What is black chrome anyway?

kshapero

kshapero

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I thought Chrome is silver in color.
Here I found this definition:
Black chrome is usually plated over bright nickel or matte nickel in the same manner as decorative chrome. Black chrome is not quite as hard or wear resistant as normal nickel/chrome and it is not lustrous. The finish may waxed or oiled to improve the final appearance. Black chrome offers high solar absorption and low emissivity useful in solar panel applications. It is also used for optical components, gun sights and components, lighting and plumbing fixtures and some automotive parts.

Here what I found in Wikepedia:
Chrome plating, often referred to simply as chrome, is a technique of electroplating a thin layer of chromium onto a metal object. The chromed layer can be decorative, provide corrosion resistance, ease cleaning procedures, or increase surface hardness.
 
The black chrome used on Leica's is similar in the process to "bright" chrome. In the black chrome process a "salt" called Eloxal is used (made or owned by Leica). The process is complex, involving hydrochloric acid and cyanide and other rather toxic compounds. You can get different shades in it, from a dark grey to an almost perfect black with close to zero reflections (used for, among other things, dash components of fighter jets and also for instruments in physics and astronomy.
The wear factor is similar to the bright chrome. except that the wear is more visible on the black surface - due to the substrate underneath (nickel).
 
Toxic leicas

Toxic leicas

Tom A said:
The black chrome used on Leica's is similar in the process to "bright" chrome. In the black chrome process a "salt" called Eloxal is used (made or owned by Leica). The process is complex, involving hydrochloric acid and cyanide and other rather toxic compounds. You can get different shades in it, from a dark grey to an almost perfect black with close to zero reflections (used for, among other things, dash components of fighter jets and also for instruments in physics and astronomy.
The wear factor is similar to the bright chrome. except that the wear is more visible on the black surface - due to the substrate underneath (nickel).
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So if I don't like someone I send them a model M9 black chrome to die for.:cool:
 
randolph45 said:
So if I don't like someone I send them a model M9 black chrome to die for.:cool:
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Hate ME! ;)

No, the chromium plate is no more toxic than any other solid metal. The chemicals used in the process of making it are toxic. But they wash them off before you get the camera.
 
What! say it ain't so

What! say it ain't so

Chris101 said:
Hate ME! ;)

No, the chromium plate is no more toxic than any other solid metal. The chemicals used in the process of making it are toxic. But they wash them off before you get the camera.
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Ahh shucks now you spoiled everything:eek::eek:

no M9 for you:mad:
 
I know when my cameras have gone back to Leica the finish comes back looking perfect and nearly new again. As mentioned above I wonder if they used wax or some type of oil?

Has anyone used either, or something else, to refresh the appearance of their black chrome?
 
I thought the M9 is black paint, not black chrome. My old M6TTL was black chrome, which has a markedly different finish (matte, texture like bead-blasted satin aluminum).
 
kdemas said:
I know when my cameras have gone back to Leica the finish comes back looking perfect and nearly new again. As mentioned above I wonder if they used wax or some type of oil?

Has anyone used either, or something else, to refresh the appearance of their black chrome?
Click to expand...

You can use a type of oil to give it the depth of finish. I used to have some but used it up and never bothered to replace it - can't remember what it is called, but any metal finisher should be able to tell you.
 
Tom A said:
You can use a type of oil to give it the depth of finish. I used to have some but used it up and never bothered to replace it - can't remember what it is called, but any metal finisher should be able to tell you.
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Thanks Tom! Hmmm.... now I just have to find a metal finisher! :)
 
Tom A said:
The black chrome used on Leica's is similar in the process to "bright" chrome. In the black chrome process a "salt" called Eloxal is used (made or owned by Leica).
Click to expand...

No, that is something different. Eloxal is a trademark of Eloxalwerk, and has become the German synonym of anodized aluminium (which can be used to apply dyes, including but not limited to black, to aluminium) - the "zebra" aluminium barrels popular in the early sixties were black anodized aluminium with the blank bits later ground down.

Black chromium plating is not related to that - indeed it is no dyeing process, but a amorphous, porous chromium deposit which is black by itself. That porosity is caused by increasing the current flow and use of "poisoning" additives in the plating bath that increase hydrogen formation. I don't think Leitz invented it, as it already had technical applications in heavy machinery decades before it appeared on the first camera, but they may have been the first to use it decoratively.

Its main disadvantage is that rub marks on black chromium compress the pores and make it turn silver - which made it rather less of a success as a camera beauty coating...
 
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