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Question by hartonson: How to measure the brightness level of a chrome-plated surface? Is there a specific tool for it?
I am working in a decorative chrome plating industry, (not hard chrome). I usually service job banquet chairs chrome, rims, mufflers, etc. Sometimes it is not the result of chromium as stable or constantly in the quality or satisfying as I had expected (not bright enough or stainless enough). So I need something to improve the quality by providing a standard for a certain brightness, which I hope that this instrument (if any) would be measured to help me.
Best answer:
Answer by cookieboone
I was just wondering about photographers and their light meters. I bet if you checked with that line of work you would find something to help you out.
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Take it out in a sunny day
hmm .. You probably need a fixed source of light that dispenses full visible spectrum and you need to measure reflected / absorbed light. However a piece could absorb certain wave lengths (color ranges) and actually make it look brighter since the eye is more sensitive to some colors.
Probably the cheapest scientific method would be to get a xenon automotive headlight bulb close to 5600K (same as sunlight and is pure white, 3200K is what you get with a standard house bulb and is very yellow) and a photography light meter. Put the light behind you pointed at the piece which would sit on black matte cloth and then point the light meter at the piece and measure the level reflected.
If your eyes are good, you could skip the light meter and hold a photo or test image like this http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/images/bars53.gif
over it and see how good it looks in the reflection. Again, you need a good light source.
A new photoelectric method and the required equipment are described, that make it possible to obtain an objective evaluation of the brightness of metal and plastic surfaces, including coatings, on the basis of a reflectometer reading. Basically, the light from a tungsten-filament glow lamp is reflected off the surface under study, and the reflected beam is focused and then picked up by a selenium photocell. The photocurrent is amplified and led to an analog or digital display. Three different types of sensor heads are available for use in the reflectometer, so that very bright, moderately bright, and dull surfaces can be measured exactly.
I’m not sure if this will help?