TheSamba.com :: View topic - De-chroming and powdercoating

Sat Jan 17, 2015 2:19 pm

Has anuone ever attempted to dis-assemble, sandblast (in order to de-chrome) then painted or powder coated a set of NEW stock door handles or deck lid latches? ANY and ALL feedback is greatly appreciated......wanting to have black door handles, deck lid latch, bumpers (purchased new and primered already) and possibly chrome/aluminum around rear pop out windows ALL black!

Sat Jan 17, 2015 4:40 pm

I tried to sandblast chrome wheels & my pressure sand blaster wouldn't blast the chrome off of them! :shock:

Sat Jan 17, 2015 5:04 pm

Read this post and a few after it for some recent feedback from some Split Bus members:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7502770#7502770

Sun Jan 18, 2015 3:39 am

Ah, now it's starting to make sense. Saw your question in the Late Beetle forum .

As for stripping chrome away from new parts, it wouldn't be entirely economical if you're working on a later ('68-70's) bug. New painted handles can still be purchased.

Tell us what your working on. '68-79 later Bug? Ghia??

Assuming it is a late model, and if you have Paypal (or have a friend who owns an account that would gladly help) -- contact Antonio Trejo.
He supplies black Genuine VW new door handles and a locking decklid latch.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=84077
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/pix/4854794.jpg
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/pix/4854793.jpg

Or for new Aftermarket black handles, try Cip1: http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC%2D113%2D837%2D205%2DMB

On other parts, follow advice given in the link Everett posted.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:05 am

As for the high cost of chemically stripping chrome.....its almost always higher than what you think.
It also depends upon what state the chrome stripper is located in.

The cost of getting rid of the stripping vat chemicals is astronomical in many places. Typically in can be in the neighborhood of $850-$2000 a drum.

The two most popular chemical methods being hydrochloric acid dip or reverse electroplate using Chromic acid, Sulfuric acid and water with electricity.

Both of those methods produce waste you cannot just pour down the drain.

And no...you cannot just use baking soda or caustic soda to neutralize the hydrochloric acid and then pour it down the drain.

You and I can do that at our house (the EPA has a household exemption on treatments like that...but your local water department may not extend this exemption so be careful)

However....ANY business that does this without and EPA permit for treatment of industrial effluent along with the requisite State and Federal EPA monitoring system, equipment, treatment tanks ....yada, yada, yada...is risking a fine that I can guarantee you would shut most businesses down permanently in less than 5 minutes. If they want to stick it to you....the fine could be close to 6 figures. They dont deal anymore.

.....you can in most areas do basic natural state PH neutralization (like acid with baking soda mentioned above)....but that does not get rid of the metallic ions and silt in this solution.
The only way to drop that level is by adding a ton of water after you neutralize the acid....and that is the point where you have just broken the law. Dilution is listed as treatment. You cannot do that unless you are a licensed treatment facility
This is why its expensive to chemically strip chrome. They have to balance the profit and cost with what it requires to get rid of the chemicals when they are spent. Ray