Posts by DustinGebhardt

I was wrong to deviate off topic. Ripple is a topic for another discussion, I suppose. My initial reply was to add a small wire from the anode bussing to the heater outer tube. The idea here was to make the heater anodic so that you would force the copper buildup to stop and even slowly dissolve back into solution.

The reason for the buildup in the first place could stem from several reasons. In my experience, bipolarity and stray current are the 2 most common. We haven't really discussed bipolarity here, but it is when a strong magnetic or electric field creates induces another magnetic or electric field nearby. Think of a bar magnet and several nearby iron nails. Each nail in turn becomes slightly magnetic as it enters the field of the main magnet. One end of the nail becomes slightly "North" and the other end is slightly "South". You could daisy-chain the nails together if the magnet is strong enough to affect them all.

Electricity is very similar to magnetism. If …

[quote=skelton;1408]Also, if you have the ability to check "ripple", you may have some stray current that may be causing some of this to happen. [/quote]

Not to nit-pick but ripple and stray current are 2 very different monsters. I agree that ripple should be below 5%, or 10% worst case. Stray current is any other current than the one introduced by the rectifier(s). Sometimes you can get current coming through your steam lines, water pipes, etc. Stray current is very often a nightmare of a nightmare to find. Ripple should be much easier to check with a good quality RMS digital multimeter.

Not to go too far off-topic, but my sister company Fluke makes some great multimeters. :-) :D

The small wire should be fine. In fact, it should limit the current going out through the heater to the tank. As more current goes through the heater, it should start to anodize and form an oxide layer that will further inhibit current flow. You should also have enough anode area that the current coming off of the heater shouldn't be a problem. At least, it has never been a problem for me.

Do not ground the wire. Simply run a small wire directly from the heater to the nearest anode connection. Remove the grounding wire from the heater as this is not needed and may cause problems.

Thanks for the advice. We've tried using steel balls with some success. We are continuing down this path to see if there are any limitations.

We have also tried using smaller parts to cushion the larger parts. We've had mixed success here. Because the ratio of small:large is so disproportionate, we don't have enough small parts to keep up with the big part production. Also, some of the smaller parts tend to bind inside the larger parts, which ruins both. I am assembling a chart of which small parts work with which large parts, but until I run just abot every combination, I will be guessing.

I also have some delrin balls on order. I want to see if I can use them in place of the steel balls, or as some sort of steel/delrin mixture to minimize the amount of metal I waste.

-Dustin

Nice work man

The different nickel salts each plays a different role in a plating bath. Depending upon the type of bath, you will use certain liquid salts. A Woods Strike bath is very different than a Watts bright bath.

nickel sulfate: provides Ni ions. The sulfate is mostly inert.

nickel chloride: provides nickel ions. The chloride ion helps with anode corrosion and brightness/leveling ability. Too high a chloride concentration and your ductility will be compromised.

nickel sulfamate: similar to Ni sulfate, except that sulfamate is added to the bath in place of the sulfate. Sulfamic acid has some different properties that sulfate, but I can't exactly remember right now.

nickel bromide: I've never seen this.

nickel carbonate: supplies Ni ions. The carbonate is used to raise pH (albeit very slowly and messy) without affect chemistry too much.

And what type of information are you looking for regarding the deposited nickel? …

[quote]1) the shop wishes that I send it to them and I quote buffed and ready
In the research I think I understand that they do not mean buffed as in buffed by a wheel buffer, but by sandpaper or the likes. So could someone explain to me or direct myself to where I can understand what condition these items should arrive at the plating company?[/quote]

It sounds like the shop does not do any buffing or polishing of the parts they receive. Generally, in metal finishing, the quality of the final deposit is directly a result of the initial part quality. If you plate on top of a rough part, the chrome will be rough. If you plate on top of a bright and shiny part, it should be bright and shiny. I would assume that the shop wants you to give them a part that is ready to be plated without any further polishing or buffing work. If the parts are steel, be sure to apply a good rust preventative after you have them buffed or they could develop rust.

[quote]2) I will assume that I will  …

You can look at the NASF/AESF site here:

[url=http://www.nasf.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home]NASF Website | Home[/url]

They have home study courses on general metal finishing, which also covers zinc plating. They also have a more focused class on zinc plating, but I'd definitely start with the Introduction class first. Plus, the Introduction class is available in a Home Study version, which will allow you to get the fundamentals at your own pace.

What are your common problems with the nickel plating? If we know what your problems are, perhaps we can be of more help.

I've got a question for the group:

I currently barrel plate hand tool sockets, but only up to a certain size. Above that size, I have to rack plate the sockets. If I try to barrel plate them, they damage each other. Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I might be able to barrel plate my larger sockets?


Thanks

-Dustin

With the attempt to eliminate hex chromates, the current spec more or less allows trivalent chromates in all applications. The current approved trivalent chemicals work very well to give you very high salt spray hours. I would expect that unless you need the thin coatings of Class 3, the current Class 1A stuff should work just fine.