Haroldg wrote:
Twiggz - sorry for the late reply... I just stumbled upon your post now. I don't have a tried and tested solution for you but some ideas. Firstly the spoons I've made do not need to be chromed as you just need to shine the tin/white metal spoons. I have tried to epoxy copper and brass onto spoons with limited success. I do know of someone who had a complete spoon dipped in copper at a processing plant and then scraped off the bits he didn't want. If I'm correct in assuming that you will be making spoons in lead then coating them in chrome/brass/? then you may have to go the route of the chap with the copper spoon. I am researching ways of painting lead spoons with various glow in the dark colours which you may want to do as well?
Let me know how it goes?
Regards
Harold
A couple of things...
1 - You could not possible dip lead or tin spoons into smelted copper. Copper has a much higher melting point than tin. Tin is only 300 degree but if I'm not mistaken, copper is about 780 degrees. It is more likely that the spoon would first be powder coated and then plated in a process that is normally for chroming plastic parts. This would be the first step before plating. I'm not going to go through this entire precess, it is not possible to do this at home.
2 - Painting with a glow paint... My opinion is don't bother. You get glow tape that you can stick on. The reason is that the "better" way is to get a glow powder and mix it with a spraying medium like a clear coat. But the only pigment available here is too heavy and it sinks. Really is a PITA to do.
PM me if you are interested in glow tape. It is expensive about R300 per 600mm X 1000mm but maybe a few guys can club for some. I'll take a 1/3rd!
3 - Painting your spoons. The best way is to have them powder coated first with white. This will act as your base because the paint won't stick to the lead/tin properly.
