Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
Better barrel plating for jewellery. (Special Feature).Barrel plating was developed 100 years ago, initially using "cement mixer" type oblique barrels containing the solution and anode, and later about 1925, horizontal submerged barrels developed, and both type have evolved through the years to the many specialised units available today.
Unfortunately the technique of barrel plating has become in many cases, a poor relation within the plating industry, being regarded as a cheap and inferior method of electroplating by the end customer Low cost is definitely a benefit of barrel plating, but if the correct conditions are used, the quality can be as good as or even superior to rack finishing.
Barrel plating techniques are most successful when the work is repetition work and the plant, barrels, and chemistry are tuned to suit the work, as may be the case with an in-house plating department.
It is inevitable that in a jobbing shop where barrel plating work is infrequent, the types of work vary widely, and the plater has only one portable barrel available, the results can be disappointing.
To select a barrel unit to suit the work to be plated does seem extravagant, but when costs of jigging or wiring thousands of small parts are considered, buying a suitable barrel is a cost reduction.
Consider firstly the physical properties of the work, i.e. quantity to be plated, shape of components; will the parts cause excessive drag out? are they flat and likely to stick together? Do they stack, float, or have thin pins or wires, which will go through barrel perforations and burn, or bend? are there sharp edges or corners that would cut mesh lined barrels?. What is the total surface area of a correctly filled barrel load? Is the material very thin and likely not to conduct current through the full barrel load.
After considering the work to be processed, a suitable barrel must be chosen, and if the work is cup shaped and likely to cause excessive drag out, the plating chemistry should be modified to suit, by reducing the chemical composition where possible, to reduce costs and effluent loading.
If the work is flat and likely to stick together, choose a barrel with a ribbed interior, and look at the possibility of reducing the surface tension of the process solutions to minimise sticking. Using ballast or mixing loads can also help. Parts that are hollow and may float should have some pieces of polypropylene inside the barrel to knock them about and sink them. Pins and wires are best processed in mesh or slotted cylinders or better still use an oblique tub type barrel.
The correct quantity of work in a horizontal barrel is just over half full, this gives good contact to the danglers and usually a good tumbling action. Once the correct workload is established, calculate the surface area of the load. Then calculate the required current. This will normally be between 10% and 25% of the current specified for rack plating the same area. Try to plate a batch, to see if the necessary current be achieved? Often it is not possible due to either the hole size being too small or the solution conductivity too low. Try to resolve the problem with a different cylinder, or modify the chemistry. Running at an excessively low CD rarely gives good results as the deposit is burnished off nearly as fast as it is deposited.
Barrel rotation should be about 6-12 RPM for best tumbling action and horizontal barrels should be run completely submerged, to give the best chance of fresh solution transfer into the barrel, and maximise the current transfer into the cylinder through the holes.
Use cylinders with the largest possible hole size to maximise solution and current transfer.
There are hundreds of different barrel designs available today, from designs for plating on plastic buttons, wheel spokes, herring bone and counter bored perforations, slotted perforations, changeable inserts, where one cylinder can be used with different perforation inserts for many work types. Disc contacts, rod and hanger contacts, and vibratory barrels.
These vibratory barrels are designed for minute and delicate components, where the components move relatively gently about, and are widely used in the electronics industry.
Many major companies now specify barrel plating for small decorative parts, for example in bright nickel and gold and were pleasantly surprised initially by the quality achieved using barrels as the thickness were much more even and the brightness was indistinguishable from parts rack plated.
The labour cost of barrel plating these small parts is negligible compared to wiring or jigging. Why not give barrel plating a try on suitable work? You will be pleased with the results!
RC: 241
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