Just wondering if you can chromate a zinc part a day etc.. after the plating or if you have to zinc, then chromate right after?

Thanks in advance!

I’ve looked all over and can’t find out if you can mask before you degrease. I have about 7 parts that need to be put together to mask the threads of this Electronic cigarette (electrical path must be maintained) and purchased the mask-it from caswell to accomplish this. Will the degreaser eat the mask? I’m going to assume it won’t since it’s designed to be resistant to the acid, but I’d like someone who has done this to chime in.

Thanks.

hey now.

i have a vintage nad 7030 that is a black metal face plate. i wanna say aluminum but im not 100%. anyway its black in color with gold accents for the logo, the function of the knobs and buttons (example: bass, treble, mid, the hash marks on the volume level etc). i want the color to go from black to that 70s brushed aluminum look, with the gold function changed to black.

here is a picture of the face plate

you can email me: driesenbeck@yahoo.com if you are able to help me

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I’ve got a part that I’m looking to anodize, but the person wanted a flat finish and it was polished when I received it, so I figured dunk it in some lye for a short while and this will make it more of a matte finish. I’ve done this successfully on 6061 and the smut comes off easily, but this smut stays on and won’t come off. my question is this:

What alloy is it then if the smut wont’ come off from lye (only took 5 minutes to build up a very black layer) I can provide pictures if needed.

this is the best I can clean it without chemical assistance. How do I get it clean again?

will the smut need to be removed to anodize. I’m assuming yes as it needs to be the raw aluminum and do I do this in teh desmut? I’ve only anodized 6061 so have never really needed the desmut as it was a very polished finish.

Thanks.

Hey, I just tried out my new 1.5 gal zinc/copy cad plating kit. I do not have a proper power supply and read that this is obviously a critical part. I have come across a 30V 5 amp adjustable power supply, but doesn’t say anything about being constant current/constant voltage. Would this power supply work properly? I’m just plating some nuts and bolts for a motorcycle project I’m working on.

30V 5A Digital Precision DC Power Supply Adjustable Stable, Lab Grade 305D New | eBay

I’ve used just a AA battery and results turned out good, but want to plate a bunch of nuts and bolts at the same time.

Thanks in advance

So I’m filling my acid tank with my old acid stored in 5g buckets, Its spattering everwere, but I’ve got old cloths on and eye protection, Now I realize hmm why are my feet wet.

Long story short my drain valve was left open and I ended up spilling about a half gal at most on an unsealed wood floor on second story. Now I have a bag with bicarb in it for such occasions, so I dumped it on there and got most of the standing acid, but my question is about the acid absorbed in the wood. I wetted it and scrubbed it until it stopped sizzling. Is there anything else I need to do? Its above a garage that stores hotrods so I REALY don’t want it getting down there.

My thinking is that the acid will never get through the wood much less the dry wall under it. Is this correct. How long does the acid last?

Thanks guys any help or advice is very very much appreciated.

So when you are running a three amp rectifier in a gallon solution mix, do you want the rectifier to "hum" or "buzz"? I have been running my machine avoiding that humming sound and it keeps the lowest voltage at .64 or .71, where as my buddy discovered with his machine setup that causing it to buzz allows for a much lower setting, for smoother plating in longer baths (48-72 hours). I messed around with this and found that to be true, however, I do not know exactly how you get the rectifier to do it, where as previously, it seemed it was happening so easily and I was avoiding it. So my question is; How do you get it to the "buzzing" sound and to a lower volt, something like .54 or .46? And is this buzzing sound legit or damaging?

My confusion is in the manual it came with and doesn’t troubleshoot that specific question. Either way, it plates well, just sometimes want to go lower…

thanks

Getting reliable connections to parts for anodizing has been a problem that I cannot seem to solve. My setup has the following:
1 Standard Caswell 4 gal. bath (1 gal batterey acid and 3 gal distilled water)
2 Lead GP plates
3 1/4×1 in. 6061 Al tank bar with several drilled and threaded bolt holes
4 All components connected with #12 stranded wire and bolted together
5 15v 25A CC/CV power supply

I have had the setup for about three years and I think I should have learned how to do it by now.

I have an average load of from 1 to 10 parts. I do gun parts and whatever my local machine shop sends to me. I almost always have a threaded hole in the part for a connector. I make the Al screws needed to hold the parts and hang with #16 Al wire.

Last week I experimented with a 6×6 in. square 6061 plate hung by a 1/4×20 screw on #16 AL wire. This gave me a surface area of 72 sq.in. The voltage ran at 15.5 V and the max amperage I could get was 2.3A, but it settled at 2.1A. I was trying to get up to 10A per SF, but I could not. The bath temp was about 60°F. The ano finish looked good and dyed well. Any ideas on why I could not achieve a higher amperage. The 720 calculator always gives me an amperage that I cannot achieve.

There is a company near me that makes ano racks. I bought some titanium clips from them to try. I wired them with bolts onto Al wire and masked the connections with Mask-It. I tried a few small parts totaling about 25 sq.in. The voltage ran at 10V, amps at about 0.2 amps for 2 hr. There was no ano on the parts and the clips turned sky blue and became non-conductive. The TI anodized, but the Al part did not. Another mystery in search of an answer.

This whole connection and current thing is making me crazy. I have loads that will not come up to the amps required all the time. I would think that I should be able to drive the amps and volts much higher than I can, if for no other reason than to do it. I have even tried a bath at 35° and I cannot get the amps up.

Any help or even vicious critics would be welcome. Thanks, Phil.

OK ive searched and searched and couldnt find a good "how to" or the process of powder coating with logos. Iam new at all of this so bare with me. Just got my oven opperational and i plan on doing my supra brake calipers in a gold color with a logo on them. My question is, What is the process of going about doing this or does anyone have a how to?

Ill try it out on a few random parts laying around to get used to the process but i just want to get started on the info on how to do this. Full step by step would be great!

thanks

I have been preheating the oven to 400 before putting the parts in. But I have been seeing posts about putting the parts in a cold oven.
Which is the correct method?
Jeff K