Nickle on aluminum

[gbtweedy]

Ok I did some searches and all of the posts I have found are pretty old and I am sure some things have changed

I make some motorcycle parts out of 6061 aluminum after CNC cutting them they are lightly sandblasted to remove any rough edges and then anodized. Well that is good for most customers but some like the "bling" stuff so I was looking into nickle plating and maybe gold plating at some point.

So the question is if I follow all of caswells instructions will a nickle plate over a smooth sandblasted surface be shiny. I would prefer not having to polish the parts first because then I could just clear anodize them and skip the nickle.

[mcaswell]

The substrate profile will be directly reflected through the nickel plate, dull in = dull out, shiny in = shiny out!

[gbtweedy]

So is there any plating technique that I could apply over a smooth sandblasted surface and have it come out shiny? Do they polish aluminum wheels before chrome plating? If so why chrome it, just for the easier maintenance?

[lcaswell]

It must be polished first.

Chrome plating keeps it's shine for years. Polished aluminum dulls within weeks.