Page 2 of 2

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 1:48 am
by Douchebag
Thanks for the kind words. Like i said, I'm THINKING about it. I've done may a BAR replate, I wonder how they stay in business actually. The plating in those pics is riddled with bubbles...or they are very low quality pictures....can't really tell.

Here's some questions for you guys:
1. turn around time would be longer. What's acceptable to you?
2. The cost would go up. (more of a statement than a question)
3. in the beginning there would only be shiny chrome available. Satin would have to come later as I would need to re-formulate.Would this deter you?

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 7:43 am
by rhwestfall
would you do plating for parts other than DH cans (ie: single hose regulator parts)?

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 10:29 am
by dukenougat3d
I've done may a BAR replate, I wonder how they stay in business actually. The plating in those pics is riddled with bubbles...or they are very low quality pictures....can't really tell.
I finally managed to maintain steady contact with bruce over at bar plating and finally paid for my cans back, apologized for my incessant questions (me being as young as I am are not used to doing business that doesn't take the form of pressing a 'buy it now' button :P ).
These are the pics he sent me of the finished result. Looks good to me, but I'm not anywhere near an expert on judging chrome quality. Also I'm a bit nervous about how and what he did about the mushroom valve seat, which is where the most corrosion was. I should have asked for pics of that area, but I was already beginning to bother him with my questions, so now I gotta cross my fingers and hope for the best!

Image

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:05 am
by MK15diver
Douchebag the work you do is so amazing that waiting extra time and spending a bit more is worth it.

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:08 am
by MK15diver
dukenougat3d wrote:
I've done may a BAR replate, I wonder how they stay in business actually. The plating in those pics is riddled with bubbles...or they are very low quality pictures....can't really tell.
I finally managed to maintain steady contact with bruce over at bar plating and finally paid for my cans back, apologized for my incessant questions (me being as young as I am are not used to doing business that doesn't take the form of pressing a 'buy it now' button :P ).
These are the pics he sent me of the finished result. Looks good to me, but I'm not anywhere near an expert on judging chrome quality. Also I'm a bit nervous about how and what he did about the mushroom valve seat, which is where the most corrosion was. I should have asked for pics of that area, but I was already beginning to bother him with my questions, so now I gotta cross my fingers and hope for the best!

Image
Typically when they re-chrome something they strip off the existing chrome, nickle and copper finish and redue it. This removes alll corrosion sense corrosion is a surface thing anyway.

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:21 am
by MK15diver
Douchebag wrote:Thanks for the kind words. Like i said, I'm THINKING about it. I've done may a BAR replate, I wonder how they stay in business actually. The plating in those pics is riddled with bubbles...or they are very low quality pictures....can't really tell.

Here's some questions for you guys:
1. turn around time would be longer. What's acceptable to you?
2. The cost would go up. (more of a statement than a question)
3. in the beginning there would only be shiny chrome available. Satin would have to come later as I would need to re-formulate.Would this deter you?

Acceptable time for me would be maybe 4-6 weeks or depending on your time frame.
Cost increase is not an issue as your work is worth it.
Shiny chrome, satin chrome and gold plating too if you can? I want to do a two-tone regulator.

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 12:48 am
by Douchebag
MK15diver wrote:
dukenougat3d wrote:
I've done may a BAR replate, I wonder how they stay in business actually. The plating in those pics is riddled with bubbles...or they are very low quality pictures....can't really tell.
I finally managed to maintain steady contact with bruce over at bar plating and finally paid for my cans back, apologized for my incessant questions (me being as young as I am are not used to doing business that doesn't take the form of pressing a 'buy it now' button :P ).
These are the pics he sent me of the finished result. Looks good to me, but I'm not anywhere near an expert on judging chrome quality. Also I'm a bit nervous about how and what he did about the mushroom valve seat, which is where the most corrosion was. I should have asked for pics of that area, but I was already beginning to bother him with my questions, so now I gotta cross my fingers and hope for the best!

Image
Typically when they re-chrome something they strip off the existing chrome, nickle and copper finish and redue it. This removes alll corrosion sense corrosion is a surface thing anyway.
True...but the real worth of a restorative plater is his ability to fix the effects of corrosion, damage, age, etc. For the record, USD didn't copper plate. Of all the regs I've done I haven't seen copper under the nickel. I'm not sure about Healthways. About 95% of the time it takes me to do a job is mostly repair; soldering holes, repairing cracks, filling in surface corrosion, hammering out dents and bent horns, making sure all the lines are correct and then polishing to a mirror finish. The plating itself takes literally minutes
MK15diver wrote:
Douchebag wrote:Thanks for the kind words. Like i said, I'm THINKING about it. I've done may a BAR replate, I wonder how they stay in business actually. The plating in those pics is riddled with bubbles...or they are very low quality pictures....can't really tell.

Here's some questions for you guys:
1. turn around time would be longer. What's acceptable to you?
2. The cost would go up. (more of a statement than a question)
3. in the beginning there would only be shiny chrome available. Satin would have to come later as I would need to re-formulate.Would this deter you?

Acceptable time for me would be maybe 4-6 weeks or depending on your time frame.
Cost increase is not an issue as your work is worth it.
Shiny chrome, satin chrome and gold plating too if you can? I want to do a two-tone regulator.
Can't do gold. I promised Bryan I wouldn't do another reg in gold. If it's a grey area we'll have to discuss with Bryan. But other plates might be do-able. I did a non-mag for Ron and one in black chrome for somebody (name escapes me right now. I'm old. Blome)...custom finishes wouldn't be out of the realm of reason. But as the name suggests, "custom" means mo money. It's like the old adage, "Speed costs money. How fast you want to go?"

Like I said...I'm thinking right now.

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 10:42 am
by dukenougat3d
I'm not sure about Healthways.
I can confirm that Healthways does copper plate thier regulators, assuming mine hasn't been replated at any point prior to me owning it, There was a quite a lot of scartches and a few pits. The main problem was the mushroom valve seat - the spokes were very bent up and the stem ring warped inwards and I did my best to straighten them as much as possible prior to sending the cans off, Whether or not bruce took the time to straighten them even more is what will be the icing on the cake for me here.

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 4:43 pm
by Bryan
Douchebag wrote:
Can't do gold. I promised Bryan I wouldn't do another reg in gold.
I Thank You and so does the one and only gold plated Phoenix Royal Aqua Master Even though you put so many other intricate details on the regulator that I doubt it could be duplicated anyway.

Fixing a piece for an original gold Royal or on a non magnetic would be no big deal though...

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 2:14 pm
by dukenougat3d
Just got my cans back from BAR Plating today. I must say, Bruce did a really nice job on the outside, but unfortunately the inside leaves a bit to be desired - tons and tons of irregularities in the finish, barely even polished anything inside (if at all), and nothing done to attempt to further straighten out the mushroom valve seat spider, as I was afraid of. But still happy with the outside.

Currently waiting on a Hope-Page Non-Return Mouthpiece Valve bought from The Scuba Museum and will soon be buying some 1" EPDM Hoses and a Gum Rubber Mouthpiece to finish off this gal. Despite bumps in the road, I think I'm doing okay for my first rebuild.

Image Image
Evidence of pitting and corrosion left unattended to around the mushroom valve seat.
Image
ImageImage

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 3:16 pm
by SurfLung
Before and After Photos...
Image
Image
- I was going to try and do this myself... I stripped off the chrome and then used an expensive gunsmith nickel stripper to get it down to bare brass. Next step was repairing the holes with solder... I actually wasn't even thinking about filling the corrosion pits. I was in over my head and quite relieved when Dave agreed to do the job for me. As you can see, holes and corrosion are gone and the plating job is absolutely perfect.

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 6:42 pm
by eskimo3883
I have seen several re-chromed cans from Douchebag including a few where he repaired cracks and dents. Side-by-side comparisons show his formula for shiny and for dull chrome are dead-on to true vintage regs. I purchased a very torn up VR1 that he re-chromed in both dull and shiny chrome and posted some pics. VR-1 labels are aluminum and mine was corroded so my post also shows Dave's repro label in SS. I compared Dave's SS VR-1 label to my vintage VR-2 label and its dead on including paint color. All about the details.

My VR-1 post:
http://www.vintagedoublehose.com/forum/ ... f=4&t=6573

Another happy camper (note hole repair in cans...):
http://vintagescuba.proboards.com/threa ... vr1?page=1

Re: Regulator Can Rechroming

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 11:51 pm
by dukenougat3d
That's astounding! If only he were around before I was already looking into BAR plating. For what I paid them, the job wasn't worth it imo. The insides weren't given very much care.