Wanted: old chromed swivel balls

[mepham55]

I’m looking for any pitted, old unusable swivel balls. I’m going to take some in and get them re-hard chromed and I’d like to do a few sets.

Matt

[rayhyland]

If I wanted to piggy back on your order and send in some of mine, would that be possible and if so what would it cost?


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[John]

Matt,

Out of curiosity what processes are you considering with regards to repairing any damage prior to having the chrome work done?

John

[mepham55]

Ray - I’ll let you know the price once I get the info from the company. It might not be worth it for you as I’m on the island and by the time you got the swivels to me it may be cheaper for you to use a company on the mainland.

John - I’m just beginning this venture so not entirely sure what I’ll use to fill the wear marks one the sets I have here. I’m taking a set in to show the company here and will ask them, I’m hoping I can get away with brazing the pits or Tig. I’m not too concerned if the filler is visible after chroming it’s more about the filler staying put!

Matt

[cbalme]

I have 3 but I want to use one for a special project. I'd be interested in trading them for an Owners and/or Parts Manual for Series 2.

[John]

Matt,

Many years ago my dad embarked on a similar project. He used a plastic steel putty from Devcon to make the repair but he never did finish the project and they are still waiting to be chromed. There are probably lots of similar meterials available these days. I know that Loctite have quite an extensive range of epoxy metal materials available but I don't know how any of them accept chrome. Who knows, they may work reasonably well without the addition of hard chrome plating.

John

[bsa_m21]

To fix the pitting, it is best to get the platers to do the repairs. Anything like epoxy based fillers are likely come out when they acid dip it to clean the swivel before they remove the old plating.

For the DIY folks, you can fill the pits with a bit of brazing and sand smooth. Though you have to remove the old plating before brazing. To remove, you can dip it in a 30-40% solution of muriatic acid until chrome strips off (will take a while) and then rinse really well with water. You can also do reverse electroplating, but that takes more chemicals, a battery charger, good ventilation, skill and time... :shock: )

M.

[John]

I don't think that I would trust platers to do a proper repair. They would probably just grind and polish the area out so you would lose the spherical profile and it would likely still leak.

[mel rover]

I have done a few balls for chroming back in the day and heres what you are up against.There are 2 types of chroming plating and hard plating.Regular plating is a cosmetic surface plating only and doesnt last long but is used by flippers and others who dont know any better for profit reasons.This is what gets done on bumpers,trim etc.The hard chrome plating is an in dustrial plating like that used on hydraulic cylinders and the chrome gets penetrated into the steel up to about 10 thousands of an inch deep.This is long lasting and solid.There are 2 ways of doing this on swivel balls and only one is right.British Chrome was a company doing them and they would grind down the ball and plat it there by reducing the diameter and you will have sealing problems and leaks.They were somewhere in the lower mainland and dont know if they are still around.The right way is to get the chrome strip from a reverse electrolysis method then the pits are filled with a silver sold and ground of sanded to the curvature needed and then the chrome plating gets done.This keeps the strength and quality chroming as per factory units and will last a long time.But its not cheap.I was pying $150 each back in the early 1990s to get them done.Dont remember who did them it was in Surrey and I dont think they are there anymore so youll have to ask around.The name Pacific Chroming comes to mind.Any place that does hydraulic cylinder chroming should be able to do it.
Andre from PortDouglas aka KingLandy