Intricate masking needed

A. From your location, you've got to be a U.S. Chrome Corporation [a finishing.com supporting advertiser] employee with a problem. Just be glad you're doing plating over previously anodized part. Masking for chromic anodize is next to impossible.

I'd start with a green vinyl maskant used in electroless nickel. Enthone sells one but there are others. Use 2 or 3 coats and it will hold up. Bad thing is having to peel the vinyl off afterwards; doesn't come off with simple solvent like red lacquer.

Didn't your John Carpenter in Connecticut have any thoughts? Let John know, hopefully, Milt was helpful in responding to a US problem!

A. Consider chrome plating first, mask bore then chromic acid anodize. If it is a repair job consider stripping chromic acid anodize, chrome plate bore, mask bore then chromic acid anodize.

A. For the holes, I would use silicon pull plugs. If you can not use pull plugs, then I would use neoprene plugs, (green) and throw them away after one use. Masking the outside, I would use 1" lead tape and burnish all of the edges with a tongue depressor or a 6" plastic ruler with the edges rounded is even better. Done reasonably well, it will not leak. If you are paranoid, coat it with two coats of thinned Super XP 2000 from Pyramid Plastics in Hope ARK., Div of Mich Chrome and Chem. This stuff is reasonably peelable after a dip in near boiling water, but has a long dry time. Baking it at over 125F makes it tough as plastisol and really difficult to get off. As well as messing up the tape glue. This is a super product but tend to leak at trimmed edges and will pin hole if you get sloppy.

A. Without knowing a little more detail on the type of masking operations you primarily do (painting, taping, plugging, etc.), it's a tough question to answer. After all, there's not much time improvement that can be made on plugging holes.

I'm not surprised that your dept. is being asked to improve efficiency, after all, it's the manual labor aspect of coating lines where a company tends to make or break the profitability of a job.

When I'm tasked with this type of challenge, I'll obviously focus on the most labor intensive jobs first, and ask myself questions about each little step of the job to see where efficiency improvements can be made. And I'll start from the beginning.

1. Are all of my masking/racking materials neatly organized and easily found? (you'd be surprised on how many unorganized shops I've seen to where employees will waste a lot of time just locating the materials needed). One of the best investments I ever made was a large "bin cabinet" Where I organized all of different pugs/tapes/tools in labeled bins. With all of the different size plugs and tapes that we tend to use, it's easy to let this type of an area become cluttered, and disorganized. It was over $1000 at the time, but man was it worth it!

2. Would die-cut masking tapes save time?

3. Can I force cure my paint-masked parts in a small oven to reduce time?

Again, without knowing more detail it's pretty difficult to suggest methods to improve efficiency. It's easy to become trapped in "this is how we've always done it" type of mentality, which tends to limit outside the box thinking. Talk to your manager about offering some type of company initiative like "idea of the month" or similar to where you'd foster employee creativity, coupled with a small reward. You'd be surprised at how creative the guys can be that actually have to work with the parts on a day-to-day basis.

Finally, I'm of the opinion that you, as a dept. lead man, should be the best at what you do. Sit down by your employees and work with them. I've done this countless times with employees that I supervise, and when they see that I'm producing 2 parts for each one they produce, that's a strong motivator. It could be something as simple as using both hands to install plugs, as opposed to just one.

I'm sure I could walk into your shop, and observe your operation, and see areas that need efficiency improvements. Why? Because I'd be an outsider, looking in. And that, perhaps, is the way you need to start looking at it.

Wow! Thanks for the comprehensive and inspiring answer, Marc -- one of the all-time greats!

Regards,