Stripping / Sandblasting chrome,

[Garage_guy_chris]

Ok up to now ive just made do stripping small amounts of chrome with glass bead. but now i have to do 2 rims and a front fender im estimating 6-10 hours worth of sandblasting with the glass bead. The chrome is just too tough and just powders the glass bead and takes freekin forever. Im looking for a better blast media or some sort of chemical stripper for the chrome. I was thinking of trying aluminum oxide or blast furnace slag any suggestions?

 

[Big R]

Chrome can be a beast. What kind of booth are you using? I use straight up play sand ($5 for 50 pounds) but i do it outside with a respirator.

 

[SrgtBear]

I've tried strait play sand with a Harbor Freight Blaster and didn't have great success with it. You need a good blaster setup for that stuff. I've had some really great success stripping stuff with Black Aluminum Oxide on a basic run of the mill blaster. From what I've read and experienced you should only worry about warp-age on really thin metal pieces. Your fenders should be nice and strong.

And always use a respirator and eye protection. Last thing you want is Silicosis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis

 

[Big R]

I didnt even think of it, but there's some kind of acid you can use on chrome too - but i have no experience with it.

 

[Midcoastcustoms]

Ok up to now ive just made do stripping small amounts of chrome with glass bead. but now i have to do 2 rims and a front fender im estimating 6-10 hours worth of sandblasting with the glass bead. The chrome is just too tough and just powders the glass bead and takes freekin forever. Im looking for a better blast media or some sort of chemical stripper for the chrome. I was thinking of trying aluminum oxide or blast furnace slag any suggestions?

Muriatic acid will strip chrome but not the copper and nickel underneath which 99% of the plating consists of. Call some shops and check prices for them to strip. I have had good luck with black magic sandblasting media but it takes a LONG time. Why are you planning to strip in the first place? If you want to paint just use self-etching primer followed by high-build filler primer than paint as you normally would.

 

[teazer]

Take the rims to a plating shop and ask them to strip them. The process is the reverse of plating and doesn't take long.

They could also polish and re-plate the rims if you want a shiny chrome look.

 

[Garage_guy_chris]

I tried the muratic acid this afternoon brushed it on at full strength from the bottle (33%) let it turn yellowish then hose it off, did that three times then made a baking soda/water solution to stop the reaction. After i was done it didn't look like it did much, but after i tried blasting it, went like butter, took like 20mins VS. 3hrs like the front rim which i stripped with sand only...