On 7 Jan 2004 09:53:52 -0800, (Jim) wrote:

I have two pieces that will eventually be chromed.

Is this hard chrome, or bright chrome ?

Chrome is of negligible thickness (this is a rec.* newsgroup). It's so
thin that it's a problem to measure it. If you're making any
allowances, it's more likely to be an excess of material, to account
for the losses in polishing (or reaming).

Chrome plate is about 0.0002 to 0.0005 (half a thou) for bright or
most hard chrome. Hard chrome _can_ be thicker, up to about 0.015
maximum, but this is a specialist process only used for recovering
worn out components, or for some extra-hard-wearing coatings. Few
platers do it. As to the precise thickness you're going to get, talk
to your plater.

Because chrome is so thin, it's usual for all surface polishing to be
done before chrome plating. If you're putting chrome over nickel
plating (which is common practice), then the nickel will be
considerably thicker. I don't know about reaming, but it's usual to
polish, nickel plate, final polish, then chrome.

--
Smert' spamionam