Removing chrome

[68Timber]

I picked up a chrome bull bar out of the junk yard after a little digging on removing chrome. Seems to be a consensus that a sand blaster will take it all off. I don't think they were talking about my little hopper-fed blaster, it's not cutting the mustard. I hit it with the DA w/120 grit but don't want to blow through a bunch of pads if it won't do the job. Am I going to have to take this thing to someone with a real sand blaster?

Thx

[bk2life]

i always grind it off with 50/80 grit. but someomne can hit it with a high power blaster.

[68Timber]

I've got some 60 grit pads on now, you can see the metal flecks flying, but I don't know if I'm through the chrome or not. I've got 2" pads for the angle die grinder for the tight spots and stones for the welds, lots of work for an old bull bar but really I just want to know if I can remove chrome and paint it. Has anyone else tried it?

[hugger6933]

Yea, maybe even 36 grit on the little high speed grinder like you would use to grind back paint before pulling dents. It would blast through there but for goodness sake get some heavy sleeves on before doing this it is gonna sling those metal flecks everywhere. After you grind it off your gonna need to spend some time smoothing it all back out. The better thing to do may be try to dull the chrome enough with some 80 grit to give enough tooth to have some adhesion with primer and paint without removing the chrome. Have you looked into painting the chromeby doing any searches on that? I have seen it done with some amounts of success so it is doable. Jim

[68Timber]

I haven't done any searches on painting chrome, after finding out it'd sand blast off I didn't get past that. I ended up going over it with the white 40 grit pads on the DA and the red 60 grit pads on the 2" die grinder. Sparks flew. I went through two stones on the die grinder as well working the welds. I *think* I've got all the chrome off, but I'm taking it by a friends house in the morning for him to look and see what he thinks. He's got a new project with some rusted chrome parts that he wants to strip and paint, so he's interested in the results as well.

I appreciate the feedback. I've taken some pics and will post them up tomorrow.

[68Timber]

Pics of my folly.

Out of the junkyard, after grinding and sanding, and in primer.

I'll paint it black next weekend then mount it. Then the wait and see will start.

[68Timber]

I moved the bull bar inside Sunday when I finished getting the primer on, checked it today with the thumbnail - it seems to have hardened up good. I'll paint it black this weekend. hugger6933, I wear Dickies long sleeve shirts + eye protection when needed, I'm getting old and need all I've got.

[68Timber]

Well, that didn't work. I should have stopped right after the second coat when I realized the first coat was too heavy. Any kind of bump takes the paint off. I should have stated up front this is a rattle-can job. Is it worth the trouble to start over with light coats?