Hi Steve,
Thanks for the comment, as it happens, today is probably the last day of my long carreer, I am instructing a couple of fine young men in the basics of frame building and they have expressed interest of making off with all my stuff...Maybe after 55 years or so at it, they will have the same conclusion as I do "what the Hell am I doing this for " ( only kidding, i'ts been great). I knew about all the pitfalls of the frame flushing etc,,,but to be honest, it is too late after even a few hours of non-flush for the cancer to set in,,,,but try to please a customer.
Now I will need to come up with useage for my empty workshop( if they take the stuff) and I've thought of setting up an exotic dance studio,,,but since it's only 20 feet x 20 feet, there would be more bumping than grinding,,,,so will revert to my original plan and use it ( once refurbished) to do my water-colours and listen to some good Jazz disks or a bit of Wagner to while away my remaining days.
Thanks again...COLIN LAING CHANDLER AZ..U.S.A
> From: Steve Whitting <ciocc_cat@yahoo.com>
\r?\n> Subject: Re: [CR] Chrome plating
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, "Colin Laing" <colin_laing@yahoo.com>
\r?\n> Date: Saturday, June 13, 2009, 5:37 PM
\r?\n> I'm not an "expert"
\r?\n> on chroming by any stretch of the imagination, but I've
\r?\n> read that if the frame isn't properly
\r?\n> "flushed" after chroming to remove all of the
\r?\n> (highly corrosive) solution from the tubes that the frame
\r?\n> will literally turn to rust. Unfortunately,
\r?\n> most electroplaters in the U.S. are not used to working
\r?\n> with thin-wall steel tubes.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Colin - I saw your frames for the first time in a
\r?\n> mid-1970s issue of Bicycling magazine. Your work is
\r?\n> beautiful!
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Steve Whitting
\r?\n> Prairieville, Louisiana USA
\r?\n> http://ciocc-cat.angelfire.com/
\r?\n>
\r?\n> --- On Sat, 6/13/09, Colin Laing
\r?\n> <colin_laing@yahoo.com> wrote:
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> From: Colin Laing <colin_laing@yahoo.com>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] Chrome plating
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Saturday, June 13, 2009, 5:47 PM
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Following on from Brian's experience, on the bicycle
\r?\n> frame plating,,,
\r?\n>
\r?\n> When back in Britain, the Chromers could do an excellent
\r?\n> job and could do partial plating, i.e Head-lugs, forks,
\r?\n> rear-stays etc and not get anywhere near the rest of the
\r?\n> frame.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Over here Stateside, the platers seem to only know the art
\r?\n> of plating Truck bumper bars and the like. From the off-go
\r?\n> it is always a losing situation, breathing in the toxic
\r?\n> fumes in the reception area ( and that is merely cigarette
\r?\n> smoke) then dealing with insensitive morons who should of
\r?\n> been stangled at birth.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The most recent time I had such work done in the Phoenix
\r?\n> area was the most unpleasant ever, It was a very nice
\r?\n> Columbus Max frame with all hand cut and designed lugwork of
\r?\n> which I was proud....The plater took about 6 weeks longer
\r?\n> than estimated and was most annoyed when I enquired about
\r?\n> the work,,,Subsequently it was finished and I went to
\r?\n> collect
\r?\n> it,,,It was by far the worst job that anyone could
\r?\n> imagine...but I paid the guy and left the pall of blue
\r?\n> cigarette smoke behind..
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I drove straight over to his competitor and asked if they
\r?\n> could please put the job right at whatever price and he
\r?\n> aqreed that it was a mess,,,,but the blue smoke still
\r?\n> hovered..A couple of weeks later, a phone-call told me to
\r?\n> come and see the frame, they had left it in the strip-tank
\r?\n> too long and the tubes were like Edam Cheese ( no kidding )
\r?\n> before he let me have the frame back I had to pay for his
\r?\n> time...
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I went back to my workshop and replaced three of the tubes
\r?\n> effected...I thought this would be the end..Took it back to
\r?\n> the plater and paid him again ( this was the second guy) and
\r?\n> he promised expedient work...and he did and it looked like a
\r?\n> wonderful job...I then masked off what was needed and
\r?\n> painted the rest...all done and ready for collection, it
\r?\n> hung in the showroom looking very elegant,,,,,then I
\r?\n> noticed a sort of dust piling up under the frame so I took
\r?\n> it down and shook it...more rust and crap came out and I
\r?\n> soon had the idea that all that was holding the frame
\r?\n> together was the chrome,,,,the steel had all but gone,
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Sorry to say, I gave the customer ( who was now irate ) his
\r?\n> money back and gave the piece of junk to a university
\r?\n> Student for an art project,
\r?\n>
\r?\n> O.K that's it,,,I will NEVER go through all this again,
\r?\n> and sorry to bore you all.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> COLIN LAING, CHANDLER ARIZONA, U.S.A