curated with aloha by

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
- Pine Beach, NJ

Seeking Touch Up Pen for Zinc Plating and Chromate

Q. Have on site Electrogalvanized coating damaged ... what is repair procedure for Electrogalvanized damaged coating? Prefer on project site (Oil and Gas sector).

A. Hi Sanjay. Sometimes an industry sector will have exact repair instructions which must be followed. For example, you're essentially not allowed to do anything in aerospace without following pre-approved instructions. Whether any such repair instructions exist for the component and industry in question I wouldn't know.

But in general, if appearance is not a factor, zinc-rich paint (sometimes called "cold galvanizing") may be suitable. If not, it is possible to 'brush electroplate' with zinc and then do a spot repair of the chromate.

Luck & Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
January 2022

Thank you very much for Quick reply ... and valuable Guideline.

sanjay narayan ekal [returning]
QAQC Inspector-painting coating insulation and Fireproofing - salalah city oman
January 18, 2022

⇩ Related postings, oldest first ⇩

Q. I restore old radio equipment as a hobby and I am frequently faced with a vexing problem. Equipment from the 1950's and 1960's with steel chassis that have been yellow zinc chromate finished frequently have pits and small rust spots. While I certainly can remove the rust without much of a problem, I also remove the finish at the same time. With complex pieces of equipment it is impossible to strip the chassis and have the piece refinished. Is there a touch up kit that will do a "reasonable" repair on yellow chromate finished steel? If yes, is this solution as toxic as the cyanide based products of 30 years ago?

A. Hi Lance. I'm personally not much in favor of plating except in an industrial environment but, yes, there are brush-plating kits you could use to zinc plate from a cyanide-free electrolyte and then yellow chromate. Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2000

RFQ: I am looking for some kind of touch up pen or spray for Yellow Zinc Chromate to repair scratches and scuffs.

Ed. note: Sorry, this RFQ is old & outdated, so contact info is no longer available. However, if you feel that something technical should be said in reply, please post it; no public commercial suggestions please ( huh? why?)

RFQ: Was there ever any response to the question about a Chromate touch-up pen? I, too, have a need, as we deal with a great deal of yellow chromate treated parts?

Ed. note: Sorry, this RFQ is old & outdated, so contact info is no longer available. However, if you feel that something technical should be said in reply, please post it; no public commercial suggestions please ( huh? why?)

A. Hi Chris.

The site's supporting advertisers respond in private to commercial inquiries like Mike's because it gets messy and spammy to have suppliers soliciting business in a public forum, sometimes even posing as satisfied customers. So please see our Directory of Chemicals for potential sources, or there will usually be Plating Distributors listed in your local yellow pages who can assist you.

In terms of technical responses, it will depend on whether you need to touch up only the chromate conversion coating or the underlying zinc plating as well (remember that chromate does not function directly on steel).

If you need to repair the zinc, which is the usual case, brush plating is a possibility (topics 12175, 4887 and 46537).

If you only need to repair the chromate, Robert Probert offers a "swab on" suggestion using Q-tips ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] in topic 55478 for cadmium surfaces, and for aluminum in topic 40706, which you can extend to zinc surfaces. There is a pen on the QPL for touch up of chromate conversion coatings on aluminum (Henkel "ALODINE 1132 TOUCH-N-PREP PEN"), which may or may not do a satisfactory chromate repair on zinc. Such repairs are usually not very cosmetic so, with your customer's permission, you may find that indelible marker pens do a better job where the issue is merely cosmetic.

Luck and Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
August 2, 2012

ASTM B633 Touch Up Pen For Zinc Chromate

Q. Is there such a thing as a pen that you can use to touch up zinc chromate?
We have some parts several thousand a year that we send out for plating. They are zinc plated then post baked then pickled then chromated. Is there a pen we can use to touch up the part even if the scratch is all the way thru the plating and into the part?
We use a two part paint and hardener now and paint it on with a brush, but it is a pain doing this and we waste a lot of paint because it dries up so fast. Our spec is ASTM B633.
Any help would be great.
Thanks
Lori

Touch up Pen or Brush on for Zinc Black Chromate Plating

RFQ: I have several steel parts that have been processed with Zinc Black Chromate Plating.
Like many manufactures we found an issue during assembly that required minor repairs.
Now we have some minor bare spots and scratches the are mostly a cosmetic issue.

My question is there anyway to touch this areas up?

A Black Zinc pen, paint either spray or brush or maybe some other method someone could share?

Thank you.

Q. I have the same question. Often I have parts black zinc'd and they come back from the plater in need of minor, but necessary, touch up. Sending them back to the plater often costs time and associated paper work that can upset a production schedule as well as my own. If there is a touchup pen available or some other method of repair I would love to hear about it. Also, do the voids in the black affect the corrosion protection significantly?