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Aluminium Chrome Plate, stripping and re-application

This enquiry concerns a restoration job. The subject being a 1950s cast aluminium Bolsey camera needing restoration for the museum. It is chrome plated on an EN base. Owing to minor abrasions it requires stripping of these two layers and then replating. The components are stripped of their lacquer coating and all subsidiary assemblies - can anyone offer/volunteer a service to do this job, or exactly define the process involved?

Keith South
Camera Museum - Hampshire, UK
2001

"Nickel and Chromium Plating"
by Dennis & Such

on AbeBooks

or Amazon

(affil links)

A. The chrome is pretty easy to get off via either immersion in muriatic acid [affil links] or reverse plating in an alkaline solution. But it is tough to remove electroless nickel and you really need to use a proprietary, such as a Metalx (Ronatec.us) [a finishing.com supporting advertiser] stripper.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2001

A. Ted's comments are once again correct, but in my opinion the underlying plate could be electrolytic nickel. It is very unlikely that a commercial object be electroless nickel plated if it dates back to the 1950's. EN was invented (developed) in 1946 by Dr. A. Brenner and it took some time for this new technique to reach commercial application.

Guillermo Marrufo
Monterrey, NL, Mexico
2001

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