Jennings Governor plating

[widget2k4]

Same as I was told off him about jigs to throw chrome into the hard to chrome parts

[bugdust]

I've used Doug Taylor Metal Finishing Co in Weston Super Mare for chroming on several occasions including a full strip and re-chrome on a Jennings Governor. I've always been very pleased with the results. In fairness, they pointed out from the start that they could give no guarantees of either the quality or the longevity of chroming over Mazak alloy used on the Jennings, and indeed, stripped and re-chromed the panels three times (at no extra cost!) before they felt they'd got the best finish they could get! Like any UK chrome plating it wasn't cheap at around £550 but I'm very pleased with the results which show no signs of deterioration two years on.

[badpenny]

Certainly looks good.
Lot of handbag though, shows pure dedication on your part.

[pennymachines]

Good to know someone can still do it properly. I've added them to Archive/Services. I've also appended comments from you and Widget re your experience of the two companies, to help others seeking this kind of work.

[treefrog]

Well after 10 years collecting, finally got around to trying chroming and mixed experience really. The parts were for a Bolands Brooklands machine, so bundled was handle, hub, front window, Brooklands emblem, coin entry, bolts and bits etc. All for £160 shipped from Ashford Chroming......

I have attached picture before and after.....one thing I realised you cannot do is bring back dead metal or badly corroded metal to a good standard and the handle was badly corroded, as such came back potted, although chrome worked well. The hub must have been alloy as it did not chrome at all well with flaking and burn marks.

Fortunately the Brooklands emblem and screen surround came out well, as did the coin entry, with small defects, that were acceptable.

Only other comments were they mislaid the bolt for the handle and still awaiting a response, as well as a few small screws, less of an issue.

In the end I used a genuine Mills 30’s dagger handle, as the Bolands one did not fit past the casting properly anyway, not sure who it was made by, but the Mills was better...

Putting pictures of restored machine on another thread.....

So reasonable price, ok communications, hopefully will get a response. They do have a Platinum service where they will discuss your restoration with you and redo any failed attempts, but costs a lot more...

[widget2k4]

Isn't Ashford chroming just a middle man? They put in what you need and chromers put in their prices, heard loads of bad things about them destroying bits and losing bits all the time and never have any remorse for doing so, I may be thinking of the wrong ones but I'm sure it's them

[treefrog]

I did actually go to their premises to drop off and wanted to see the place. Seemed friendly enough, but it would have been nice to have had feedback on issues or quality of certain parts and once stripped and polishing the handle, they would have seen there was no point in doing the chrome. It would be good you had feedback before committing to price, eg send your parts, evaluate what is possible then quote. I did read lots of mixed feedback on them 50% good experience, 50% bad......I guess all of them have issues.....

I think you are in the hands of the gods with all of them as they all have small print about no guarantees or responsibility for damaging things.

[coppinpr]

Worst thing about Ashford is if you ask for a quote and don't act on it they keep contacting you for weeks (and I do mean weeks) wanting to know why.

[bugdust]

Paul is right, made the mistake of asking Ashford for a price to chrome a lever once. It was three times the cost of a brand new one so I left it. The emails went on for weeks as to why I hadn't decided to go ahead with the order!
Unsurprisingly, I found that many places really didn't want anything to do with Mazac due to the grief associated with trying to re-chrome it and simply wouldn't bother replying to a quotation request. Others set the price so high that you would inevitably go elsewhere. Douglas Metal Finishing in SE14, for example, quoted me a whopping £1200 to do the same Jennings panels. In fairness, though, they didn't pester me for weeks when I didn't follow up with an order!

[badpenny]

There's no plate like chrome.

[treefrog]

Ashfords uses an automated email system, which is why you get these messages. I got three chasers for paying after paying two weeks earlier. You get a human when sending a query, sometimes.

I may use someone I know who prepares, polishes items for the platers to finish. He is near me and does mainly motor trade stuff. He also knows what to do with various metal types....we will see as from what I can see, every place has good and bad experiences. I personally would not pay £500 for a Jennings not knowing the outcome. I bought two Jennings Governors with good original chrome from the Elephant 3 years ago for £500 each...

[john t peterson]

There's no plate like chrome.

I bow at the knee of the master.

J Peterson
Never so puny in America

[coppinpr]

There's no plate like chrome.

how true..after all "chrome is where the heart is"

[bugdust]

I accept what Treefrog says, in that, £500 is indeed a hefty sum to pay for re-chroming a Jennings (especially if you can acquire one in good condition for that sum!) but it remains ultimately a personal choice. In my case, the machine was obtained at a very low price due to the poor condition of the chrome and my course was always set to restore it to its former condition as much as possible. Personally, I've always found it a little sad that formerly beautiful pieces (be they Fruit Machines, Allwins or Vintage Triumphs for that matter!) are left in a poor and dilapidated state in the belief that any attempt to restore them will ruin their "Patina" (Which seems to have become a popular euphemism for sellers to positively describe the poor condition of their item in recent years!)
I think the real problem for platers is that, until they actually strip and plate Mazac pieces, even they don't know how it will react. Some areas of the alloy that appear perfectly sound to the naked eye will just refuse to absorb the chrome. A second strip and re-chrome may be subsequently successful on that area, but then reveal several other areas with same problem that were fine during the initial process.
In short, the plater appears to have little to gain from such work, as he risks repeated stripping and chroming to provide an acceptable finish to the customer at financial loss to himself, or runs the risk of negative publicity from a disappointed customer who expected his panels back looking like new.
My original point, however, was that I found it refreshing in this day and age that Doug Taylor Metal Finishing were not only prepared to take on the work having fully explained the risks, but to then strip and re-chrome the items three times before, themselves, being happy with the quality of the work. They could, of course, quite easily have returned the items in a disappointing condition after the first attempt and said "Well, we did warn you!" and still charged me £500.
Anyway, I've used them several times since, mostly for Allwin pieces, and have always been very pleased with results, so I thought it would be useful for others to know.

[bugdust]

There's no plate like chrome.

how true..after all "chrome is where the heart is"

"Show me the way to go chrome"

[treefrog]

Funnily if you google “recommend platers uk” Doug Taylor comes out top of hit list. Of course my comments were more in tune with Jennings pricing 3 years ago, since then prices went mad. I guess it is all about risk and what value you are willing to lose if all goes wrong. At least Jennings castings are not uncommon I have a few spare sets, it is a lot worse if the item is unique or rare.

I always wondered if manufacturers were just much better in the day as would imagine they had plating plants onsite, or out back were piles of reject casting ready to back in the smelting pot.

[gameswat]

I always wondered if manufacturers were just much better in the day as would imagine they had plating plants onsite, or out back were piles of reject casting ready to back in the smelting pot.

Manufacturing and plating do not go well together! Walk around any plating factory and see how corrosive those fumes are!!! Most of the companies outsourced everything they possibly could. When my father visited the Bally factory in the early 1970's he was astounded to learn that the only part they manufactured on site were the pinball wiring looms! Everything else came from other companies that pretty much supplied every other coin-op maker too.

[treefrog]

I can understand outsourcing makes sense and of course is common in all forms of industry today, but earlier days of manufacturing it was more common to perform things in one place and often in-house, led by companies like Ford who did do this as with a lot of other automotive companies up to the likes of Rolls Royce who would not trust anyone else. Another famous industry performing in-house plating was NCR, National Cash Registers who completed all their Nickel plating in their own factory. Given the size of Mills and Jennings I would have expected them to do the same, but of course they may have passed elsewhere.

[gameswat]

Tree, coin op machines were generally not built to last very long as they were supposed to be replaced fairly quickly. Consequently they tended to not be built to the same standards as home consumer goods would be. Operators purchased them to make quick money, not long term investments. Wurlitzer would really be the only major coin-op company I can think of who were perfectionists and wouldn't compromise anything. I've restored some of their pre-war machines and they truly are by far the highest quality coin-ops I've ever touched, I consider them the Rolls Royce of coin-op! And of course they were not based in Chicago since they didn't outsource, as far as I know. But just about everyone else was based in Chicago to have easy access to all the specialist suppliers.

[cheeky]

I see that mazac is mentioned again. I know you said it was aluminium BP but everyone I’ve spoken to seems to think it’s mazac. Does anyone know for sure? I am trying to find a plater for a friends Governor. Any more recent recommendations/advice?