RE: IML: Mobile detailers plate, they don't anodize

["Rob McCall" <Rob_Mopar@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Anodizing is similar to plating, but in a reversed process.  The aluminum
piece is the anode.  When the current it passed through it (in the acid
bath) the surface oxidizes.  This oxidation layer is made up of hexagonal
cones.  The cones are microscopic.  The colors applied to the aluminum piece
are dies that soak into these cones.  Once the desired color is achieved,
the piece is sealed.

To chrome, nickel, copper, gold, etc. plate an aluminum piece is a little
different than a steel part, and different from the anodizing process listed
above.  First off, the piece being plated is the cathode.  To plate
aluminum, the aluminum must be treated in a zinc acid bath first.  The acid
will strip off any oxidation on the aluminum (that will inhibit the plate
from sticking), and the zinc will seal the piece so it doesn't oxidize.  The
zinc is stripped off the piece as it is lowered into the copper bath.

Since I'm not all that familiar with the earlier Imperial trim, I'm betting
the pieces were anodized aluminum.  This would be in line with other cars
I've seen, and the "jet age" influence over auto designs during that time.

I haven't seen the mobile detailer equipment, but they may be using brush
plating, which is another animal all together.

I doubt few, if any, new vehicle emblems are aluminum, or any other base
metal.  All that I have encountered are plated plastic.  Even the chrome
door handles on the PT Cruiser are plated plastic.  It's using a better
system than the old Mylar plastic wrap "chrome" that came on the scene in
the '60's & 70's.  By the late '80's the manufacturers figured out a way to
make it work (different plastic formulas, plating process, etc.).  I would
bet the chromed plastic on a '91 Imperial hold up much better than a similar
piece on an '81.

Rob McCall
'67 LeBaron 

-----Original Message-----
From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kenyon Wills
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 1:06 PM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: IML: Mobile detailers plate, they don't anodize

Careful on that mobile detailer source:  That process
is gold plating using electrical current and a liquid
bath that has gold particulate suspended in it that
adheres/plates the emblem.  

It only works with Chrome or steel as far as I know,
might work on aluminum, but will give a non-stock,
glitzy vega$ look.  

Very few auto emblems these days are aluminum because
it is such a soft metal that deforms easily.  The 1960
LeBaron emblems are murder to take off straight and
are scarce because people use too much force to remove
them and rip them up in the process of removal (ask me
how I know).

Chances are that the source to use will be in a
commercial park with giant vats that have electrical
currents running through them.  Wonderful chemical
aromas, but I wouldn't want to work there.  A distant
relative of the chroming process.

There was a mouthwash/toothpaste commercial awhile
back where they painted liquid onto a cylindrical
piece of white classroom chalk and then broke it in
half to reveal a cross-section where the mouth-goo had
soaked in below the surface?  Well that's what goes on
with anodizing as far as I understand it.  

The coloration is a dye of some sort that penetrates
the pores of the metal somehow and gives the lustre
that you see.  It happens due to mild electrical
current.  Scratch the surface and it's aluminum color
underneath - as seen on anodized bicycle rims where
the brake pad wears the surface down.

That's as good as I can do - it's been 15 years since
I was last dealing with that stuff, so this is all
from memory.

 

=====
Kenyon Wills
 
 






















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