Thread: Custom Trim advice needed

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I'm looking at making a 36" long piece of custom chrome trim for the top of my roadster hood. The piece needs to be 1/4" high and 3/4" wide. I would mount it with threaded machine screw studs from the bottom, or possibly double sided trim tape since it's not very thick.

I have seen "half oval" metal stock listed from some metal supply companies. My question is how hard would it be to shape and polish stainless steel compared to brass stock and then have the brass "chrome plated" after shaping?

Any advice on metal sources or advice on holding the metal while shaping/polishing would be appreciated.

Could use a custom made half oval piece to hammer form it into shape.....Just a chunk of solid steel cut and ground to the contour you want---or whittled out on the Bridgeport--might work???? With the right hammers and a lot of patience stainless would work, but of course the brass would be much easier to form.....

Hmmm, how about a piece of stainless ran through a bead roller with the half round dies, John????

why not solid 1/2 round ss or alum tap for thread when done buff ? 8 /23 machine screws or make up some studs that will hold it run the in 3/16 and tap with some ss tapping wax if stainless steel alum will work abit better buff out nice if you like the color . should chrome ok .i would try ss. you may bend it some what.that would have to do with how much of a bend you need. you may not want to drill and tap hold downs till after were you bend it . may deform were holes are . bend if over a plywood form longer strip should bend EZ. i have worked ss its not bad.the hard part is buffing it up color look s better more to chrome color. i would not use two way tape . hold it with studs work your way up with sanded paper start at 400 if not bad or less then work past 1000 i have used a DA past 1200 that works good to . tape the face of trim so it will not get scratch up less work to get it to a shine i have used a small die grinder with wool bob at slow speed you can not hook it in the wheel. never ask me about the buffing wheel on the 5 hp motor

The least expensive route would be to use alunimum and polish it, then stainless stock. the cost of chrome has really gone up in the last year but brass is so easy to shape silicon bronze is aesy to shape and to tig weld to if needed. I have made some trim like you are talking about for a hood out of steel and it added some extra weight to it the rough stock was purchased from Restoration supply out of CA. Either way you go it will take some time but it is all worth it.

REx