Chroming Data East legs / side rails

[PinIB]

Has anyone stripped the black paint off data east legs / side rails and chromed them. Did it work out well?

I’m only asking for two reasons:

1) My JP has shorter front legs and cabinet holes in a different place to my Star Wars. I thought it would be better to refurb the old stuff rather than get involved with buying standard legs and moving cabinet holes and brackets.

2) Everything data east was a bit cheap and nasty compared to williams (no offence to those loving DE). The materials might be a nightmare to chrome - I did read this on a US website.

I’m only worried about the chroming bit. Stripping the black paint off won’t be a problem.

 

[Paul]

I'd be more worried about the cost of chroming, which was madness last time I looked!!

 

[Lecari]

Great to see someone giving their Data East Jurassic Park some love!

Can't help with chroming but I do love ours, it's a lot of fun.

 

[Dex-Jay]

Is swapping over WPC equivalent parts do-able? That would be the route, I'd take. DE parts were cheaper and nasty, no doubt. Shame really.

 

[JT.]

I'd be more worried about the cost of chroming, which was madness last time I looked!!

I'd agree with this. A decent chrome plating place would want to strip/clean them themselves anyway, even if someone else had had a go at it first - it's such a key part of the process and preventing future defects. But quite an expensive process.

 

[PinIB]

I'd be more worried about the cost of chroming, which was madness last time I looked!!

Totally agree - I chromed motorbike parts last year. The results were brilliant but luckily I'm not overly concerned with recovering every penny on this JP. Just happy to get it looking and playing well.

 

[PinIB]

I'd agree with this. A decent chrome plating place would want to strip/clean them themselves anyway, even if someone else had had a go at it first - it's such a key part of the process and preventing future defects. But quite an expensive process.

It will definitely get the full prep. The only thing I'll do is take them the local alloy wheel refurbish firm - they'll acid dip them to strip the paint and residue off everything first. That bit costs virtually nothing and makes the chrome people a bit happier to start with.

 

[PinIB]

Is swapping over WPC equivalent parts do-able? That would be the route, I'd take. DE parts were cheaper and nasty, no doubt. Shame really.

I'll see how the cost stacks up. That's what I did with my other machines.

 

[Dex-Jay]

The metalwork on my DE TFTC was pretty crappy, if yours is anything like mine was it a powdercoat job! Or a swap-a-roo.

 

[PinIB]

The metalwork on my DE TFTC was pretty crappy, if yours is anything like mine was it a powdercoat job! Or a swap-a-roo.

Thanks for the feedback. I went down the powder coat route with DE SW for the same reasons and also swapped out the legs for WPC ones first!

I've basically got this idea in my head (partly because I've got chromed out everything for Whirlwind) and need to investigate it. Luckily the chrome people I use are so straight talking they will tell me if it's a waste of time up front.

I'll start a Whirlwind vs DE JP shop log and report back. I was supposed to be refurbishing Whirlwind then started this crazy a***d fault finding on JP (5volts out, transistor on the PPB, and transistor on MPU and scorched connectors crumbling in my hand). I'm hoping for a few efficiencies from doing both simultaneously.