Metal finishing Q&As since 1989

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Metal mirror finish on plastic horns

I am a Student at the Royal College of art in London. For My degree show I have made a life-size sculpture of a texas longhorn steer head and shoulders. I would like to have the horns chrome plated or processed in some way that renders them with a high mirror finish. the Horns Are made of plastic resin. due to the fact that I will be mounting the whole thing on the wall I would like to keep the weight down. so if they could remain in plastic and be chrome plated that would be Ideal. what is the best way to achieve a mirror finish on plastic horns that are about 1meter long.

Also, do you know of a place that will do this job in the london area?

Michael DeLucia
Sculptor - London, UK
2004

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Michael, unfortunately I don't have an answer for you. However, I will cross my fingers for you because my question is VERY similar. That's why I'm piggy-backing instead of posting a new letter.

I am restoring a Kawasaki Vulcan 500 motorcycle that, sadly, was kept outdoors for years. The sun, I assume, has caused many of the plastic shiny chrome-looking parts to bubble. Rather than replace, I'd like to restore. These are my questions:

1. How should I best remove the existing finish? I was thinking wet sanding.

2. Should I apply a primer and/or sealant prior to the final coats?

3. What products should I consider for a professional chrome-looking finish?

Don Smith
Restoring shiny parts - Charlotte, North Carolina
2004

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The two essential things in electroplating are good cleaning and good surface preparation. Without good cleaning, the electrodeposit will not adhere and without good surface preparation, any blemish will be magnified to look like a canker. You must polish the resin with as fine polishing appear as you can get; even use 0.5um diamond paste to get the final surface. The more effort you put into preparing the surface, the better the result will be. You must then metallise the resin by depositing and electroless metal such as nickel, silver or copper. If you use silver or copper, it may be possible to give the surface another polish before you apply a thicker coating of nickel. This can then be used to apply a layer of chromium. This will not be an easy job, so I would suggest you contact the Institute of Metal Finishing (in Birmingham) for advice on which companies around London will be capable of doing the job.

Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
2004