open for sujestions

[traciej68]

I have a small plate shop and the demand for pot metal work in the area is really overwelming. I'm currently doing a ton of it but would like to know if there is any quicker and easier ways to do repairs. Larger shops can't possibly be doing all this by hand the way i am currently. My biggest problem is the turnaround time and am looking for any ways to shorten it. Thanks for any help.

[jimcarry]

Tracie
Bud what’s up ?
Man ill tell you what a lot of big plating shops don’t even do pot metal and if they do some of the turn around is unbelievable like 6 to 8 weeks and the price ouch !!! you might call and talk to Craig ext 114 at Caswells there are some products that make the job a little easier but really this is one of the biggest problem metals even the large shops that do plate pot metal don’t give any typ of wnty . This is the reason shops like yours and mine are swamped with it the second I told people I was set up for pot metal oh man .. But im like you just a one man shop I have over 150 pieces to plate and more then half is pot metal ..

[dfarning]

The biggest help I have found is in the prep.

Hot soaking in a good degreaser for much longer than you think necessary. For some reason it seems to take longer to degrease zinc die-cast than other substrates.

Then a slow electrocleaning at low current. I have 5 X 20 gallon tanks running in parallel at 20 amps. Most of the parts soak a few days.

Then I have found a short dip in an ultrasonic tank filled with deagreaser results in bright and shiny bare metal for the new plate to bond to. The ultrasonic tank is pricey but it sure beats brushing by hand.

Then active and plate as normal.

It might seem excessive but it seems to work for me

David Farning

[dfarning]

I just run my first test using the output of my new caswell RO Unit(thanks guys) in conjunction with a Deionization(DI) filter. The DI water improved the quality of the zinc coat a slightly on a steel wrench while giving a significant improve on zinc die-cast substrates. This might be due to a local quirk in my ground water, or it might work for others.

Dave

[fly]

Dfarning, may I ask what ultrasonic tank is....

[dfarning]

Hey fly,
An Ultrasonic tank is a liquid bath with a cleaner of some sort added in. On the bottom of the tank are one or more transducers(speakers) that blast sound waves at the part to be cleaned.

I have a little 2 gallon one that works just fine for my smaller parts. It seems to work particularly well on parts with complex geometries such as carb bodies. It also works well on cast iron. I think that is because the sonic wave can get into the pores in the cast and blast out the last remaining oil and other contaminates. It also works well on pot metal. I am not sure why that is. My first guess it that it blasts off any zinc plating or chromate that has loosened over time or as part of the cleaning prosses.

Here is a good introductory link http://www.healthsonics.com/houke.htm

Dave