Plating Services...

Steve Plucker

Steve Plucker

BANNED
I have added a new feature to the STICKY about website services for the restoration of your Model A Ford.

It is called PLATING SERVICES.

If you know of a plating service in your area that has done a good job for your restoration, please let me know so I can include them.

Please indicate the TYPE OF SERVICE that they provide and where located, phone number etc.

Also I reconfigured the list and put it in alphabetical order.

Thanks.

Pluck
 
The company I used to bring my bumpers back from the grave is:
Electro Forming
130 Nevin Ave.
Richmond, Ca 94801
510-237-4988

They rechromed them for a decent price and treated me well. You may even get to negotiate the price a bit after they get to know you.

Mike
 
1930artdeco said:
The company I used to bring my bumpers back from the grave is:
Electro Forming
130 Nevin Ave.
Richmond, Ca 94801
510-237-4988

They rechromed them for a decent price and treated me well. You may even get to negotiate the price a bit after they get to know you.

Mike
Click to expand...

Mike,

What kind of plating services do they offer?

Thanks.

Pluck
 
Frankford Plating in Phila

They can even do the correct Watts process nickle that Ford used. This can give you the proper look to your bumpers and other items that would have unpolished nickel areas (cabriolet landau arms).

http://www.frankfordplatinginc.com/


Paul's Chrome has a lot of followers and is makes good on fixing the parts they screw up. They did manage to not read my directions. I documented how the parts must fit together when done.

My top irons were ground into sword blades. The cabriolet triple hinges were very pretty, they just did not fit together anymore. The top hold downs also would not fit in the metal header pan anymore. I only had to send the parts back twice and it was a good thing I had some extra parts to replace the ruined rare unobtainium cabriolet parts. After $2000 I got some nicely plated parts that do not fit together and some disfigured parts that look pretty and will hopefully work good enough. I would hate to see what would have happened if I sent them parts that were really rusty nasty.
 
Before Kevin in NJ got to it, I was intending to comment on the usefulness of this thread without more details. Someone being satisfied with the chrome plating with one company can have a vastly different meaning to someone who is looking for the proper, fine point plating of the bumpers.

There's so much prep work that goes into plating that it's important to know who will spend the time to build up items to fill in pits and such, vs someone who will just plate it.

So let's see some details, what type of plating did you have done, what level were you looking for (correct fine point, driver, etc), what was the condition of the parts you sent in to plate, etc!
 
It is important to keep in mind many shops make stuff look nice. They do not restore the parts.

For example. The cabriolet hinge parts had minimal prep work before factory plating. The only exposed part was the just the hinge pin area. From the originals you can see that just the one end had some clean up from the casting stage. Normally you would get the whole thing made pretty. In my case, Paul's cut the surface getting rid of the casting marks so far the countersunk screws would be above the metal surface.

I have talked with a variety of platers. Some understand when I talk about restoration vs make pretty. When I ask about using the Watts (or dull) nickel process I get some interesting responses. Most do not do the watts at all. Paul's has a watts tank, but at the time they could not get good results putting chrome over the polished watts nickel. Librianti (no spelled right) refused to talk me further when I asked if they had a watts tank. Another guy argued Ford never used the watts process and I was full of crap.

I went to Frankford plating after I had my parts ruined and the owner gave me a very full tour. I was allowed to inspect anything they were working on in the shop. He pointed out he had 3 different nickel tanks. One for the early items, the Watts tank and the modern bright nickel tank and he had no problem chroming the watts parts. I was impressed with the corvette part that was in copper. The pot metal part had substantial work on pitting and the bottom edge was even in thickness and the contour appeared even across.

One plater in GA, I forget who, had a Watts tank and when I commented that the watts nickel was not tarnishing as fast he thought for a second and told me that much be because they use oxidizers to make the bright nickel. He also was big on the difference between make pretty and restoring. I saved his card some wheres.

Opinions on plating also vary widely. I have seen guys go on about how great some plating was and it did not look so good.

When choosing a plater talk to the guy who is in charge of the production and find out what they are going to do for you. No guaranty on outcome since I talked to the guy at Paul's 3 times before I sent the box of parts with a bunch of pages of directions. The parts were sent to be worked on without sending the directions. When I talked to him after he ruined my top irons, he told me that I wanted more expensive hand work. I told him I want that and expected to pay for it, I thought that was obvious when I mentioned each time I wanted my top irons to not be ground down and that the edges must be kept square. I also included those directions in the pages of write up I had with the parts.
Yes, I am still very annoyed by what happened.
 
Steve,

At this point I know they just rechrome. I am overseas right now but I will call when I get back home.

Mike
 
Hey Kev, tell us how you really feel. You are kind of leaving us in a gray area here. We arent sure where you are going with that. Dont beat around the bush.
 
There's nothing spectacular about the Watts chemistry. It's generally lower cost and used for flash plating under chrome. It has higher internal stresses that can lead to cracking. This is why it's not considered a high build coating or used as a final nickel plate. It's used as a budget coating like cheap primer. Most auto parts platers will spend as much time on your parts for as much as you're willing to pay. Perfection is expensive and few hobbyist are willing to pay for perfection. You should discuss your expectations with the plater so that you both will know the outcome and the price. Don't expect all platers to do the same job for the same price. There are budget platers and premium platers. The buyer always has a choice. And plating has nothing to do with "restoration". Restoration is a separate task. Be sure your plater knows what you want.
 
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