Chrome plated chassis rule, all you DIYers should make your amps with them.

With black circular metal knobs.

m/

Class out the ASS!

True. I love the look of a chrome plated chassis as long as its already drilled & ready to build on.

If I gotta cut it, its aluminum for me.

Problem is getting a good ground to it. Have to hack off some of the chrome to get back to the copper or base metal under there. Still the chrome chassis has been around at least since Fender started.

You can chrome just the outside.

Metal shops have ways of doing things like that.

Aluminum can be polished to a mirror shine too, it takes a while but there are ways it can be done.

But it will fog and eventually look bad if not cared for.

I had some aluminum parts on my BMX bike that were polished, but after riding just a few weeks, a few drops of sweat caused a chemical reaction, and the polish had flaws.

A steel chassis that is chromed is made to last, chrome is the most durable finish.

every time i have dont an amp chassis it ends up looking all nasty... chrome would just show the scratches even more.

Chrome is less likely to scratch because its not paint, its a very smooth metal, and strong to. A thin layer of chromium over knickle should be more scratch resistant than ANY other type of finish.

chrome will rust very easily unless done in multiple coats and in a very good blending. I used to build wheelchairs myself and had all the metal parts chromed, but it didn't last too long although a lot longer than ordinary automotive painting.

The most durable painting I know is called powder painting, It is used for the factory painting of motorcycle chassis and a lot motorcycle and car engine parts and those colored mag wheels that you see around. As far I can remember, it mostly was in black, red, blue and white and with a rather duller luster than automotive paint.

Another finish to consider also is anodized metal plating. Those colorful bmx rims you see around or the gold or colored motocross rims.

these two are probably the most durable industrial finish that will not cost you an arm and a leg.

've had a lot of stuff powder painted because there's a local company here that reconditions surplus motorcycles from japan. The front plate of a 2 unit 19" rack-mount would probably cost around 2$ to paint.

i haveapoweder coating facility, i can make it as high gloss as you like flip flop coats metallics whatever, alotof industries are powder coatingnow.

Since I rode BMX from the age of 11 to 18, and have kept a close eye on all apsects of "rims" aswell as titanium spokes, carbon fiber, magnesium, high carbon steel, 4130 heat treated chromoly, ect. I am going to have to disagree.

Anodized aluminum metal is probably one of the weakest finishes there is. A brake show on a BMX bike can rub it off, and also doesn't "catch" on a bare aluminum rim because the of the Aluminum's "pores".

A chromed rim was, and still is the most durable finish for BMX rims. It has very small pores, for water or anything to get into. Powder coating is a chemical bonding, and it looks cool, and is tough. But still not as tough as Chrome.

As as far as chrome rusting easily, "Chromium is a hard, steel-gray metal that is highly resistant to oxidation, even at high temperatures." Aluminum on the other hand, add a drop of salt...

And as far as those wheel chairs rusting, I have seen how they are made. Literally the cheapest chrome finish I have ever seen, as thin and poorly aplied as can be, sure it would rust, but image if they were "painted" with any type of paint, you would get an even worse result.

aluminum is not the only metal that can be anodized and like chrome plating and powder painting, is a chemical and electric process.

I can't vouch for bmx rims but any dirt bike or motocross bike worth its salt will have anodized rims.

The only chrome plating I've seen that lasts are the bumpers of 50's cars, and they're like bulletproof thick. Have you seen a late-model chrome-plated rim perennially peed on by some stupid dog? But check out the powder-coated chrome-molybdenum frames of your dirt motorcycles and you'll see that they are darn hard to scratch and rust.

There are indeed varying degrees of quality of chrome plating to be sure, how well the metal is cleaned, the mixture, voltages etc.

and much of it is governed by costs.

I guess it still boils down to the metal underneath the finish and how thick and the quality of the finishing material you apply.

I think powder painting is still the best finish for our gadgets/ electronic boxes from a price point/durability equation. But if they could give chrome-plating some other color then....

Stainless steel, or black chrome.

now that's the best finish!!

My old Marshall 50W is Steel with a Gold-Chromite finish.

Cleaned it with some Car Metal cleaner and, although it came up looking great, most of that gold finish was gone. It was kind of gone anyway (it's a 1973 model and gigged forever by the looks of it), but now I think the cleaner has stripped it. Do you think I may have now made the chassis more susceptible to rust? I don't really understand how metal and finishes work. Maybe cleaning it, just showed up how much of the chrome finish had deterioated?

flamed titanium... real carbon fiber for tolex, now that would be baller.

So I guess you guys would laugh at my cake pan amp.....

credits awards for uniqueness.

thats awsome

pics!

I'm not laughing. Those work good. I was just shopping for one this weekend.