How do I remove chrome?

How can I strip chrome off a small part? Small enough to fit in my ultrasonic cleaner.

I tried paint stripper, and it may have worked a little bit, but not much. Wire wheel knocked some loose stuff off, but again didn't do much.

Is there something I can soak a part in for a few days/run the ultrasonic cleaner and get the chrome off?

Googling this results in like 25 possible solutions. And posts by people immediately saying "Wrong!"

If it helps, the part is the collar/sleeve the carries weights on an olympic curl bar. I keep getting chrome splinters when loading the weights. Sucks.

I'm thinking a rust removal setup.

5 gallon bucket with a cup of washing soda in water, hang the part in from the top from a piece of all thread, and run a battery charger through it to another piece of metal in the bucket NOT touching the part. Strips rust and paint no problem, and kind of the reverse of how the chrome went on so it should work out. Better instructions

I could be completely wrong though, I haven't tried stripping chrome like this.

My understanding is that electrolysis is not a recommended way of removing chrome due to the release of Hexavalent chromium, which is pretty nasty stuff.

I don't have any personal chrome removal tips, but I would be inclined to sand it off with an aggressive grinding disc.

Shotgun

Admire it and take good care of it, that seems to work for most people

But seriously it looks like there's no chemical removal method that's safe to do at home, so if you have to do it that way, it's best to take it to a coating shop.

The other option is mechanical removal, it looks like heavy scuffing followed by sandblasting works best there.

If you're getting chrome splinters it must not have been plated properly. That's actually a good thing, if you're trying to remove it. I've stripped the remnants of old flaking chrome off small parts before by using a stiff wire wheel in my bench grinder.

Sand baster.

Best chrome removal method is as follows.

Step one: Buy lathe, milling machine and thousands of dollars in tooling.

Step two: Spend countless hours turning custom collars out of billet aluminum.

Step three: Post build thread...

Step four: Be the envy of countless GRM members.

Other than that, I got nothing. In your shoes, I'd take a grinder to it.

Chrome is an alloy of Chromium, Iron, Manganese and Molybdenum. There are no solvents that will dissolve these metals. Electrolysis is how it is stripped in chrome shops. That will get it to the copper coat. As far as any other chemical stripping you are into harsh acids that will break down the metals. These will also break down the parent metal though.

Sandblasting with a harsh enough media can do it, again at the cost of the part that is plated. I have put small flaking parts into vibratory tumblers for a weeks time and most of it is gone by then.

For something like those pieces I would take it to the wire brush on a bench grinder to remove any flakes and burnish the rest down.

It looks like standard 1" weight bar collars are available for around $10 on amazon. Seems like the go to solution here.

If you don't mind keeping an allen wrench set nearby Industrial shaft collars are about $3 each through mcmaster.

Once removed, what's the final coating to be? I've had good luck puckering it up with media blast and then paint with Adhere-To as a base; no issues.

OTOH non-chrome unused curl bars are cheap enough by fat guys on C-List.

Not the clamp collar, the shouldered sleeve/inner collar that bolts to the bar and rotates freely. The part the weights slide onto. The part that says "19mm" in this image:

2" bar by the way.

Yeah, I could buy another one, was just hoping there was an easy button to clean the chrome off so I stop getting splinters. The rest of the bar is fine.

http://www.douglasmf.com/service/re-chroming-bumpers.html

Once any old substances have been cleaned from the car bumper it will then be stripped in a solution known as ‘Labere’. This solution is a perfect chemical balance to ensure the old chrome plating is removed without damaging the substrate (which is in all likelihood made of steel). We have had 20 years’ experience in using solutions to strip car bumpers and we are confident in our approach.

For more DIY approach:

http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Chrome-Plating said: 1 Use hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid). Hydrochloric, or muriatic, acid, is a strong, corrosive acid. In high concentrations, it can be used to remove chrome plating from metal objects. For removing chrome, an acid solution of about 30-40% concentration should suffice. Proceed as below: Mix 1/3 part hydrochloric acid to 1 part water in a vat used for chemical mixtures (like a heavy-duty plastic bucket, etc.) to produce a 30% acid solution. Alternatively, purchase a pre-mixed acid solution of sufficient concentration. Submerge the chrome-plated object in the solution until chrome strips off. Wash the object thoroughly in soap and water, and rinse before drying.

I asked the plater that we send our company work to, when I needed to remove chrome from flaking muffler tips. Paraphrasing, he said, "For the home guy, the electro-chemical methods are not safe. Sandblasting is the way to do. Cheap, safe, gets it done and ready for powdercoat."

NOHOME wrote: For more DIY approach:

http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Chrome-Plating said: Mix 1/3 part hydrochloric acid to 1 part water in a vat used for chemical mixtures (like a heavy-duty plastic bucket, etc.) to produce a 30% acid solution.

Interesting... that would be a 25% solution though

I've sandblasted it off. Still not phun.

I can't help but say:

"Uninstall It?"

I de-chromed a pistol once. All you need is a bucket filled with water and a dash of muriatic acid (from Lowe's), a bit of copper wire, and a battery charger. Works pretty quick.

I looked into this for... Man, I have no clue what I was trying to remove the chrome on. Bicycle?

Anyways, I came up with two viable solutions: Paint over it, or get a new one. I got a new one once I figured out how much of a hassle it would be to actually remove it.