As the Urania progresses I'll have to determine what to re-chrome and what to leave as is. Here's a few examples of the group and various valve bodies. If chroming, then will have to address the various dings and scratches. All advice is welcome.



The water wand looks OK and will probably just re-chrome. The steam wand is a mess, so will try and fabricate a new one using copper tubing and the original fittings.

cuppajoe wrote:As the Urania progresses I'll have to determine what to re-chrome and what to leave as is. Here's a few examples of the group and various valve bodies. If chroming, then will have to address the various dings and scratches. All advice is welcome.
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I don't have any expert advice for you. But I did want to tell you that I really love seeing people restore old machines like these. Yes, on a "that's nice looking" level, but also on a deeper "there's something beautiful about redeeming what was cast aside and restoring it to its former glory" level. So, keep pressing on!

My personal, non-expert opinion is that many of the scratches will come off with the chrome but the dents will need to be filled. The only thing worse than dents on an old chromed part is a newly chromed part with dents showing through. The steam wand might be worth fabricating out of something more robust than copper, or even finding a part for a different machine and having the fitting brazed on it. But that's just my opinion.

Lastly, congrats on getting the sleeve out!

Thanks. I've been leaning towards redoing the chrome bits in that condition, as even with polishing the defects will be obvious. Have a roll of silver/nickel solder on the way for filling the deeper gouges. If most of it is going to be re-chromed I am thinking of doing the main body work in straight chrome and the valves, group, and trim in nickel for a bit of contrast. No aluminum or SS on this machine, every cosmetic part is chromed brass.

Will try and keep it as original as I can. Missing or damaged parts will force my hand in some respects.

David,

I don't know if you saw Paul Pratt's thoughts on this topic, which he offered long ago. Maybe he'll chime in here.

To make the decision you need to know a little about chrome process. Your water wand has no need to still have good chrome aspect to be good candidate for resto. Your steam wand seems to be perfect as is, because chrome work includes complete acid cleaning up to obtain nude mate brass/copper. Once sulfuric acid baths done both wands will be same. After that your craftsman will polish, will plate nickel (probably shining nickel) and then plate chrome.

Take care that nowadays chrome guys don't take time to erase scratches or filling deep defects. You must do by yourself.

And my advice if I can, about nickel parts and chrome others, that's a bad idea. Nickel won't last as beautiful as chrome with time. In a few times contrast will be ugly.

Hi Gary - Have poured over Mr Pratt's sites many times. He seems to strike the right balance.

Pascal - Thanks for the feedback. Still on the fence with the water wand as it's not that bad. The steam wand is pinched and looks worse than in the photo.

Plan on doing the prep work myself and will discuss everything with platers beforehand regarding best practices.

Thanks for the heads-up regarding nickel plating. Starting to do a bit of research and found references to two types, one for the under layer for chrome and the other as a finish plate. Can find nothing of substance regarding 'marine grade' chroming.

Those are some monster dents in the pieces so I am definitely in the beat up camp. Pascal and I always work out the dents before we take to chrome because a) cheaper! and b) faster turn around time and c) we know what the original shape is meant to be. Sometimes those polishing guys will lose the original lines of the piece.

As you say, talk to the chrome plating place. Many will help you remove and repair pieces, some won't. Often you will find that the manual process of removing the chrome will smooth out most dents.

Your hot water wand I do not think is original, looks very nice though. You can tell by the end where the water spout screws on. There should be a fitting there rather than just a thread on the end. Compare that with the steam pipe, which is original to the machine.

The water wand looks OK with the nozzle installed, so will just polish.
Quick question regarding prepping for chroming. Have read that the chromers will strip the old chrome off, so wondering how anal I have to be with the 'sanding'. After two days working on one valve body most of the small dings and scratches seem to be only chrome deep, so all that work will have been for naught if that is the case. Do I just need to knock down the major dings and fill the divots?
Here's before and after shots of the valve body -