SuzukiSavage.com - Chroming repaired tank?

arteacher Serious Thumper Offline Ride as if your naked and invisable! Posts: 2581 London ontario Gender:	Chroming repaired tank? 12/06/11 at 07:05:23 My tank has a small ding in it. If it was repaired with lead instead of bondo could it still be chrome plated? Or do I have to get a good tank?
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MotoBuddha

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Re: Chroming repaired tank?
Reply #1 - 12/06/11 at 07:23:38

No. Chroming is also called electroplating, because an electrical current is used to deposit metal molecules on a surface. Lead is a crappy conductor of electricity.

On top of that, a soft metal like lead is never going to have the same surface quality as a hard metal, like steel, so even if you could get a good chrome finish on lead, you'd always be able to tell where the repair is.

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teabowl13

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Re: Chroming repaired tank?
Reply #2 - 12/06/11 at 10:15:47

I will get the link and re-post it here shortly, but My buddy in Mass who is building my bike showed me a video of a friend of his who has a new paint process that is virtually indistinguishable from real chrome, but it's painted on and chemically treated. This means that you can effectively "Chrome" any thing that you can paint.
I'll have him send me the link to the video; Chroming my tank was that very first thing I thought of when I saw it...

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teabowl13 Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 535	Re: Chroming repaired tank? Reply #3 - 12/06/11 at 10:20:17 This is basically the same system... Amazingly, it's all water-based, and supposedly Earth friendly! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3kwkki0bMk
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Demin Serious Thumper Offline We need more chlorine in the gene pool Posts: 2435 Warren,Ohio Gender:	Re: Chroming repaired tank? Reply #4 - 12/07/11 at 05:10:45 ALSA Corp. are the ones that make chrome paint.It looks very good,but it's not quite chrome.It looks like high polished stainless.
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bill67 Serious Thumper Offline old tired Posts: 8517 genoa city wisconsin Gender:	Re: Chroming repaired tank? Reply #5 - 12/07/11 at 05:33:58 teabowl13 wrote on 12/06/11 at 10:20:17: This is basically the same system... Amazingly, it's all water-based, and supposedly Earth friendly! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3kwkki0bMk That seems to work real good and looks easy.
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teabowl13

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Re: Chroming repaired tank?
Reply #6 - 12/07/11 at 10:34:15

bill67 wrote on 12/07/11 at 05:33:58:

teabowl13 wrote on 12/06/11 at 10:20:17:

This is basically the same system... Amazingly, it's all water-based, and supposedly Earth friendly!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3kwkki0bMk

That seems to work real good and looks easy.

It does look super easy in the video. It takes a few days I think with full cure time. Not really sure about that, and it does get a clear coat over the layer you see in the video.
My friend Jay says the guy who does it paid $10,000 for the equipment at his shop...

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MotoBuddha Serious Thumper Offline Let's roll! Posts: 1416 Charlotte, NC	Re: Chroming repaired tank? Reply #7 - 12/07/11 at 11:41:13 I imagine surface preparation is very important. It can probably be only be as smooth as the surface it goes on.
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teabowl13 Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 535	Re: Chroming repaired tank? Reply #8 - 12/07/11 at 11:53:20 I think that's true. You can see in the video... That stuff goes on like water. The coating is super thin. Almost any tiny flaw could show, but whoever does the job should know that and prep accordingly.
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MotoBuddha Serious Thumper Offline Let's roll! Posts: 1416 Charlotte, NC	Re: Chroming repaired tank? Reply #9 - 12/07/11 at 13:01:54 Then we're back to what I wrote above about steel and lead having different surface properties.
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teabowl13

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Re: Chroming repaired tank?
Reply #10 - 12/07/11 at 13:11:39

MotoBuddha wrote on 12/07/11 at 13:01:54:

Then we're back to what I wrote above about steel and lead having different surface properties.

Except that this is a PAINT process, it's NOT really chrome; so the tank could be repaired with bondo, or any other such normal body repair stuff and sanded out to hide any surface flaws, so there wouldn't be any need to patch anything with lead at all, right?

I know it's not really chrome, but I brought it up because it's a close alternative that could work; especially in this case... on a tank that would normally be painted anyway.

I'm not sure if there is an effective way to repair a tank that could then take real chrome; lead or otherwise...

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MotoBuddha Serious Thumper Offline Let's roll! Posts: 1416 Charlotte, NC	Re: Chroming repaired tank? Reply #11 - 12/07/11 at 13:21:44 True that.
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