45087

Conductive finish for steel standoff [California] 

May 4, 2007

I have an application where I am using a steel male/male standoff to attach a battery cable (presumably tin plated) to a power block module on an electric scooter. I am looking for an inexpensive, electrically conductive, corrosion resistant finish for this standoff. Since this is similar to an automotive application, and located inside a chassis compartment of the scooter, I think that I need a salt spray protection of ~120 hours. I called out a Ford S-437 finish, and a plater had problems with it due to their tumbling process messing up the threads. They are going to rack plate them on this batch, but are not going to take any further orders. These parts are ~1.5" long, and 10mm and 9/16" hex stock. Our volumes are only 5000 pieces a month right now. Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated.

John Blaney
Product Designer - Rohnert Park, CA, USA

Dear Mr Blaney,

You could use zinc plating or tin plating both would serve your purpose. However if you need to rack-plate them, you will have to find someone willing to do this for you whichever metal you decide to plate finally.

Khozema Vahanwala Automaxx   Bangalore, Karnataka, India