- Email: [email protected]
Heard on the hotline
Heardon the Hotline by Ted Mooney, P.E.
Dial 201/838-0113 from your modem at any time or fax 201-283-0766.
F
eedback from readers indicates that they visit this column primarily to read about finishing rather than to read about computers. So I usually try to keep the prologue brief and get right to the business of extracting messages from the “Hotline” and printing them here. But every rule deserves an exception. Something is happening right now that is big. It is so big that no businessperson can safely ignore it, and I’m concerned that if we fail to mention it here, when it is the cover story of i”Imemagazine and “all the news” everywhere, some readers might infer that we feel it is for some reason not particularly applicable to people in the finishing field. Wrong! If you ate not familiar with the phrase “World Wide Web,” find a friend or neighbor who has it. Or visit a library, school, business exposition, or Chamber of Commerce where you can see it demonstrated. Inside of five minutes you’ll be saying to yourself: “I see it, but I can’t believe it’s possible! This is going to be as big as television-bigger!” Imagine viewing a magazine article on your computer screen, and let’s say its title is, oh, “Famous Bells of the World.” There will be pictures of the Bell of St. Patrick’s Will, the Liberty Bell, the Tsar Tolokol, the Westminster Peal, and so on. And there will be a sentence or two about each, for example: “The Tsar Tolokol, which is in Moscow, is the largest bell in the world. This gives it a very distinctive tone.” (Please observe the italics.) Imagine that you move your cursor over the words “distinctive tone” and your computer automatically plays a sound clip so that you immediately hear the Tsar Tolokol’s particular peal. You move the cursor to “largest bell” and a new screen comes up listing the vital statistics of the world’s ten largest bells. Select the word “Moscow” and another screen pops up, perhaps with an aerial view of Moscow, announcing: “The Moscow Tourism Bourd welcomes you! Would you like to choose something yourself fromthe map below or start with a guided tour?” But you decide to find out some more about bells before breaking for the Moscow tour. With no effort beyond pointing at italicized phrases, you are whisked around the world to any of more than 18,000 computer sites and treated to photographs, drawings, sound clips, film strips, and tables of data. As of this writing, the “Famous Bells” example is a fictitious but typical example. With thousands of authors writing new “Web pages” every day though, it might already be a reality by the time you read this. Now for a real example. If you look up “finishing,” you will find that one of several addresses for the Web version of the “Finishing Technology Hotline” is “http://have52
n.ios.com//tmooney.” If you start at that page, a prominent sentence you will see is: “Have you heard of.Metal Finishing magazine? Want a preview of next month’s issue or to see their booklist? If you move your cursor to “Metal Finishing,” up flashes information about the magazine-purpose, editorial contacts, how to subscribe, a photograph of a recent cover, and so on. This particular detailed information is not physically located at the Finishing Technology web page; rather it resides deep in the bowels of an Elsevier Science computer in the Netherlands (at “http://www.elsevier.nl/catalogue/ SA3/305/09600/09600/522931/” to be exact). But, see, it doesn’t matter where information actually resides-the World Wide Web interconnects all of the computers on the Internet so transparently that merely pointing at the phrase “Metal Finishing” magically whisks you there. This exhilarating skimming from place to place around the world, following whatever wave of information happens to move you at the moment, is what is really meant by “Surfing the Net.” It is an incredibly power-ml way to instantly access much of the total body of human knowledge. And it is an entertainment addiction without precedent-it is unspeakably difficult to stay focused when the Louvre, the Victoria’s Secret catalog, film clips of Hank Aaron’s record breaking home run, the Jimmy Smits page, the San Diego Bay Camera, and more than twenty thousand other diversions are all just a mouse click away. But this adventure known as the World Wide Web is only beginning. Millions of web pages remain to be written. And while the computer technology already exists to allow any viewer to watch any movie ever made at any time s/he wishes, the reality is that the telephone systems can’t deliver even the scantest fraction of the bandwidth required for the world’s television viewers to actually do this-thus, the titanic struggles we are witnessing between the phone companies, cable TV companies, and others, as everybody “bets the company.”
BURN MARKS ON PLATED PARTS Does anyone have an explanation for bum marks showing up on plated tubing in a rack process? What are “danglers” and how do they relate to this problem? This defect occurs on a high number of parts from our supplier, and it looks bad. What is the remedy? Jerry Gira, Ford Motor Co., Mich.
0 Copyright Elsevier Science Inc.
METAL FINISHING
??
JULY 1995
Danglers are the flexible cables in plating barrels that conduct electricity into the pile of work. The term has no applicability in rack plating. True burns are usually a gritty, sugary area on the part and occur in the area of highest current density (outside comers, outside bends, edges, parts nearest the anodes). The cause is trying to plate at a current density that cannot actually be achieved under the real conditions, with the result that substantial amounts of hydrogen are evolved because there just isn’t enough metal in solution right at the problem area to absorb all the electrons provided by the circuit. Aside from reducing the voltage or current (and, consequently, the plating rate), some solutions to this problem are: increase the agitation to help the metal ions at the interface get replaced faster; increase the temperature for the same reason; increase the solution concentration; place scrap metal forms near these comers to absorb the electricity (these are called thieves); and place insulating sheets (such as polypropylene) near these comers to block line-ofsight from anodes to these comers (these are called shields). Ted Mooney, Finishing Technology, N.J.
PUTA TANK.
0 Base mounted, in-tank, space-maker 8. bag filtration systems ??Stock or custom designed systems 0 Large selection for filtration, carbon treatment & Drecious metal recoverv
Besides those reasons mentioned above, another cause of bum marks is poor electrical contact. Chromium plating in particular needs good, firm contact because of the higher voltages involved. Better fixturing would solve the problem. With any plating process, though, if the contact between the rack and part has too little surface area for the current going through it, the spot may look “burned,” or even melted. Ken Rosenblum, Co-operative Plating, Minn. I seem to remember danglers as a slang term for a “‘growth” on hard chromium parts many years ago. Maybe I’m wrong, it was long ago. On the burning problem, if your supplier is talking about danglers in the true sense, your parts may be being run in barrels. Ron Landrette, B+P Plating Supply, Corm. NONCHROMIUM FINISHES FOR TIN PLATE I have just joined this BBS and have a question for any chemical vendors out there. I am part of an American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) committee trying to find a nonchromium replacement rinse for tin-plated steel. If there is anyone who can supply this type of product, they are invited to participate in the AISI selection. Thanks. Cathy Stewart, National Steel, Mich. NEW CATEGORICAL STANDARDS I just learned of the BBS. I’m from the regulatory end of things so may or may not be welcome. I just uploaded a file called mpmslshwzip, which should be of interest. It’s what I know about the proposed new categorical standards for the metal products and machinery category. I will put together a text file and upload it also. Tom Mort, City of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Thanks for the upload! You are most welcome here. Ted Mooney, Finishing Technology, N.J.
FILTER
PUMP INbUSTRlES 7932 Ajay Drive, Sun Valley, CA 91352 (818) 504-2391 FAX (818) 768-7590 Circle
METAL FINISHING . JULY 1995
019 on reader
information
card
53
I just uploaded a text file explaining what I know about the soon-to-be published metal products and machinery categorical standards. It’s called mpmtxt. Tom Mort, City of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Thanks for the uploads on the proposed standards; I appreciate you keeping us up to date! I only wish I could appreciate the standards themselves. Twenty-two years ago, when the government decided that categorical standards were a good idea and the electroplating industry would be the test case, our industry did manage to get concentration-based standards, rather than the massbased standards proposed in the Development Document, only after a long battle. They’re back. Ah well. Thanks again! Ted Mooney, Finishing Technology, N.J. Although I am a regulator, I am not particularly happy with the proposals either. I am particularly concerned about mass-based standards. It all hinges on average flow rates. If production increases even though everything is operating properly, then the mass standards will be violated. Mass standards are a fine concept, but implementing them will be difficult. Tom Mort, City of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Let me give a quick example of what some of us have against mass-based standards. Aluminum immediately forms a tenacious, passive skin. It is not practical to electroplate satisfactorily on this passive surface; so aluminum that is to be electroplated must first be zincated, i.e., dipped into a highly caustic solution of zinc salts. It is then possible to plate onto the aluminum. But farbetter repeatability is reportedly achieved by stripping that zincate in nitric acid and reapplying another coat of zincate before plating. Now you have quality and reliability; now you are not putting people at risk of failure of a vital component due to marginally adherent electroplating. While single zincating will reduce waste and mass concentration, I’d prefer not to be on the side of encouraging slap-dash, marginal, surface-finishing operations. There are plenty of other excuses for doing things poorly without the federal government legitimizing them. Ted Mooney, Finishing Technology, N.J.
Ted Mooney is an independent consulting engineer based in Kinnelon, N.J.
MF
RIN
Attention Cyanide Platers: Are you troubled by.. . ??carbonate build-up ??poor efficiency ??reduced brightness ??slow plating rates ??production rejects?
Try CARB-OUTand Make Your Life Easier!
Freezing out carbonates is difficult-often impossible and most chemical treatments have their own problems. But CARB-OUTwas developed specifically for cyanide baths. CARB-OUT offers these benefii . Contains No Caustic or Cyanide - Bath balance is maintained Easy to control and mix ?? Liquid System ?? Highly Effective Removes carbonates even from potassium-based solutions. CARB-OUT is considered non-hazardous, and shipment is not regulated by the Department of Transportation.Yet, as with all chemical products, reasonable care should be taken. For
a FREE productdatasheetcall:
OF
R I N.
I N C.
??Fax:
Copper Cyanide
Potassium Cyanide Sodium Cyanide Zinc Cyanide
WDL #512 - produces invisible, corrosion resistant coating to prevent staining, tarnishing and finger-prints CLEANER #105 - alkaline cleaner for soak, electrolytic, or tumble cleaning on copper, brass, steel and zinc base die castings. Can condition copper, brass, steel and zinc base die castings for
COPPER and BRASS ANODES HYDROXIDES Potassium Hydroxide Sodium Hydroxide
ROCHELLE
SALTS
uniform, blister-free plating.
RIN, INC.
4631 S. Whipple St., Chicago, IL 60632
2707 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622 Phone: (312) 384-4522
PROPRIETARY CHEMICALS
CYANIDES
Complete Stock of Raw Chemicals Used Specifically in the Metal Finishing Industry.
ACCURATE ENGINEERING LABS. DIVISION
Other Quality Products
(312) 364-8681
Phone: (312) 523-0784
??Fax:
(312) 523-7838
Circle 002 on reader information card
54
METAL FINISHING
. JULY 1995
Dial 201/838-0113 from your modem at any time or fax 201-283-0766.
F
eedback from readers indicates that they visit this column primarily to read about finishing rather than to read about computers. So I usually try to keep the prologue brief and get right to the business of extracting messages from the “Hotline” and printing them here. But every rule deserves an exception. Something is happening right now that is big. It is so big that no businessperson can safely ignore it, and I’m concerned that if we fail to mention it here, when it is the cover story of i”Imemagazine and “all the news” everywhere, some readers might infer that we feel it is for some reason not particularly applicable to people in the finishing field. Wrong! If you ate not familiar with the phrase “World Wide Web,” find a friend or neighbor who has it. Or visit a library, school, business exposition, or Chamber of Commerce where you can see it demonstrated. Inside of five minutes you’ll be saying to yourself: “I see it, but I can’t believe it’s possible! This is going to be as big as television-bigger!” Imagine viewing a magazine article on your computer screen, and let’s say its title is, oh, “Famous Bells of the World.” There will be pictures of the Bell of St. Patrick’s Will, the Liberty Bell, the Tsar Tolokol, the Westminster Peal, and so on. And there will be a sentence or two about each, for example: “The Tsar Tolokol, which is in Moscow, is the largest bell in the world. This gives it a very distinctive tone.” (Please observe the italics.) Imagine that you move your cursor over the words “distinctive tone” and your computer automatically plays a sound clip so that you immediately hear the Tsar Tolokol’s particular peal. You move the cursor to “largest bell” and a new screen comes up listing the vital statistics of the world’s ten largest bells. Select the word “Moscow” and another screen pops up, perhaps with an aerial view of Moscow, announcing: “The Moscow Tourism Bourd welcomes you! Would you like to choose something yourself fromthe map below or start with a guided tour?” But you decide to find out some more about bells before breaking for the Moscow tour. With no effort beyond pointing at italicized phrases, you are whisked around the world to any of more than 18,000 computer sites and treated to photographs, drawings, sound clips, film strips, and tables of data. As of this writing, the “Famous Bells” example is a fictitious but typical example. With thousands of authors writing new “Web pages” every day though, it might already be a reality by the time you read this. Now for a real example. If you look up “finishing,” you will find that one of several addresses for the Web version of the “Finishing Technology Hotline” is “http://have52
n.ios.com//tmooney.” If you start at that page, a prominent sentence you will see is: “Have you heard of.Metal Finishing magazine? Want a preview of next month’s issue or to see their booklist? If you move your cursor to “Metal Finishing,” up flashes information about the magazine-purpose, editorial contacts, how to subscribe, a photograph of a recent cover, and so on. This particular detailed information is not physically located at the Finishing Technology web page; rather it resides deep in the bowels of an Elsevier Science computer in the Netherlands (at “http://www.elsevier.nl/catalogue/ SA3/305/09600/09600/522931/” to be exact). But, see, it doesn’t matter where information actually resides-the World Wide Web interconnects all of the computers on the Internet so transparently that merely pointing at the phrase “Metal Finishing” magically whisks you there. This exhilarating skimming from place to place around the world, following whatever wave of information happens to move you at the moment, is what is really meant by “Surfing the Net.” It is an incredibly power-ml way to instantly access much of the total body of human knowledge. And it is an entertainment addiction without precedent-it is unspeakably difficult to stay focused when the Louvre, the Victoria’s Secret catalog, film clips of Hank Aaron’s record breaking home run, the Jimmy Smits page, the San Diego Bay Camera, and more than twenty thousand other diversions are all just a mouse click away. But this adventure known as the World Wide Web is only beginning. Millions of web pages remain to be written. And while the computer technology already exists to allow any viewer to watch any movie ever made at any time s/he wishes, the reality is that the telephone systems can’t deliver even the scantest fraction of the bandwidth required for the world’s television viewers to actually do this-thus, the titanic struggles we are witnessing between the phone companies, cable TV companies, and others, as everybody “bets the company.”
BURN MARKS ON PLATED PARTS Does anyone have an explanation for bum marks showing up on plated tubing in a rack process? What are “danglers” and how do they relate to this problem? This defect occurs on a high number of parts from our supplier, and it looks bad. What is the remedy? Jerry Gira, Ford Motor Co., Mich.
0 Copyright Elsevier Science Inc.
METAL FINISHING
??
JULY 1995
Danglers are the flexible cables in plating barrels that conduct electricity into the pile of work. The term has no applicability in rack plating. True burns are usually a gritty, sugary area on the part and occur in the area of highest current density (outside comers, outside bends, edges, parts nearest the anodes). The cause is trying to plate at a current density that cannot actually be achieved under the real conditions, with the result that substantial amounts of hydrogen are evolved because there just isn’t enough metal in solution right at the problem area to absorb all the electrons provided by the circuit. Aside from reducing the voltage or current (and, consequently, the plating rate), some solutions to this problem are: increase the agitation to help the metal ions at the interface get replaced faster; increase the temperature for the same reason; increase the solution concentration; place scrap metal forms near these comers to absorb the electricity (these are called thieves); and place insulating sheets (such as polypropylene) near these comers to block line-ofsight from anodes to these comers (these are called shields). Ted Mooney, Finishing Technology, N.J.
PUTA TANK.
0 Base mounted, in-tank, space-maker 8. bag filtration systems ??Stock or custom designed systems 0 Large selection for filtration, carbon treatment & Drecious metal recoverv
Besides those reasons mentioned above, another cause of bum marks is poor electrical contact. Chromium plating in particular needs good, firm contact because of the higher voltages involved. Better fixturing would solve the problem. With any plating process, though, if the contact between the rack and part has too little surface area for the current going through it, the spot may look “burned,” or even melted. Ken Rosenblum, Co-operative Plating, Minn. I seem to remember danglers as a slang term for a “‘growth” on hard chromium parts many years ago. Maybe I’m wrong, it was long ago. On the burning problem, if your supplier is talking about danglers in the true sense, your parts may be being run in barrels. Ron Landrette, B+P Plating Supply, Corm. NONCHROMIUM FINISHES FOR TIN PLATE I have just joined this BBS and have a question for any chemical vendors out there. I am part of an American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) committee trying to find a nonchromium replacement rinse for tin-plated steel. If there is anyone who can supply this type of product, they are invited to participate in the AISI selection. Thanks. Cathy Stewart, National Steel, Mich. NEW CATEGORICAL STANDARDS I just learned of the BBS. I’m from the regulatory end of things so may or may not be welcome. I just uploaded a file called mpmslshwzip, which should be of interest. It’s what I know about the proposed new categorical standards for the metal products and machinery category. I will put together a text file and upload it also. Tom Mort, City of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Thanks for the upload! You are most welcome here. Ted Mooney, Finishing Technology, N.J.
FILTER
PUMP INbUSTRlES 7932 Ajay Drive, Sun Valley, CA 91352 (818) 504-2391 FAX (818) 768-7590 Circle
METAL FINISHING . JULY 1995
019 on reader
information
card
53
I just uploaded a text file explaining what I know about the soon-to-be published metal products and machinery categorical standards. It’s called mpmtxt. Tom Mort, City of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Thanks for the uploads on the proposed standards; I appreciate you keeping us up to date! I only wish I could appreciate the standards themselves. Twenty-two years ago, when the government decided that categorical standards were a good idea and the electroplating industry would be the test case, our industry did manage to get concentration-based standards, rather than the massbased standards proposed in the Development Document, only after a long battle. They’re back. Ah well. Thanks again! Ted Mooney, Finishing Technology, N.J. Although I am a regulator, I am not particularly happy with the proposals either. I am particularly concerned about mass-based standards. It all hinges on average flow rates. If production increases even though everything is operating properly, then the mass standards will be violated. Mass standards are a fine concept, but implementing them will be difficult. Tom Mort, City of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Let me give a quick example of what some of us have against mass-based standards. Aluminum immediately forms a tenacious, passive skin. It is not practical to electroplate satisfactorily on this passive surface; so aluminum that is to be electroplated must first be zincated, i.e., dipped into a highly caustic solution of zinc salts. It is then possible to plate onto the aluminum. But farbetter repeatability is reportedly achieved by stripping that zincate in nitric acid and reapplying another coat of zincate before plating. Now you have quality and reliability; now you are not putting people at risk of failure of a vital component due to marginally adherent electroplating. While single zincating will reduce waste and mass concentration, I’d prefer not to be on the side of encouraging slap-dash, marginal, surface-finishing operations. There are plenty of other excuses for doing things poorly without the federal government legitimizing them. Ted Mooney, Finishing Technology, N.J.
Ted Mooney is an independent consulting engineer based in Kinnelon, N.J.
MF
RIN
Attention Cyanide Platers: Are you troubled by.. . ??carbonate build-up ??poor efficiency ??reduced brightness ??slow plating rates ??production rejects?
Try CARB-OUTand Make Your Life Easier!
Freezing out carbonates is difficult-often impossible and most chemical treatments have their own problems. But CARB-OUTwas developed specifically for cyanide baths. CARB-OUT offers these benefii . Contains No Caustic or Cyanide - Bath balance is maintained Easy to control and mix ?? Liquid System ?? Highly Effective Removes carbonates even from potassium-based solutions. CARB-OUT is considered non-hazardous, and shipment is not regulated by the Department of Transportation.Yet, as with all chemical products, reasonable care should be taken. For
a FREE productdatasheetcall:
OF
R I N.
I N C.
??Fax:
Copper Cyanide
Potassium Cyanide Sodium Cyanide Zinc Cyanide
WDL #512 - produces invisible, corrosion resistant coating to prevent staining, tarnishing and finger-prints CLEANER #105 - alkaline cleaner for soak, electrolytic, or tumble cleaning on copper, brass, steel and zinc base die castings. Can condition copper, brass, steel and zinc base die castings for
COPPER and BRASS ANODES HYDROXIDES Potassium Hydroxide Sodium Hydroxide
ROCHELLE
SALTS
uniform, blister-free plating.
RIN, INC.
4631 S. Whipple St., Chicago, IL 60632
2707 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622 Phone: (312) 384-4522
PROPRIETARY CHEMICALS
CYANIDES
Complete Stock of Raw Chemicals Used Specifically in the Metal Finishing Industry.
ACCURATE ENGINEERING LABS. DIVISION
Other Quality Products
(312) 364-8681
Phone: (312) 523-0784
??Fax:
(312) 523-7838
Circle 002 on reader information card
54
METAL FINISHING
. JULY 1995