Removing Chrome Chemically?

[WillB2004]

is there a chemical way to remove chrome and other metal plate without sandblasting?

[Toocon]

De-Chroming

I picked this out of Caswell's Front Page in the "pick a kit" section.

I quote "Chrome cannot be plated onto. You must strip the existing chrome using an acid solution consisting of 2 parts water to 1 part muriatic or hydrochloric acid. ALWAYS ADD ACID TO WATER. Chrome plate can also be buffed or blasted off.

Usually, under a chrome plate is a nickel plate. If you are careful, you can remove the chrome and leave the underlying nickel plate intact. Refer to the manual for more instructions."

Hope this helps.

Mike

[tomd7735]

Re: Removing Chrome Chemically?

De-chroming sounds easy enough, but would it help to apply current? And then, how to get the nickel and copper off? I have corroded '67 Triumph cases, all the way down to the base aluminum.
Tom ;-D

[cprocess]

Re: Removing Chrome Chemically?

Chrome is plated in very thin deposits so should not be a problem to remove. Since the base metal is aluminum, the muriatic acid solution as stated above would be the best method. If you are completely certain that the base metal is aluminum, you can use 50% nitric acid / water to strip the copper and nickel. If the part is not aluminum but steel, the nitric acid will dissolve the steel so please verify with a magnet. If you do not want to use nitric acid, there are proprietary chemicals on the market that will strip this without the hazardous fumes of nitric acid.