What is recommended the fix for this type of damage?
Yeah, I was worried that just sanding the edges might lead to further chipping/flaking of the plating.You can either add material to fill the void, or remove material to smooth out the transition. I'd personally recommend the former, and using something like Cyanoacrylate as you would when doing a drop-fill.
The issue Supra owners face is that you cannot chrome aluminium, and the intermediate copper layer tends to be wholly insufficient given ample time and atmospheric conditions.
Yeah, I was worried that just sanding the edges might lead to further chipping/flaking of the plating.
I believe I will try the super glue method and do a drop-fill. My experience with guitar finishes should help.
The fact that some Supras are virtually unaffected for decades is interesting, to say the least. My 1967 Supra is virtually flawless. Go figure.It's not Ludwig's fault per se, it's that aluminum and chrome are incompatible metals. There's a layer of copper that allows the plating to take in the first place, but it's often not permanent, as one can plainly see here. Why some drums seem unaffected for decades while others pit and flake almost immediately is a head scratcher to me.
But that's why everyone else (that I'm aware of) that makes aluminum shells lacquers or anodizes instead.
The fact that some Supras are virtually unaffected for decades is interesting, to say the least. My 1967 Supra is virtually flawless. Go figure.
I bought it used in 1994 very cheaply, but I obviously don't know its entire history. I have kept it in a temperature controlled environment, having lived in the Mid-Atlantic states with it ever since, but never really exposed it to salt air.Has it lived its life in a dry climate?
I bought it used in 1994 very cheaply, but I obviously don't know its entire history. I have kept it in a temperature controlled environment, having lived in the Mid-Atlantic states with it ever since, but never really exposed it to salt air.
It probably was a method for eliminating the formation of aluminium and copper oxides prior to the chrome being applied. The solutions to the issue are fairly straightforward, and either involve eliminating the atmospheric oxygen, or eliminating the oxides immediately prior to electrolysis via clever chemistry. I imagine filling part of a factory with Argon gas would be prohibitively expensive, though cheaper than plating the instrument in outer space.But as stated earlier, chrome plating aluminum it's not really practical, and I know at one point Ludwig utilize some sort of anti galvanic bath to prep the aluminum . Beyond that I'm not really sure what the procedure was all about.
I imagine filling part of a factory with Argon gas would be prohibitively expensive, though cheaper than plating the instrument in outer space.