Going to mix Five Pints of the Caswell EN and I have a few questions.
The brass part to be plated is right at 40 Sq In. The Plating Manual says to "Only add enough replenisher to bring the credits up to 100%" and suggests replenishment every ten minutes (another sentence says five minutes).. Okay, got that..
Plating a 40 Sq In part for 60 minutes will "consume" 2400 Credits. If I plate for ten minutes, I will consume 400 Credits, Replenish with .25 oz Part A and .5 oz Part C adds back 450 Credits putting me 50 credits "over" the 100% at every replenish.
Question #1. Can I plate for 11min 15 seconds instead? This figures out to consume 450 credits. I’ll need to do five of these sessions with the last session being 3 minutes 55 seconds (this will start the next plating session at 1640 credits, 380 credits above the minimum of 1260) Am I being overly critical (anal) with respect to total credits and times?
Question #2. Should the part be removed during the replenishment process? Or is is okay to leave the part "cookin’"?
Question #3. After I mix my primary bath, can I go ahead and mix the total remaining four ounces of Part A with all eight ounces of Part C to make the Replenisher? Or just premix the two parts in an amount that will be used during one plating session?
Lastly, Question #4. What is the approximate "shelf life" of the primary EN Plating solution?
Any and all help appreciated.
Thanks.