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Cutting cadmium plated parts

I read the letters regarding stripping and blasting of cad. I have been taught that it is not a good idea to grind cad because of haz-mat being put into the sump and the possibility of vaporization. But, in cases where parts need to be reworked: what about cutting it off using a lathe or mill/drill tooling? Are there environmental concerns with those processes?

David Peterson
Manf. Engineering - Ogden, Utah, U.S.A.
2007

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Cadmium was very widely used 40 years ago, with countless millions of nuts and bolts out in the environment, and being ground off of muffler hardware, burned off of same, etc. It is not plutonium. I would not panic over de minimis possible exposure myself. But try to locate a copy of the booklet "Using Cadmium Safely".

I think my first question would be whether it really needs to be cadmium plated, and if the answer is no, to suggest sending it to a plating shop for stripping and replating with something else because even drilling a hole will leave you with metal filings that have cadmium on them.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007

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2007

Try this leaflet from the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE), it contains some common sense and tries to keep away from restrictive practices:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg391.pdf

Hope it helps

Brian Terry
Aerospace - Yeovil, Somerset, UK