions in terms of what has already been said because I don't know what specific answer you want that wasn't covered by the earlier responses. But I will add: "Please don't do that to yourself, Billy!". If young people, armed with a fully realistic understanding of what is involved and the energy of youth, want to start chrome plating businesses as their career (hopefully after having worked in a chrome plating shop for a year or so), more power to them! The country needs entrepreneurial spirit and I wish them the best.

But for you to envision chrome plating as a pleasant leisure-time semi-retirement mix of business and hobby would be a terrible delusion that could make your retirement a misery. Many people your age are forced to drag themselves to work at their plating shop every morning with no end in sight only because they cannot figure out how to legally close it without losing their life savings and their home because the cost of cleanup is so extraordinary. At your age please pick anything else over opening a chrome plating shop.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey