Letter 37020

Problems with "DRYON" in plating [Pennsylvania] 

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I live in Northeast Pennsylvania,the weather here has been about the same as everywhere else in the U.S.A. very hot and very humid! Our building is over 100,00 square feet, it's an old building and it is not climate controlled (it would not be cost effective). I was curious to know if anyone else out there was having a problem with dryon in their plating with this heat & humidity & if they are have they found any kind of tricks that they are willing to share??

Brian C. Gaylets
lock mfgr. - Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

What is dryon?? Is this spotting? If so try a warm DI water final rinse and use some type of blow off. There are devices sold that do this for some "sizes" of parts. You might try adding 5 -15% isopropyl alcohol to the final rinse for better drying and better run off of the water(sheets rather than spots) . 15% isopropyl alchol is not flamable by most definitions.

James Watts
- FL

If you are referring to cleaners drying on parts during transfer time, this has been a common occurance. Reduce the cleaner tank temperature and reduce dwell time over tank and/or speed up total transfer time. If this is between other parts of the cycle, the same advice applies.

Gene Packman
- Great Neck, NY

It has often proven practical to use a "fog spray" upon removal of the work from the hot cleaning tanks. Usually they have sufficient evaporation that the added water is no problem, and this both immediately rinses the parts and cools them.

 
Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com Inc. - Brick, NJ

That is what I am refering to,the cleaner is drying onto the parts before it has a chance to rinse off due the extreme temperature and humidity we have been experienceing lately. We did adjust the cycle time of the machine a little bit but we have it stretched out as far as we can go rite now. We usually run our soak cleaner and electro cleaner at 180 degrees and both are made up at 10% we found out that lower heat will not give the parts the proper cleaning that we need to plate with.


Ragards

Brian C. Gaylets
McKinney Mfg.-Assa Abloy America - Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

I have encountered the same problem at clients shops for over twenty years. Ted is right about the fog rinsing but not everyone can modify their line mechanically. I would suggest you investigate lowering the temperature to 160 degrees or lower. In order to get the same activity in your cleaner tank, increase the concentration by 10 to 25% of increased make up. Many technical sheets for products address the use of higher concentrations at lower temperatures. Also, investigate the use of cleaners which are more effective on your soils at lower temperatures. Lower temperatures mean lower energy costs.

Gene Packman
- Great Neck, New York

To increase the efficiency of your cleaners at the lower temperature try using eductors to make a scrubbing action in the cleaner tank . I agree that 160 is a better temperature to operate at provided you are not trying to remove polishing compounds , you will probably need somewhere in the order of a 10 - 15 minute soak and 1-2 minutes in the electrocleaner at a minimum of 25 amps /sq ft but I would prefer to see 50 if its steel parts .
A fog spray coming out of the cleaner will also help
Regards,

John Tenison - Woods
- Frankston, Victoria, Australia

We have had this problem off and on and being that we are in the same geographic region as you are I can certainly feel your pain. We addressed this by lowering the temperature of the cleaners but we had to increase the concentration of cleaner in the solution to make up for it. It is really the only thing we have found so far that works without having to spray the parts down.

J. Giddings
- Hbg, Pennsylvania

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