PUEBLO, Colo.—For business partners Sam Spinuzzi and Jack and Matt DeSalvo, the future looks bright, and very colorful.
The three men have a new chroming system that promises to revolutionize the auto-body industry, and perhaps several other industries, too.
Their company, Razors Edge Gold & Chrome FX, is the only outlet in the western United States with the new process, which is cheaper, faster and less environmentally harmful than the old chroming method, according to Spinuzzi.
Getting an auto part or anything else chromed has become harder over the years as environmental laws have tightened, Spinuzzi said. Auto-body workers, such as himself and the DeSalvos, have been forced to send parts to Denver or out of state to get them covered in shiny chrome.
The old chroming process involves dipping a metal part into a vat of acid to etch it and then into another vat of chromic acid and other chemicals, where it is electrified to force chrome molecules to attach to the part. The acids can contaminate groundwater if they aren’t properly disposed. And only iron-based metals could be chromed with the old process. That meant plastic parts couldn’t be chromed, or anything organic, such as wood or bone.
Not anymore.
The new process, called Spectra Chrome, uses filtered water and a silver-based spray instead of acids and can be done on almost anything, metallic or not, Spinuzzi said.
Spinuzzi and the DeSalvos have chromed animal skulls, plastic parts, porcelain tile, stone, sea shells and even a watermelon.
Razors Edge, housed in DeSalvo’s Performance Paint & Body shop in northwest Pueblo, already has discovered a new market: chroming animal skulls for hunters. Holding a gold-colored bear skull that has been chromed, Spinuzzi said no one could have done it with the old process.
“It would have dissolved” in the acid bath, he said.
In fact, the acid bath “would have dissolved your hand,” he added.
The new process leaves a metal plating up to 1 mil (.01 inches) thick and can tolerate temperatures up to 500 degrees.
“I can chrome a wood baseball bat,” he said. “And it’ll have an impact resistance of 145 pounds per square inch.”
The chroming, actually a form of silver plating, also can be tinted to produce a colored-chrome effect.
“We can make any color in the spectrum,” Spinuzzi said.
The process opens a new world for chroming auto parts. Everyone has seen chrome valve covers, Spinuzzi said, but now Razors Edge can chrome intake manifolds and even rubber radiator hoses—and in color to match the car.
Being able to coat plastic parts with a true metallic coating is revolutionary, Spinuzzi said. And the coating is tough enough to bend without shattering or peeling.
The process is also cheaper than old chroming, Spinuzzi said. The company charged about $60 for chroming the bear skull, a job that, if possible, would have cost about $300 with the old process.
Razors Edge can chrome a manifold for about $90 and a dashboard section for about $65. The process is faster than sending parts out for the old chroming.
Spinuzzi and DeSalvo traveled to Florida to be trained for the new system after they purchased the machinery and the rights to Spectra Chrome for Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Arizona and Utah.
On the way back to Colorado, the men sat in an airport and looked at everything around them in a new light.
“You start thinking of all the stuff you can chrome,” DeSalvo said.
“The applications are just endless,” Spinuzzi said.
Razors Edge also bought equipment and the rights to use a new portable gold-plating system that supersedes anything being done now, Spinuzzi said. The process leaves a 24 karat gold coating thick enough to be guaranteed for five years.
The best part, DeSalvo said, is that the process can be applied to a part, even when it is still attached to a car. DeSalvo’s son, Matt, can use portable gold-plating equipment to plate a part on a car while it sits in a dealer’s lot or a customer’s driveway.
Previously, metal parts had to be removed from the vehicle to be gold-plated, and the plating wasn’t always very tough, DeSalvo said. The new process is more convenient and will leave a layer of gold up to 3 mils thick.
“You can’t scratch that gold off,” DeSalvo said.
“You can’t take a pocket knife and scrape it off,” Spinuzzi added.
The portability and ease of the new process means gold-plating isn’t just for car parts, he said.
A real-estate developer has hired him to gold-plate a statute in a new subdivision.
DeSalvo said his equipment can be used to gold-plate bathroom hardware while it sits in place.
Because of the system’s versatility, the partners foresee plenty of growth. Spinuzzi plans to employ several more people next year and, in the next few years, expand further.
“We’ve been hitting the car shows, and I’m getting a lot of calls,” DeSalvo said.
“In three years,” Spinuzzi said, “we’re going to need a much larger building.”
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On the Net:
Razors Edge Gold & Chrome FX:
Spectra Chrome:
