Can our products assist with the electroplating and finishing processes?
The electroplating and surface finishing industry…
Electroplating has countless applications in today’s society, from kitchenware to space suits, the process is continually being changed and updated to become more efficient and the products lasting longer. Typically, the process is done with coating one metal with another for either aesthetic or strength reasons, which allows for lowered costs using a less expensive metal base. Today, we even see plastic being electroplated to help have parts blend in or pop to look nicer or more expensive. Plastic quickly became one of the most used materials in the 20th century, but alone look very cheap and undesirable, that is where electroplating helps. Not only does finishing a product with another metal help make it better to look at, it can also help elongate its life span. Electroplating can be used to coat food containers with tin to make the more resistant to corrosion or hide an unattractive stronger metal with a finish one that is shiny and rust-resistant. The industry is continually pushing the boundaries of chemistry and electroplating in order to lower costs and increase longevity. According to the 2017 Market Research Report on electroplating, plating, polishing, anodizing, and coloring, the operating expenses increase by 1.2% in 2016 alone but with only a .6% increase in industry growth. With costs rising and growth low, the time for companies to save money is right now. The average net loss for unprofitable companies in the industry is -11.3%. That is absolutely unsustainable and you need to act.
Applications
- Tank level monitoring
- Maintain water flow
- Temperature control
How our liquid level switches are used in finishing…
Within the shop, there are many steps and factors that have to be precise in order to maintain effective finishing and electroplating. The level of concentration in each tank has to at a specific level with a specific voltage in order to produce a clean finish fast and effectively. Differing temperatures will affect the speed of evaporation of the solution being used, which will get rid of certain components within the solution creating an uneven balance of ions and electrodes. If this occurs, the solution can become too weak or too strong to efficiently coat the product altering the time it takes for the product to be complete and ready to move to the next stage. Our thermostat control switch can be easily set up with your existing system and can be outfitted with an alarm to immediately let you know if the temperature is changing or to automatically bring the temperature back within the range that you set. Almost all tanks have a water system that is put in to maintain the water flow, yet most of theses systems currently are manual. Today, we ask a lot of our employees, and it is very easy to lose track a tank’s water level on busy days, but this oversight can cost the company. Finishing and coating auditors will check on this process to ensure that your tanks are at the correct levels and concentration. More companies are moving toward automation to increase efficiency and lower lead times, but some of these new systems can cost you tens of thousands of dollars. Our pump / valve switches and level switch float types can automate the process for much less, by simply setting the on and off depths for the tank individually. The engineers at Innovative Components are ready to make your automation process quick, easy, and cheap so that you can go back to efficient work.
