need advice about range top

[BlueBeetle]

Since it's black porcelain, not chrome, rechroming might not do much good. However, do any of you know whether the chrome tops are interchangable with the one he has?

[sadiepike]

Unless there are rust or chips you can't live with I would try polishing it out. Take a look on Matty's pics, be prepared to spend a little time with a mechanical buffer and you can even remove small scratches.

Ron

[alvajo]

This man was seriously OLD!!! Like we took the range to him in January and I just finally picked it up at the end of May!! We were afraid he would die before he finished FOR REAL!!! It was hilarious because when I called him and arranged to take it to him I told him how heavy these stoves are (you could tell by his voice on the phone he was elderly) and he acted like it would be no problem. My mom and I (this is Jessica BTW [img]biggrin.gif[/img] ) were seriously worried when he walked out, he could barely walk then he climbed in our trailer and bent down like he was gonna move the stove and of course it didn't move-it was soooo funny so anyway that's why I call him decrepit. I am sure he saw Chambers stoves in action when they were new [img]wink.gif[/img] !!
We've actually thought about chroming the top but didn't want to be unauthentic, our model did not originally have chrome--can you chrome a top that is porcelain. I think I might try the auto parts place and see if there is anything like the PP suggestions. Keep the ideas flowing.

[BlueBeetle]

Are chrome tops and porcelain tops interchangable?

[alvajo]

Blue Beetle, I guess no one knows the answer to that one [img]confused.gif[/img] ! Can you chrome the top if it is porcelain--can they blast off the porcelain and then chrome it? Would that be wicked expensive??

[BlueBeetle]

You could probably get a bead blaster to take all the porcelain off and then send it to Mark's chromer in Wichita. I doubt that the blasting would be prohibitively expensive.

[Pokey Roberts]

On the 61C the chrome tops and the porcelain tops
are interchangeable. From what I have seen on
the post the C and B tops are not interchangeable
because the B has some sort of spring bracket
for the folding top.
I don't know anything about a B having never seen
one Just on this discussion board.
You would be amazed what will polish out.
Turtle Wax has a rubbing compound that is color
specific. If you could find a black and a buffer
and then finish off with the silver polish you
may get most of the dull off and back to the
shine.
The Windshield scratch remover has some type
of abrasive. Remember porcelain is only glass
coating on top of steel. Unless you replace
or reporcelain, anything else is going to take
tons of elbow grease.
Pokey

[alvajo]

I can do elbow grease! I guess I'll be heading to the auto parts store! I have very little to lose I guess if it doesn't work I can still have it reporcelained, right?

[RobbiQuest]

My experience has been that you can interchange the Model B Porcelain tops with the Model B chrome tops. Personally, I like the porcelain tops better - I think they look a little more vintage.

If you find that the car wax isn't giving you the finish you desired and decide to have yours reporcelained, you might want to consider having it made white instead of black. A very few rare Chambers came this way. There's a thread on this board from about a year ago on that topic. We all saw a white porcelain top B on e-Bay one day and discussed it. I thought it looked pretty neat since it was unusual. But again, I like the black as I think it looks that much more striking against the rest of the white porcelain.

I think Gigi charged me about $100 to reporcelain mine. If you end up having Gigi do yours, just be careful about packing it - you would be wise to have a UPS store (or similar) do it for you so they can brace and pad it so it doesn't get cracked. Cast iron will crack when it's dropped.

There's lots and lots on this topic if you do a "search".

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ June 20, 2006 07:25 PM: Message edited by: RobbiQuest ]</font>

[berlyn]

Of course, I'm coming on late in the discussion.
Hubby has me worn out on our "current" project. I think it's payback for Big Bertha.
Back to the topic...

Paint over the porcelian on a Chambers, no way!!

I tried everything the make Big Bertha's stovetop "presentable", nothing works on black porcelian, except to reporcelian!! I used everything and anything imaginable. Even tried "Dave's Insanity Sauce"!!
I sent mine to Hughes Place in Louisiana and was pleased. If I remember it was around $350.00. Gigi's in Cal. is less around $100. Many people have used and recommend Gigi's. I did not know of her when I began.
There was no comparison in [url="http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=259218814&security=eAzvEX"]Big Bertha's[/url] before & after pics.

We won the ugliest, most abused black stovetop award!!
Trust me, you'll be so much happier having it reporcelian.

Good luck and let's us know how it goes,
Berlyn

ps You did order a service manual??