Fabricating a diamond polishing scaife by plating

A. Hi Fareed. Sorry, I've never heard of February Electrolyte. And if it is a typo or auto-correct, I can't figure it out :-( Please take 2 or 3 paragraphs and fully describe your situation.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi, Nitin. Cutting/grinding tools are frequently manufactured by occluding diamonds into an electroplated nickel or chrome matrix or an electroless nickel one. I don't know whether they can be used for a scaife or if the nature of polishing diamonds with diamond dust would be spoiled by holding the diamond dust so rigidly in position.

In essence the diamond dust is held in suspension by a simple fluidized bed and/or thixotropic ingredients in the plating solution, and the dust is occluded as the metal plates out. However, it's not particularly easy, and some of the better tricks of the trade are patented or trade secret, so it may be best to farm out the work to those who already know how to do it, or to obtain a process license and consequent guidance from specialists in the field of composite plating.

Regards,

First of two simultaneous responses --

A. Well that's a novel idea but I'm afraid about a hundred companies already do that. I use just such a wheel for sharpening carbide tool bits. I just looked at it and it is a Norton B99 diamond cup wheel. If memory serves it cost me around $200. It is made from aluminum and the diamond dust can be had in varying weights - course, medium, fine, ultra fine and pack a tent and a lunch fine. They don't seem to be plated though. The diamond dust seams to go all the way through and is suspended in the aluminum as it never seams to wear out. Or maybe I'm just too careful with it. They come with some funny black dressing sticks. I have to dress the wheel once in a while but I have probably made a pound of carbide dust with it over the years and as long as I re-dress it once in a blue moon it cuts like new. I have seen the same thing made by various manufactures in other gun shops and machine shops over the years. I have also seen them in every configuration and size imaginable. Probably what you want is already being made for half the price and hassle of doing it yourself.

Second of two simultaneous responses -- January 21, 2010

Dear Ted,

Thanks for your response.I will check out for the expert, and will return.

Regards,
Nitin

A. Hi Alex. Finishing.com is for public discussion where all readers can all learn something ... and where no one will be cut adrift in the middle of an interesting discussion because it went private :-)

Please describe one of the problems you are having and let the learning begin!

My understanding is that a scaife is the turntable or horizontal wheel that a diamond is pressed against for polishing? What is it that makes it a 'black' scaife? Is there a difference between a generic scaife and a black scaife? Must nano diamonds be impregnated into the scaife, or is a larger grit-size diamond dust sometimes used? Thanks!

Regards,

A. Dear sir,
We are doing this black scaife since 2004.
If you have any query I can support.
Thanks

A. Dear sir,
"Black scaife" name is derived because final scaife is black in colour. Always scaife or all product of diamond sintered or bonded when open (polish, rub) become black. So it's black; nothing else. I can send photo.
Thanks.

Thanks Hk!

Regards,

A. Hi Bilal.

We appended your inquiry to a thread which addresses it for you. This is done by nickel plating the sheet, while having diamond dust suspended in the nickel plating bath so that it is occluded into the deposit. Are you looking for an experienced plating shop to do this for you, or are you looking to retain the assistance of a consultant, or do you wish to license the process and apply it yourself? Any of those approaches can be a fairly quick route to success.

The other alternative, trying to learn how to do it yourself, with only some public help but without paying anyone, is probably possible but it will probably take years of both study and trial-and-error. The people who license this technology have spent decades developing it. Do you already do nickel plating so people can at least skip that whole area in their response?

Luck and Regards,

A. Hi, Bilal. There are trade secrets involved in this type of plating and I am not privy to them. But thixotropic agents which might be applicable include fumed silica and barium sulphate. Strangely, you probably need wetters (to make sure the diamond dust is wet) as well. Further, simple mechanical agitation will not constitute a fluidized bed. Please google and research that subject, and see if you can accomplish a fluidized bed via either air agitation or pumping solution under the cathode through some sort of dispersion plates. Best of luck.

A. Hi again.

I must repeat myself that I DON'T know how to do it, and that's why I am free to make general suggestions ... I can't blow people's trade secrets because I don't know them :-)

You can license these technologies from people who have spent decades developing the technology and who know how to do it if you wish to go that way.

Fluidized Bed

Please google the term "what is a fluidized bed". Quicksand is an example of a fluidized bed -- an upward flow of water keeps the sand particles in suspension. Similarly, I think you want an agitation system that makes the slurry of diamond dust look like quicksand, with the particles dispersed around the cathode, but relatively quiescent. I believe this can be done with dispersion plates below the cathodes.

Yes, I believe that the same wetting agents used for nickel plating (i.e., sodium lauryl sulphate) are useful for wetting the diamond particles. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi cousin. Sorry I don't know a lot about scaifes...

So, while I usually edit grammar and spelling, unfortunately I don't know enough to be able to do so, and have little idea what you are saying. You use TMP somewhere in the process and/or the fabrication and want to know how to stop doing so? Please try to send us a few paragraphs, free of abbreviations (Is 'TC' titanium carbide? Is 'CR' cold rolled steel or chrome plating? Is 'fe' iron?) so we can understand your question. Thanks!

Regards,

Hi Yogesh. If you're doing nickel plating of your scaifes, my understanding is that you would use the same pH, Amperage, and Voltage as normal. But please don't keep it so abstract, asking for numerical data points; it can kill off interest, with your questions left unanswered by the people who might actually know :-)

Who are you, what other plating experience do you have, what have you tried and what were the results? Are you using nickel plating or hard chrome plating for the scaifes? Please try to address some of the other readers' questions if you can, too. Thanks!

Regards,