Chrome Plating Handwheels

[Carroll Courtney]

Has anybody ever had their table saw handwheels chrome plated?Mine just has spot rust,but some places the chrome is coming off.I would like to have them replated,but I would like to use someone that has been recommended from someone here.I have done a search but just car places has come up wanting to do large expensive projects.I guess I could clean them up and paint them.I would like to get some kind of ideal how much the cost is and where to shipped? Toying with the ideal.

[Dwayne Watt]

Try searching for an industrial plating house that also does electroless nickel and hard chrome plating. A one-off plating job might not be cheap, but shouldn't be ridiculous like the show car platers. Nickel and chromium prices have gotten very high in the past year or two, so don't look for any freebies.
Good Luck

[CPeter James]

How about replacing them. MSC direct has new ones for what it will cost you to get yours replated.

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/GSDRVSM?PACACHE=000000048381887

[Carroll Courtney]

Now thats what I'm talking about.Thanks CPeter.

[Lee Schierer]

Plating costs are figured by the total surface area of the piece being plated and then multiplied by a price per square inch. There are sometime set up fees to make a rack to hold the part in the plating tank.

If my memory serves correctly, to do chrome plating, they will need to strip the old piece of all plating and finish in an acid bath, then plate it with copper, then nickel then chrome so you are actually paying for three layers. The chrome won't stick well to the steel or the copper, so they apply the nickel. The copper gives better conductivity than bare steel or cast iron. You can get almost as nice a surface finish with electroless nickel. It won't be the shiny chrome, but it will be silver colored and very rust resistant for a fraction of the cost.

[David Tiell]

If you should decide to have yours plated, I would recommend "Advanced Plating" in Nashville, TN (Google them for contact info). I had some small emblems done for my car, and they did a great job. It cost me $85 each to plate them, though, which isn't cheap, but they are smaller than TS handwheels, so I would suspect they would also do them.

Dave

[Eric Haycraft]

I would be amazed if it cost more than like 20 bucks to strip and plate those. They run jobs in batches and can do many different parts at once, so there is almost no labor cost. If you can't find a place locally and want to send it out, check out these guys. I have never used them, but a company that I used to work for sent tons of parts to them. Google "Superior Plating". They are located in Minneapolis.

[Matt Meiser]

As an alternative, consider wire wheeling them with a fine brass while wheel. Then coat with a clear finish. like lacquer They'll look good and its cheap, even if you need to redo it after a couple years.