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INSTITUTE OF MATERIALS FINISHING
The fascinating world of electroplating
John Burgess FIMF
My previous article entitled
“Nostalgia” appeared in
an earlier IMFormation
and looked at some of the
earlier equipment used
in electroplating, in this
series of articles I hope
to highlight some of the
hidden dark secrets of
Electroplating that cannot
be found in books or even
perhaps the internet.
Having conducted several Webinars over the
past year, I thought that it might be of interest
to students as to how I got into Electroplating
and how students, who are doing some of
the courses, might look to perhaps continue
their career in this fascinating subject).
Having reached the great age of 18 (how
long ago was that!!!!), I decided that
university life was not for me and that I
wanted to earn some money and also have
something to do with chemistry.
I was living in Birmingham at the time and
my mother found an advert in the paper for
an junior assistant to help in the Research
Department of a chemical supplier known as
W.Canning & Co. I duly went along to the
interview and was shown around the R&D
plating shop, only to have my eyes opened
wide by these wonderful coloured solutions
bubbling away and electroplating dummy
sheets with metal. Blue liquids produced red
metal, green liquids produced bright shiny
white metal & I thought pure magic.
I was offered the job together with a chance
to attend day release, to gain advanced
qualifications so I was earning money and
learning at the same time. (Nowadays this
would be called an apprenticeship)
I worked with the departmental head of each
section (Copper, Nickel, Chrome, Zinc) and
continued my studies learning all the time the
how organic additives interacted with the
solution to produce wonderful shiny deposits.
I stayed in R&D for about 4 years and moved
onto technical service and trouble shooting
at customers factories and this was when my
eyes were really opened.
Everything in the R&D department was very
clinical and clean but when it came to the
real world, my word, a lot of that went out
of the window.
You must remember that back in the late 60’s
early 70’s there was little in the way of “elf &
safety” and many of the so called “jobbing
shops” were just small units with very little in
the way of proper drainage or even rinsing
facilities……to say the least wellington Boots
were definitely the order of the day.
Most platers wore boots and large plastic
aprons and rinsing in manual lines consisted
of placing the part in the rinse tank and
withdrawing it (and half the water in the tank)
all over the floor which was often eaten away
by the chemicals that were spilt.
It is fair to say that “platers” were real
characters and a lot of them had grown up
in the business from young lads but what
most of they knew were all the tricks of the
trade that you will never find in the Canning
Handbook and it is these mysteries that make
the subject so interesting.
Next time: “How not to make additions to a
nickel bath unless you want to cause further
problems than you already have”
IMF Summer
Enrolment 2020
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like to invite you to study for one
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You may enrol anytime between now and up to 5th June and pay
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Email: [email protected] for further details.
4 MAY 2020
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