Stunning process of chroming things (perhaps nothing new)

[skynet]

Found this some days ago during my search for molding materials for some of my projects:

http://www.imperialsurfacetechnologies.com/imperial_chrome_vid_starwars_helmet.cfm

Same goes with gold. Imagine your Endo head kits or other Terminator props chromed with that kind of process, not to mention C3PO.

Now the bad thing is the price for the chemicals...although they do sell them seperately they start at 900 bucks.

Sadly :cry

 

[ItsThatGuy]

The process is not new, I believe they are saying that machine is. Everytime I see that process, it looks so simple. No technique at all.

 

[skynet]

So how does it work? Looks like they don't work with paint but with two different chemicals and a special base coat which react with each other?

 

[vaderdarth]

That's the first time I truly thought the end result looked like Chrome with a paint based system.

 

[clancampbell]

I was extremely impressed, the end result was almost magical!

Rich

 

[IFA]

Yes, I would like to "understand" more !!!! :confused

 

[replicaprops]

It is not paint.
This is the process used to make mirrors.

First the object is painted with a base coat of extremely smooth black nitro lacquer as a primer.

Then it is cleaned with acid

Then rinsed with purified water

Then a dual head mixing gun sprays on silver nitrate and an activator

Then it is rinsed with purified water

then what they did not show is a clear coat of nitro lacquer.
This step is the hardest part and reduces the reflectivity by 25%. Dye can be added to the clear coat to simulate colors and gold, copper brass etc.

The main problem with this process is the silver deposit is not flexible and if you use it on a object that can flex or expands and contracts in different temperatures the silver over lay will fracture and orange peel.

 

[womo68]

man it looks like they use a ton of that stuff......making me wonder how much it would be to do something like a full 3po?!?!

 

[Imahomer]

Wow... it does look like magic!!! And it does look like they use an awful lot of that stuff!

 

[mudshark]

It looks to be similar to the process that was used for the Daft Punk helmets over in this thread. (There's a link to some video in that post.)

 

[IFA]

It is not paint.
This is the process used to make mirrors.

First the object is painted with a base coat of extremely smooth black nitro lacquer as a primer.

Then it is cleaned with acid

Then rinsed with purified water

Then a dual head mixing gun sprays on silver nitrate and an activator

Then it is rinsed with purified water

then what they did not show is a clear coat of nitro lacquer.
This step is the hardest part and reduces the reflectivity by 25%. Dye can be added to the clear coat to simulate colors and gold, copper brass etc.

The main problem with this process is the silver deposit is not flexible and if you use it on a object that can flex or expands and contracts in different temperatures the silver over lay will fracture and orange peel.

Waoh !!!!!! Very interesting......I suppose the guy has to be very careful when spraying that kind of chemicals towards his hand, explaining the use of a glove :cool

 

[belloq]

That flexibility is important for replicas which are expected to look great over a long period in a collection. If this spray-on metalizing process is not flexible enough to tolerate material expansion/contraction over time, what process has better tolerance- vacuum metalization?

By the way, I've seen these spray-on metallic finishes on things like helmets, motorcycles, car parts, etc. If they are using the spray finish for those types of moving exterior-use items, shouldn't we assume that the finish is robust/flexible?

 

[Hirohawa]

Looks cool being sprayed on.

 

[wackychimp]

Wow. That's a lotta overspray for $900 worth of chemicals.