Any Successful DIY chrome removals with a Supraphonic?? - Page 1

A friend of mine has a moderately pitted Supraphonic (S/N 44583) that he's had shelved for years. I sent him some pics of polished aluminums. He handed it over to me, telling me to give it a go - experiment to my hearts content with removing the chrome and going aluminum.

I know the consensus is "take it to a plating professional - it's worth it" and I couldn't agree more. But I'm wondering if any VDF members have done it and been happy with the results? Of course, then comes the "...and here's how I did it" (the good stuff Cool Dude). Then I'll decide whether to try to do it myself or take it to my local plating guys.

I have about 100 hours in front of a buffing wheel (bought one this winter to try taking the copper plating down to chrome on a set of 1966 Ludwig Copper timbales - left one copper with the other the underlying chrome) and feel pretty comfortable using it. Compounds, varied wheel compositions, yada yada yada - but it would definitely be a much more difficult challenge. I also have a full compliment of lab acids available, and the right personal protective equipment and training to use them (had a Frankenstein's lab a few months back, successfully removing 25 year old bat guano damage from a vintage 20" Zildjian K - **hint** phosphoric acid and a paint by number brush :)

Here's what I've read in the past 3 weeks....

Acetone:

1. Submersing in acetone for at least 2 hours will remove the chrome.

2. Acetone has no effect

Sandblasting:

1. Left the aluminum in the best state for re-plating

2. Will trash the aluminum beneath

Muriatic Acid:

1. 30% mix with water will get excellent results

2. Don't use muriatic acid under any circumstances - it will ruin the aluminum.

you get my point....Drum guys, Harley guys, RC Car guys, machine shop guys...its all become just noise after three months of searching.

I'm just really nervous to attempt anything without some reliable feedback - which is what VDF does best!

By the way....will someone tell me how this serial number (44583) fits into the Ludwig timeline?

1964 9XXX - 33449

1965 108532 - 259XXX

Thanks everybody.

Take it to a plating shop that has all the necessary tanks set-up along with the polishing machines to make the aluminum shine like chrome.

Why mess with toxic, dangerous solvents and acids? The plating shops meet *OSHA standards (*one can only hope anyway,) and they'll do the job right the first time. It's worth it to pay professionals who are set-up to do it.

If it was your drum and something goes wrong, no harm done. Mess up on somebody else's drum and you'll feel bad about it. Even if you can replace it, you'll feel bad about it. It's always nice to have 'somebody else' to sue/blame if things take a bad turn. I've had several shells stripped and polished this way. Even the plating shops can't guarantee that the shell will not accidentally dissolve in one of the tanks. I say let somebody else do it.

Eliminate the grief factor...

John - The voice of experience :p