Electroless finish quality?

[UrineMachine]

I recently contacted a business about doing some plating for me and the guy said that electroless, which is all they do at said company, is a more dull blasted type finish like stainless steel rather than a high polish bright silver.

Is this true? If so, I guess I need to research more because I am after the decorative finish.

[Inferno]

It depends on the type of electroless nickel plating as well as the preplate finish. Generally high phosphorus deposits are duller. The mid phosphorus types can be bright depending on the preplate preparation (polishing vs bead blasting). Electroless Krome can be very shiny if the base metal is polished.

[crob241]

I have done both EL nickle and regular nickle, EL copy chrome, Regular copy chrome.The end product depends on the polish job, a high polish gets a polished finiish, a dull polish or blasted prep gets a dull finish. The only difference between copy chrome and nickle is a slight blue or yellow tint. The electroless process in my experience gives a more even coating.

[UrineMachine]

Originally Posted by crob241

I have done both EL nickle and regular nickle, EL copy chrome, Regular copy chrome.The end product depends on the polish job, a high polish gets a polished finiish, a dull polish or blasted prep gets a dull finish. The only difference between copy chrome and nickle is a slight blue or yellow tint. The electroless process in my experience gives a more even coating.

Would you be interested in doing some bolts for me?

[sross]

Originally Posted by UrineMachine

I recently contacted a business about doing some plating for me and the guy said that electroless, which is all they do at said company, is a more dull blasted type finish like stainless steel rather than a high polish bright silver.

Is this true? If so, I guess I need to research more because I am after the decorative finish.

BS! What you start with is what you get. I use it on high polish all the time. They don't want to do the work.

Seth

[chromo]

Ya, if you blast and plate you get a dull part finish then a dull plate finish, just like the part was dull before the plating.
Buff and polish the part till it shines like a mirror then plate and you get a mirror finish like the part was before plating.

Works about the same for most things, paint or whatever, the finished job only looks as good as the part under it. So like painting, if the part is all scratched up, scrapes, dents and dinged, rough, etc... the paint over the junk part will also look as crappy as the part under the paint.