Okay, today we're going to be showing you how to do large chrome items.
It's probably one of the most
common questions that we get from people is,
How do I do a large item?
There's a couple really important things that you have to
know and you have to do just right. Otherwise you're going to encounter problems.
and problems are much harder to fix than just doing it right in the first place.
So we're going to go over doing that. The item we're going to be doing is this large wrench.
For the sake of time, we're sticking with this item instead of doing something like a wheel.
However, you can apply the same concepts
to a wheel, a bumper, anything as you can to this wrench.
I'm just going to quickly introduce the kit. This is the Universal Plater Chrome Edition.
Really it looks just like the regular Universal Plater but it's quite different.
You have the ability to strip chrome.
And this is called the Chrome Edition.
I already have the Chrome Stripper,
Surface Activator,
and 24k Brush Gold gel in there positions.
And we're actually ready to go.
To set up like that only takes about five or ten minutes. It's no big deal.
The handles come ready to go with these cotton sleeves already on them. You just
prep the sleeves a little. For more information on that check out our unboxing video for this very kit.
So I'm going to skip a lot of that because if you have any questions about that, just
refer to an unboxing video for the Universal Plater Chrome Edition.
Alright, let's get to it.
Our first step is to to chrome strip.
Now you got to make sure you're in Chrome Stripping mode.
There is chrome stripping and normal plating.
The only time you ever put it in chrome stripping mode is if you are stripping chrome.
Aside from that you always flip it to normal plating.
Okay so I'm gonna do from about here,
to here.
This area is what we're gonna focus on for the first section.
Okay, now as we start stripping,
You're gonna notice a color change, okay.
First you're going to see the solution turn yellow.
And then you're gonna see the piece kind of turn brown.
If you notice the difference between here and here, it's almost like a tan
brown.
Some people even describe it as it looks like it's turning gold but it's not. What it is
is we're removing the layer of chrome
that has been plated over the nickel.
If you try and put gold on the chrome, you will never get it to stick.
It's the number one cause of problems of people trying to plate.
See and I just flipped my brush just to get some more fresh solution on there.
Now the most calls we get for this kit are:
I'm getting a cloudiness or I'm getting a dark spot.
Really any issue that you have when you're doing a chrome item is due
to not stripping the chrome enough.
We really want to make sure that we get
every little bit of this chrome off, or else you will have a problem.
As you notice I'm going over it, and over it, and over it.
This has probably been long enough.
The telltale signs are it's turned tan everywhere.
So now what I'm going to do is take my spray bottle
and just rinse off the chrome stripper.
And then you watch how the water behaves.
This is something when I'm doing tech support I tell people you know if you,
if you notice over here on the chrome when I spray it.
What happens? the water beads up and just falls right off of it.
Over here it's staying wet.
Now after a minute it will start to bead as you see.
But if there's any concern which I have a tiny bit of concern over here
Just hit it longer. It's worth it to just take an extra minute
to make sure that you don't have an issue
Then have a problem and have to polish all the gold off and start over.
So I'm just hitting it a little bit more.
I'm pretty sure at this point it's perfectly stripped.
Down to the bare nickel.
At this point you may notice a little bit of discoloration don't worry about it.
If you see little dark smudges, I get calls here, there's these little clouds in it from stripping.
You'll notice in this next step those just vanish with the activator.
So now we come over here and we flip it to normal plating mode.
I already had it set at 7 volts, so we're just going to leave it there.
Grab the activator handle and come and activate that fresh nickel that we've just exposed.
Now when you're activating you just
quickly hit it. You're not going to notice that any sort of real reaction.
There is a light bubbling that happens but it's nothing dramatic.
You'll notice some of that darkness I was talking about vanish.
Make sure you activate beyond, into the chrome.
Okay that's, that's an important step and we'll talk about it more here in a minute.
Okay, that's activated. Just quickly run over everywhere don't
don't sit there and dwell on it. Just get it done.
Now that I've rinsed off the activator
We're gonna change the voltage
down to.. gold works anywhere between four and five.
For the sake of having it go on pretty quick, I'll set it up up near five.
And now this is the fun part.
You'll notice it, it quickly
turns gold and the higher the voltage is the quicker it goes on.
So you may ask well why not go higher? But
at some point you will burn it. So you just got to find the sweet spot for you.
Another key is to keep small circular motions. Notice how I'm constantly moving.
If I were just to stop and hold it there for long you will get a dark,
purple, pink burn spot.
If that happens it's not the end of the world. You can clean it up with baking soda.
Just put some baking soda and water on it.
and polish it up a little and that burn spot will be gone.
Okay now the important part.
If you notice right here is chrome.
Next to that is nickel.
And then I have the gold that I plated down here.
Do not gold plate up to the chrome.
That is the number one mistake that is made by people.
Leave yourself what I call a buffer zone.
Leave about a half an inch to an inch of area
That is exposed nickel that you are not plating onto.
That is one of the reasons this video is being made. I cannot emphasize it enough.
Do not gold plate up to the chrome. You will get a line.
I get the question: Why am I getting a white line or a dark line? and that's exactly why
because they tried to gold plate up right to it.
Leave a big buffer.
Okay now we've gold-plated that area.
You're gonna see once they clean it off, it looks a
lot better when that gel is not on there.
It's a beautiful 24k gold.
The longer you plate the thicker it gets.
And so if you were doing a piece of jewelry you would
plate it longer. If it's a car emblem it doesn't really have to be thick but
that's up to you as the plater.
Now the question comes, okay I've got this gold, I've got this little nickel,
How do I merge the two sections?
And that's the second purpose of this video.
The way you're gonna do that is you're going to pick a section I always recommend baby steps.
So I'm gonna say about the same size.
Up to this 15 is going to be wear i'm going to strip.
But that means I'll activate up to there, but only gold plate to about the H.
So here we go.
I put it back into chrome stripping mode.
Flipping that switch.
And I'm gonna go ahead and set the voltage ahead of time
to 7 volts. just so it's already there for the activation step.
Here i go with the chrome stripping the same thing again.
Gonna start up high and let the chemicals kind of drip down that's just a little
secret. It doesn't matter too much.
Come right down to where we have gold plated and into the gold.
Okay, you want to strip into the gold. Look it's not gonna hurt it.
Not gonna do anything.
You will notice a little bit of a dark spot
forming right there at the edge of the gold.
Not concerning.
It'll go away when we activate and when you gold plate you won't even see it.
So again go over it for a good minute or two.
Really overdo it. And when you feel like you've done it long enough, do it longer.
Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and get the sides too a little bit, for a sec.
Now I think this has been long enough.
And so I'm gonna rinse it and check for water breaks.
Make sure it stays what we call wet out.
Make sure all the chrome strippers off.
Down here in this area it's breaking a little, so I think I'm gonna
hit it just a tiny bit longer because I don't want a problem right there.
And now I'm fairly positive that all that chrome is gone.
Much better.
Alright, now we switch to normal plating mode again.
So now we're going to activate that freshly exposed nickel.
Again, just quickly go over it.
You'll notice that dark spot lightens up. It may not completely go away but don't worry about it.
Usually stuff does not cover up with gold plating but in this situation
where two spots merge, if you do it right and if you overlap as we've been talking about.
It'll cover up.
If you don't and if you plated it right up to the edge, that's when the line is going to show up.
So I'm rinsing off the activator and now turn my voltage down
to about five volts. We'll go a little higher this time. It'll go on a little quicker
And let's put the gold on. Start here.
We'll start down here.
And you'll notice right at first the gold is a little dark.
It's kind of a phenomenon that really no one can explain why, but after about
I don't know, one minute or two it changes back to its regular color.
Just freshly deposited gold is slightly different so don't freak out when right at first it
looks darker. It's not burning.
Give it another minute or two and it'll be gone.
Now I'm leaving a buffer zone up at the top as you see, another about 1/2 inch.
And I just quickly go over the whole area just to put a thin layer of gold.
For the sake of time, again, we're just going to
leave it at that because it's already as gold as it's gonna get.
On that note, plating longer will not make it more gold.
once it's opaque, it's opaque.
That's it, that's the gold it's gonna be.
Luckily it's a nice rich gold, with our gold.
Now I plated into, as you see, I could come all the way down in here if I want.
Into to make sure that, those areas merged well.
But I did leave that buffer zone again.
Fresh gold, fresh nickel, Chrome.
Now I come up, rinse it all off.
And look at that
No line.
No issue.
It looks great.
It all merged together seamlessly.
I could continue on and do the exact same thing again.
But I think you probably get the point.
You know, it's the same thing I would just strip
At this point, I'd turn the wrench around.
And clip it or touch it somewhere over here.
Strip down here all the way.
Activate up into the gold.
Then gold plate into the gold and the whole rest of the area.
Now again, it doesn't matter if it's a wrench, a wheel, a bumper,
same concepts apply.
If you're doing a wheel or a bumper, do not try and do the whole thing at once.
I promise you it will fail.
You will be very sad and you'll have to polish all that gold off and start over.
Pick little sections. I would recommend
maybe start out with a 2x2 section. Get it looking good.
If you merge another 2x2 and it looks good, then step up to maybe a 3x3.
Just don't, don't try to do to big of sections.
I think that pretty much covers everything I wanted to cover in this video.
But yeah, that's doing large Chrome pieces with the Universal Plater Chrome Edition.
And when you're done you can just wipe everything off, put the lids back on these,
take your brushes out, and store them away or some people like to clean their,
their cotton sleeves out. It's not necessary. And you're done.
It's a really easy, fun process.
Hope you enjoyed this video. Thank you.