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Liquid mask

I am looking for an alternative to masking tape. I am looking for some advice on liquid mask. How long does it take to dry? How is it removed? Is it a practical solution for masking small holes (dia. 3 mm) on aerospace components? Can it be used on anodized/chromated parts? Is it possible to apply the liquid by brush rather than spray?

Robert Armstrong
Operations Engineer - Essex, UK
2006

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2006

Liquid masks work great, as long as you are using a mask that is designed for plating process. Dry time varies per maskant. The stuff I use is good to go in about 6 hours, air drying time (this can be sped up by force curing in an oven, but I prefer the air dry. As far as removable, there are peelable masks, which come off very easily after processing. The downside I've found to these masks is that they are very viscous, and hard for me to do detailed masking when applying them. Most of the masking I do is very detailed, and fine-lines are a must, so I use a mask that is much thinner (which means it can be sprayed, or hand painted). The downside to these masks is removal must be done in a solvent (acetone ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly Flammable! ) and there is a haz-waste to deal with (minimal, but it exists. For holes, I almost always use plugs, unless it is a small, and extremely shallow blind hole, where this no walls for the plug to adhere to.

Marc Green
anodizer - Boise, Idaho

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