Black Chrome

[Chris41]

Hi everybody, can anyone advise of an electro-plater who can do black chrome.

Thanks Chris

[BANDITROD]

electomold in melbourne but it will cost ya dude

[chopaweeza]

Yeh. Black Chrome can cost up to 5 times the already high cost of regular chrome plating. Thats if you can find a place to do it.

[maggot1300]

better finding where electromold send it, they outsource their chrome work and just do the nickel plate in house. if someone knows where they get it done you should be able to get it done without the massive mark up.

[BANDITROD]

electromold acctually do it as a paint some how cos i was gunna get them to do my frame but then decided on something else all i know is that it is also called shadow chrome its like what you see on car wheels

http://www.finishing.com/108/18.shtml
not your answer but interesting and easy to see why it costs.
Try A1 hardchrome in Sydney.Ask for Phil,they dont do black but can tell you who does.I think titanium is also used instead of Nikel plating these days.Personally i think black anodising still looks better,but not useful on moving parts like fork legs.Macqaurie University also has excellent info on electroplating guru's.Google it.;)

[Stocky]

If you want it really black then it's not actually chrome plated.

Black chrome is done on the nickel without chrome.

If you want it really dark (so it's actually black not grey) then you need to copper plate it then black chrome.

If you want a very durable and shiny black surface you should consider DLC coating (like the lower fork tubes on lots of modern sport bikes)

It's actually getting cheaper to do these days but I'm not sure anyone is doing it well in Australia yet.

[Chris41]

Thanks for the replies , I need the black chrome to do the grab rail and air box covers on my Z1000R the finish has worn in places and a bit knocked about I know I'll have to clean it up B4, was hoping some-one had first hand experience.

Thanks again Chris

[Stocky]

I've done black chrome with varying sucess.

If the parts are already chrome you have to strip the chrome back to the nickle.

Then if you "black chrome" it they look like a tinted chrome.

If you want it actually be black you have to copper plate it first, it's the background colour that makes the shade.

You can get kits from Caswell for it but it's not easy to do well.