Why is chrome plating so expensive?

[jnormanh]

Because it's a lot of work. Here's one shop. Others will follow the same procedures.

http://www.advancedplating.com/site/restoration/

It's also worth looking at the shop. North of a million dollars, I'm certain.

http://www.advancedplating.com/site/shop-tour/

Note: I have no financial or personal interest in this particular shop. I used it because they have some instructive photos. There are other shops just as well equipped and just as good.

[SN-60]

Disposal of the significant amount of hazardous waste associated with this process is another reason.

[thunderations]

EPA and the costs to comply. Chrome was reasonable until the 80's when government decided to stick their nose in, just like paint products. Not saying that some controls were not needed, like waste disposal, but anything the government does costs 5 times what it should and requires 200% more manpower then private industry would use to do the same job. Chrome and paint products tripled and quadrupled in price over a couple years to cover the extra costs.

[345 DeSoto]

What HE said^^^^^^^^

[oilnsteel]

Government is like a pigeon. Everywhere it lands it sh*ts.

Jim

[Treblig]

Chrome or "Chromium" is "carcinogenic" ...as such it must be regulated, otherwise people will either die or become extremely ill. I used to work for PPG Chemicals, they produced "chromium". Chromium can be absorbed by the skin, inhaled into the nose/lungs or ingested by swallowing the fumes or particles. Every few years the company would replace the steel grating around the towers that produced the chromium. This steel grating was used by the workers (me) to clean and maintain the towers. One time I asked, "Why do they replace all that grating so often??" They told me that the chromium was so corrosive and if they didn't replace the grating the whole tower would collapse.
So, YES, Chrome plating is expensive, but would you want to work in a Chrome plating environment?? I wouldn't!! I also worked at a military base where Chrome plating was used on aircraft parts. Many of the chrome platers had continuous nose bleeds. As it turns out "Chromium" fumes would eat away at the lining in the septum (the part of flesh that separates the two nostrils). If you work around Chromium fumes it will completely remove the flesh that separates your left nostril from your right nostril.
So.....if chrome plating is expensive...it's because "Chromium is expensive" AND is "extremely deadly".

I'm not trying to put anybody down but everyone has to realizes the some things are extremely dangerous and must be regulated ..Otherwise, Companies will use and abuse employees to make a profit!!!



Treblig

[jnormanh]

I'm not trying to put anybody down but everyone has to realizes the some things are extremely dangerous and must be regulated ..Otherwise, Companies will use and abuse employees to make a profit!!!



Treblig

I worked in the plating industry for 40 years. What you say about the potential hazards is true, and all responsible platers, all those other than the back-alley midnight shops, protect their employees with adequate safety measures - I suffered no short or long term injuries, nor did any of the hundreds, actually thousands, of people I worked with, with one single exception, an employee who suffered serious sulfuric acid burns. Whether that was his fault or the company's is a matter for debate, however he did receive substantial compensation, because, in the final analysis, the company is always responsible to provide and ENFORCE adequate safety measures.

So, yes, plating can be dangerous, but it can also be done safely. And the cost of that safety is included in the price.

In that respect, it's no different than steel-making, coal mining, oil drilling, off shore fishing, electric power work, and dozens of other industries.

[Treblig]

I worked in the plating industry for 40 years. What you say about the potential hazards is true, and all responsible platers, all those other than the back-alley midnight shops, protect their employees with adequate safety measures - I suffered no short or long term injuries, nor did any of the hundreds, actually thousands, of people I worked with, with one single exception, an employee who suffered serious sulfuric acid burns. Whether that was his fault or the company's is a matter for debate, however he did receive substantial compensation, because, in the final analysis, the company is always responsible to provide and ENFORCE adequate safety measures

So, yes, plating can be dangerous, but it can also be done safely. And the cost of that safety is included in the price.

In that respect, it's no different than steel-making, coal mining, oil drilling, off shore fishing, electric power work, and dozens of other industries.

Well...I'm going to have to disagree. Making steel is not Carcinogenic, coal mining is bad for your health but if coal gets on your skin you won't die, you can get covered in oil and you won't get sick, off shore fishing is a sport, working with electricity is dangerous but it won't kill you 20 years after you've been exposed. Chromium get into your bloodstream and into your glands..it can't be removed. once it's there you're stuck with it. Once you've been exposed to Chromium you have to deal with it the rest of your life.......I know!! Not to argue but, carcinogens get into your body and are really hard to remove. I would much rather be burned by Sulfuric acid than be exposed to Chromium. Yes, too much Sulfuric acid will kill you but Chromium is a silent killer. It stays in your body and kills you slowly over time (CANCER).

treblig

[jnormanh]

Well...I'm going to have to disagree. Making steel is not Carcinogenic, coal mining is bad for your health but if coal gets on your skin you won't die, you can get covered in oil and you won't get sick, off shore fishing is a sport, working with electricity is dangerous but it won't kill you 20 years after you've been exposed. Chromium get into your bloodstream and into your glands..it can't be removed. once it's there you're stuck with it. Once you've been exposed to Chromium you have to deal with it the rest of your life.......I know!! Not to argue but, carcinogens get into your body and are really hard to remove. I would much rather be burned by Sulfuric acid than be exposed to Chromium. Yes, too much Sulfuric acid will kill you but Chromium is a silent killer. It stays in your body and kills you slowly over time (CANCER).

treblig

I'm not going ta attempt to correct all the errors in what you say, but I will give you just one.

The most dangerous occupation, by far, is commercial offshore fishing.

You can look it up.

[Treblig]

I'm not going ta attempt to correct all the errors in what you say, but I will give you just one.

The most dangerous occupation, by far, is commercial offshore fishing.

You can look it up.

I will not disagree with your statement. I didn't say that offshore fishing was not dangerous but if you are working in the offshore fishing industry you probably won't die 20 years later from cancer. If you die from offshore fishing it will be sudden and immediate. No one dies of fish poisoning?? If you get gravely injured in the fishing industry it might take a little longer but you know what caused your death. With Chromium poisoning, you don't know that you're injured. The Chromium stays in your system and slowly kills you years later. You'll develop cancer but you won't know why because you worked with Chromium 20 years ago. There are many. many dangerous jobs out there but when you're working building a sky scraper or repainting a span bridge you know the dangers. My point was that chrome plating is expensive because of the hazards of Chromium. Chromium looks harmless. I've seen guys (macho men) get hand fulls of chromium powder and rub it on their arm and say, "You see, this stuff won't kill you!!" They had no idea that the skin absorbs chromium and once it's in your system it stays there forever.
In off shore fishing you know the dangers, they are real and apparent. Working with chromium seems harmless...that's why it's so dangerous.
So yes!!! To agree with you, there are many, many dangerous jobs out there. If you're a lumber jack a tree can fall on you and kill you...but you know that when you take the job. With chromium the dangers are not so apparent.
The original question was, "Why is chrome plating so expensive?" The answer is, "Because of government regulation enacted to protect the worker and the environment". I don't think anyone wants chromium in their water supply....Let's take a vote!!

Treblig

[jnormanh]

I will not disagree with your statement. I didn't say that offshore fishing was not dangerous but if you are working in the offshore fishing industry you probably won't die 20 years later from cancer. If you die from offshore fishing it will be sudden and immediate. No one dies of fish poisoning?? If you get gravely injured in the fishing industry it might take a little longer but you know what caused your death. With Chromium poisoning, you don't know that you're injured. The Chromium stays in your system and slowly kills you years later. You'll develop cancer but you won't know why because you worked with Chromium 20 years ago. There are many. many dangerous jobs out there but when you're working building a sky scraper or repainting a span bridge you know the dangers. My point was that chrome plating is expensive because of the hazards of Chromium. Chromium looks harmless. I've seen guys (macho men) get hand fulls of chromium powder and rub it on their arm and say, "You see, this stuff won't kill you!!" They had no idea that the skin absorbs chromium and once it's in your system it stays there forever.
In off shore fishing you know the dangers, they are real and apparent. Working with chromium seems harmless...that's why it's so dangerous.
So yes!!! To agree with you, there are many, many dangerous jobs out there. If you're a lumber jack a tree can fall on you and kill you...but you know that when you take the job. With chromium the dangers are not so apparent.
The original question was, "Why is chrome plating so expensive?" The answer is, "Because of government regulation enacted to protect the worker and the environment". I don't think anyone wants chromium in their water supply....Let's take a vote!!

Treblig

Chromium is a potential carcinogen, but it's limited primarily to lung cancer from breathing fumes when inhaled as Cr+6, the form in which it is used for plating. Other cancers resulting from bio-accumulation of chromium remain suspect but unproven. You might be interested to know that chromium in tiny amount is essential to human life, and chromium containing supplements are sold OTC. Cr+6 is limited by the EPA to a maximum of 100 ppb in drinking water, and there are EPA limits on the amount that can be discharged in exhaust air and in waste water.

However the proper control of chromium is a minor cost in chrome plating. Major costs in chrome plating are labor, capital investment, chemical costs, electricity costs, proper treatment of wastewater and disposal of hazardous waste.

Plating shops which specialize in plating other than chrome are not less expensive to operate.

The answer "because of government regulation" is incorrect. I have listed the major costs above. Environmental compliance costs typically add 10-15%, and those costs exist whether a shop does chrome or not. Nickel, cadmium, lead, zinc, acids, alkalies, phosphates, nitrates, organics and many other potential contaminants have to be addressed by all shops.

[bezhawk]

You can die of mercury poisoning from eating contaminated fish. All I know is that without govt. sticking it's nose into things, we would still have rivers catching on fire from pollutants. Private corporations only care about the bottom line, and time and time again have proved this.

[showbizkid]

Moved to Stove Huggers.

[altair]

I do agree with all the comments regarding industry issues, I feel also that a premium is built in to the issue because any middle aged person walking in to a chrome plating shop to have accessories re-plated on a vintage car most likely indicates to the shop that there are no financial issues with this person and therefore a premium is applied to the work. I had my grills, grill surrounds and head light rims plated and it cost $1500. I felt the cost was somewhat above related industry issues. FWIW.

[wlfrench]

You can die of mercury poisoning from eating contaminated fish. All I know is that without govt. sticking it's nose into things, we would still have rivers catching on fire from pollutants. Private corporations only care about the bottom line, and time and time again have proved this.

Private corporations only care about the bottom line because that's what its all about. Corporations are in business to make money. They make money by serving their customers. Most of the time customers don't want to hear about the labor pains they just want the lowest price so in the olden days plating shops did what they had to do to lower their prices. If they didn't lower their prices they would soon go out of business because of the competition from platers that did lower their prices. If people were concerned about the environment they would have gone to the platers that did things in an environmentally friendly way regardless of the cost but that's not what happened. Most people, back in the day, didn't give a flying fig about the environment they just wanted their bumpers re chromed at the lowest price possible and the platers did what they had to do to meet customer demand.

Back in 1950 if the plating shops in a given market saw that a shop that did everything in an environmentally friendly way was gaining in market share then they soon would do the same if they wanted to stay in business.

Businesses are in business to make money. They make money by giving their customers what they want. If the customers wanted products produced in an environmentally friendly way (determined by where they spent their money) then businesses would have done their best to give their customers what they wanted if they wanted to stay in business.