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Electropolish current/voltage settings

When do you adjust amperage vs. voltage in electropolishing stainless steel. My machine has switches and meters for both and the manual contains no information. I would have assumed by keeping resistance constant that voltage would be raised to increase the material removal rate and amperage would increase accordingly, or in keeping voltage constant hat amperage would increase with load. I would like to know when to turn what knob and what to expect.

Steve Cassidy
Hudson, Massachusetts
1999

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1999

Steve,

I am not sure if you are talking about a power supply with both AVC and ACC or a dual range unit.

Either way, you need to follow the instructions of the vendor of your solution.

Ones that I have used go to a voltage and stay there. If you have an undersized unit, you might have to ramp it up, but if the unit is very slightly undersized, you will never get to the voltage, because the load is to great. It is not like anodizing where you continually build a bigger and bigger insulator layer. Once it forms its "diffusion or barrier layer" it should remain the same.

Optimally, electropolish only burns of the burr or the tiny TIP of the surface roughness.

There are books available on the technical aspects and several years ago, Charles Faust had an excellent series in Metal Finishing.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida