Search Results

Hard chrome plating is used in the automobile industry quite extensively. Cylinder valves, transmission parts, body part dies and molds, are only a few examples. Most automobile companies that have hard chrome plating shops are using methods that have been obsolete for over 50 years. The same is true for their outside chrome plating shop vendors. There is a hard chrome plating method that achieves plating rates of .006 (152) per hour with very even, dense and harder deposits. Even deposits mean less grinding time or no grinding after plating at all. What is considered by most chrome platers impossible to plate is easy to do. Holes and slots as small as .040 (1mm) in diameter can be plated using this system.

There have been several so called high speed solutions developed. Using the same parameters to compare solutions, they do increase the rate of deposition. Increasing plating rates without changing plating methods does only one thing. It doesn't do anything to improve the final quality of the deposit. The hard chrome industry has been afflicted with not only slow plating rates but many other needless problems. To mention a few of them, uneven deposits, soft chrome, excess grinding time after plate, excess labor to do a job, non standardized fixtures and its very difficult to learn how to plate complicated parts. The actual list is much longer than this. There is a plating method that has been in use for 50 years. Plating rates were purposely limited to .006 (152 u) per hour. Some companies are using .012 (304 u) to .030 (762 u) per hour on a outside diameter. This is being done in the old 100 to 1 chrome, sulfate solution without additives.

Using a porous pot to remove impurities from Chromic Acid solutions of any type is an old idea. Using the same pot to remove Chromic acid from rinse water is a newer development. A newer ceramic pot material has a faster removal rate and service life than the older clay pots. The newer version is being used to purify all types of Chrome solutions. Anodizers, Bright Dip, Chromic Acid Bath, Bright and Hard Chrome platers are successfully using the modern version to extend bath life indefinitely. An added benefit to many is being able to remove chromic acid from rinse water.