Electro plating help

[NozSpark]

Guys,

I've got a customer who's having a problem with an electro plating tank, when they set the voltage the current fluctuates and the plating process doesn't work very well.

It's a copper plating tank which has 3 copper rods across the top, the outer 2 connected to the +ve and the central one to the -ve. Hanging off the outer 2 are copper rods which have copper plates attached,,, they hang the items they want to plate off the central rod....... The rods are above the copper sulphate solution.

Now they have been in touch with the manufacturers and they say that the problem can't be down to the tank and it must be the wiring,, the terminals are corroded a little bit but not that much... The voltage across the rods is 1.5V (what they set it too) when there is nothing on the central rod.

The guy wants me to rewire the tank, if only to rule the cabling out,,,, but we were trying to figure out other possible problems so he has agreed that I will redo the hangars with croc clips and ring lugs to bolt them together (to get a better connection)...... I think they ought to also get the solution tested for strength.

What do you recon???

 

[Robin Spark]

Guys,I've got a customer who's having a problem with an electro plating tank, when they set the voltage the current fluctuates and the plating process doesn't work very well.

It's a copper plating tank which has 3 copper rods across the top, the outer 2 connected to the +ve and the central one to the -ve. Hanging off the outer 2 are copper rods which have copper plates attached,,, they hang the items they want to plate off the central rod....... The rods are above the copper sulphate solution.Now they have been in touch with the manufacturers and they say that the problem can't be down to the tank and it must be the wiring,, the terminals are corroded a little bit but not that much... The voltage across the rods is 1.5V (what they set it too) when there is nothing on the central rod.

The guy wants me to rewire the tank, if only to rule the cabling out,,,, but we were trying to figure out other possible problems so he has agreed that I will redo the hangars with croc clips and ring lugs to bolt them together (to get a better connection)...... I think they ought to also get the solution tested for strength.

What do you recon???

Hi Noz, although i cant really help with your problem, my first job after college was in a research lab where I did analytical chemistry (many moons ago!), if i remember correctly we offered a service to local companies and tested the solutions and although you probably already know that these probably contain cyanide so please be careful. Keep some amyl nitrite in your pocket as a precaution

 

[Manator]

I would suspect the solution, electoplating is just the same as wet cell batteries in principle. Most tanks use solid bars and you should be able to get a "spark" when you drop any hanger onto the bar. I have not had any experiance with copper plating but have worked on both Zinc and Chrome processing. As said be very carefull with the solutions, they do contain cyanide sulphate, and in one plant I worked in the induction showed us just how serious some of these chemicals can be if mixed with others. You can also get explosive gasses which are heavy, resting on the surface with the scum, I learned some facinating chemistry whilst working there.

 

[NozSpark]

TBH the solution quality was my first thought,,, apparently they send samples off on a regular basis for testing...

Do you think that it would be better to have croc clips on the hangars to connect to the bar or is just hanging them enough?

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 11:48 ---------- Previous post was made at 11:46 ----------

Sent by me in the Holyhead ferry terminal,,, waiting for my sisters in law to come over and take out daughter off our hands for a week

 

[Manator]

From all the plating that I saw just hanging was used, obviously the connection had to be good, but thats all they did.