ZippityNZ":2vzz1ti2 said:
Is it acceptable to re-chrome a once non-chromed cap...
As with any restoration effort, up to you.
There's evidently no financial incentive to re-plate, and given the cost it's hard to justify except on a "I want to do this" basis. So if
you do, go for it.
ZippityNZ":2vzz1ti2 said:
...can a previously chromed cap be safely stripped of chrome using a wire wheel or sanding?
As to safety, well you certainly don't want to be breathing in any amount of chrome dust.
You can get back to bare metal as mentioned in one of your previous threads, but it's generally a heck of a lot of work. In addition to the obvious areas that are more difficult, the edges, to do the job properly you really need to take the lever off. And many rarely or never punch out the pin that secures the Y-lever which is loads easier to find and remove!
Wire wheeling I suppose might be able to do it but I think the plating would have to be nearly falling off already for this to be practical. I suppose an aggressive wire wheel running at high speed can take anything off but the more aggressive you go with wire-wheel work the more risky it becomes. Doesn't take much to do visible damage at angle-grinder speeds for example, I've seen scouring of surfaces on YouTube restoration vids dozens of times and a lever cap is a small enough part (not something massive like a vice) that this level of damage could be catastrophic.
I think for the safety of the part you're looking at using sanding, with maybe some file work for tricky spots.
You should probably sand back to bare metal at least once to see whether you want to adopt it as a regular thing; I suspect you'll find that you won't want to do it every time the plating isn't 100%, that's certainly my position after de-plating two lever caps!
It is a shame it's so difficult to remove plating once it starts to fail because it's very unsightly and if you want a uniform appearance again it's an all-or-nothing proposition.
), but cannot find an answer.
