I'll never polish again or pay for chrome plating!!!

[caseywan]

Ok, I have polished several parts for my stang in the past including my Cobra R wheels, and the results turns out very nice but is extremely time consuming.

Well, I bought the Eastwood powdercoating kit several months ago and have been powdercoating some stuff here and there. They sell several different types of "chrome" powders which are usually called something like "almost chrome" or "near chrome", but the results are really far from chrome and mostly look like a high gloss silver. They do look nice, but nowhere near chrome.

Recently I came across a unique method to get a very near chrome look called Elektra Chrome! It is a 3 step process which includes an acrylic paint as well as powdercoat. I think the pictures speak for themseleves!!

I used two spare centercaps I had laying around, in the first pic you see the "almost chrome" on the right, and the Elektra Chrome on the left. In the second pic along with the hubcaps is an actual chrome plated piece for comparison.

This was my first shot at using the stuff and it turned out a little rough and I know with a little more practice I could make it look much better. Also, it does not yet have a gloss clear powdercoat on it yet which would probably bring out the shine even more.

I estimated the total cost for this piece to be about $5.50, and about 30 minutes in labor (not counting the time the piece is in the oven).

So needless to say I will doing a lot more of my parts under the hood with this stuff!!

 

[Ozz]

Looks much better, the "almost chrome" is laughable. My powdercoater has some special chrome that I do on brackets for people, but it only works well when the piece is flat (otherwise depth/reflection is non-existant).

how's the depth & reflection on your method? Just curious.

 

[speedytang]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!
Now who sells this product, I want some...LOL
Please Tell

 

[caseywan]

Looks much better, the "almost chrome" is laughable. My powdercoater has some special chrome that I do on brackets for people, but it only works well when the piece is flat (otherwise depth/reflection is non-existant).

how's the depth & reflection on your method? Just curious.

The depth and reflection depends very much on the basecoat and the final clear coat. The better the basecoat is, the better the results will be. On this piece my basecoat was a little poor. I also did not put a clear powder coat on it yet, and I think that will help a lot.

The piece I just did does not have quite the depth and reflection of an actual chrome plated piece, but it is very very close. I really think with more practice I could get it nearly identical to chrome!

 

[Ozz]

That'd be sweet

For brackets and smaller stuff, that as it is would be tremendous!

 

[caseywan]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!
Now who sells this product, I want some...LOL
Please Tell

It's fairly simple actually. You must begin with a very high gloss, glasslike, black powdercoated basecoat. I use ColumbiaCoatings.com Super Mirror Black, which is about the glossiest black you can get.

Once you've powdercoated it with the gloss black, you then airbrush on a chrome acrylic paint. I have 2 different chrome paints right now and am going to experiment to see which one works better. The one I used in the pictures above is called Motochrome and is availabe here http://www.motostorm.com/gpage11.html. The second one I purchased is what the powdercoater uses that told me about this process. It is made by the same company, Motostorm, but the guy I spoke with at Motostorm told me the two are a little different. It is available here: http://www.innate.com/Paint/Chrome/Chrome.htm. The guy I spoke with at Motostorm seemed to think that they Motochrome would give better results for what I am doing, but we will see.

When airbrushing it on, use only about 30psi, and adjust the spray to where you can barely see it coming out the end and put on in very thin coats, waiting about 45 seconds to a minute between each coat. Just keep putting coats on until you reach the look you want, usually takes about 10+ coats. Then let it dry for 15 minutes and take a clean cotton cloth and buff it or polish it. Right after you finish spraying, it will look a little foggy and not too impressive, but once you buff it, it really brings out the chrome.

Then let it cure for 24 hours and put a clear powdercoat on it.

I will be playing around with the stuff the next few days and will post more pics and stuff as I learn.

 

[caseywan]

That'd be sweet

For brackets and smaller stuff, that as it is would be tremendous!

I'm going to play around with it and then try some bigger stuff. I might try the water pump of my car or the PS bracket.

 

[4G-KDMP]

it's a nice alternative no doubt , but the clarity of chrome just doesn't seem to be there is what i see.