Summary for electroplating for close tolerance Discussion
Electroplating for close tolerance is the core issue here: Jay Patel asked how to plate parts that must hold a 6-micron ID tolerance. James Watts replied that 6 microns is about 0.0002 inches and noted that many shops and QC departments cannot reliably machine or measure that tightly. His practical advice was that the parts would need to be measured perfectly before plating and then either plated individually to target or overplated and honed back to size. Watts said a slow electroless plating process would be the only likely option he could think of for this kind of work. The thread does not name a specific best plating type beyond that caution, but it emphasizes that achieving the tolerance depends on extremely careful measurement and post-plating correction.
Q. I have a customer who components are have ID requirement of 6 microns tolerance. This also needs electro plating.
I am unable to figure out what is the best electroplating to adopt to get parts with in tolerance.
Please advise.
Regards
Jay
Jay Patel
– India
November 7, 2015
A. I find that interesting. 6 microns = 0.0002 inches.
Not many QC departments can measure ID’s with that consistency. I have not seen many machine shops that can machine that closely and many that can’t grind that closely.
It boils down to you would have to have perfect measurement of the ID before plate and then each one would have to be individually plated, or overplated and honed back to size.
A slow electroless plating solution would be the only possibility that I can think of.
James Watts
– Navarre, Florida
November 7, 2015