Best Place to Restore Dash Bezel?

Got contact info for then and now? Website is a little weird -- don't know if I am looking at the right place.

 

(770) 592-4411

 

There is another process available now where they basically silver plate the entire piece and then clear them. Then the parts get painted the correct colors. I believe this was developed due to the fact that the Plastic chrome processes are going by the way side.

This process is way cheaper to do, per part, but there are 2 issues. The start up cost is formidable, and the company that sells the silvering process just sells the kits.

.....................however, when I contacted them and let them know what I was doing, they gave me the name of a few of their "artists" that would do the part for me.

The one guy, down in the Carolinas, was very nice and said he could do everything including paint, and his turn-a-round was only a few weeks.

It sounded great to me, but in the mean time I was given a very nice instrument cluster that only needed some painting.

Otherwise I would have gone this route. If interested I could probably find the info.

The other thing is if someone wanted to do this as a business, I would imagine you would end up with more work then you could handle.

If you made up masks for the common bezels, you could do them on an assembly line basis and save a lot of time.

This process would also allow you to do the clusters for all the cars that do not have reproduction parts available.
Duane

 

Then and Now no longer restores dash bezels, as their guy retired. They just do Frame-Offs now.

 

Yeah, the only place I could find to re-chrome plastic was out of Michigan, and they told me it would take 8-10 months for turn a round, and would be at least $700 for the dash bezel, radio bezel, and the piece under the column.
When I told them I didn't even have 8-10 weeks the guy just laughed.
Duane

 

Where in Georgia?

 

I had Just Dashes restore my 69 bezel and it is a freakin' work of art. And art aint cheap.

 

I find it hard to believe with all the talent out there and the advancement in paints someone can air brush the dash cluster. I have a excellent core, any one game out there? The brite work was not like a mirror, lets be real here! I saw a 700 dollar restored cluster on a web site and did not see 700 dollars worth!

 

Here is a video of a guy using the new water-based chrome plating system. I had talked to the parent company that makes the product but did not keep any of that information.

As stated earlier in this thread, the company that makes/sells the kits also gave me the name of some of their "artists" that do the work. One guy, down in the Carolinas, was very nice and said he could do everything including masking off and painting the part after it was "chromed", and his turn-a-round was only a few weeks. His pricing was also reasonable.

Again, I did not keep any of this information, so I have no way to contact any of these people, therefore you will need to do your own research to find them.

Here is a guy using the process to "paint" a plastic part.
Enjoy.
Duane

 

Duane, I take it you have know way of restoring the brite work on these clusters? In the past you always had the answers on this topic. I'm having trouble putting out over $1200.00 to redo some plastic parts. I would be willing to pay a painter good with a talent with an air brush to do mine, $1200.00 is nuts!

 

Al,
Did you read my above post? The people that I talked to were willing to use the new silver plating process to do the plating, mask off and paint the parts, send them back to me within 2 weeks, and do the whole thing, as in 3 pieces (the dash bezel, radio bezel, and the piece under the steering column for a reasonable price.

Now if you want to spend big money using the old vacuum plating technique then have at it. But don't blame me for the EPA's rulings, or the fact that most of the guys doing this work have retired or quit.

If it was that important you could have done this years ago before most of these places went out of business.
Duane

 

By the way this entire thing only became a "problem" within the last few years. I found this out when I did the 69 car.
That is when I found out the shops I once used had gone out of business and I could not get a 69 dash bezel done in less then around 10 months.

We all have to deal with things as they are when restoring a car. Twenty plus years ago I told everyone to take out a loan and buy all the parts you needed for a resto right away. Otherwise they were going to be spending their grandchildren's inheritance to get their cars done.
Duane

 

Could you forward the information of the guy that masks them off?

 

Has anyone posted a picture a reproduction cluster completed?

 

Al, try Instrument Specialties 401-267-0055 https://www.instrument-specialties.com/ They use Mueller Corporation 508-583-2800 https://muellercorp.com/ for the plastic chrome plating , I called Instrument Specialties for a quote on a 1969 Skylark bezel redo and they were about $500, that's just bezel . This was a site I looked at about purchasing the plastic-chrome paint : http://motostorm.com/Motochrome-chrome-paint.html

Hope some of this may help.....

 

Could you forward the information of the guy that masks them off ?

Obviously you did not read my post. I do not have that info and stated you needed to do your own research.
Duane

 

I used Instrument Specialties for my dash bezel and other stuff in 2010/2011. Sent in in Nov 2010, got back in April 2011. I was not happy with their work. Very poor communication. Owner blamed "girl in the office" for poor communication. When got bezel back it was missing the mounting screws for the gauges. Later owner told me they switched bezels on me as they had some sort of trouble with mine. I was stuck so I didn't pursue it. They might be better now. This is just my experience.

UticaGeoff

 

If it wasn’t for bad luck, you’d have no luck at all!