Surface World May 2020 Surface World May 2020 | Page 6

Concentrated Water Based Cleaning Solutions Telephone: +44 ( 0 ) 20 8281 6370 Website: www.envirotech-europe.com 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 Time on your hands? The IMF would like to invite you to study for one of our qualifications. You may enrol anytime between now and up to 5th June and pay just £150 deposit, with the balance due by 30th September 2020 Email: [email protected] for further details. 4 MAY 2020 twitter: @surfaceworldmag