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Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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How to chemically etch chrome tools

I am involved with a project to etch permanently, chrome high gloss tools. I need to complete the job quickly I was thinking some kind of spray with a suitable chemical which will have a DNA type marker.

Ian Allen
Product designer - Sydney, NSW Australia
April 11, 2011

April , 2011

Readers: Ian is referring to a nanotag technology where hundreds or thousands of microscopically small "serial number tags" are mixed into an adhesive and painted onto the item as an anti-theft measure.

Hi, Ian.
You say that these are "chrome high gloss" tools. Does that mean they are nickel-chrome plated? If so, I think you may have severe corrosion problems after etching away the nickel and chrome. Off hand, I'm not thinking of a good way to overcome that.

So it may be better to just remove the chrome (only about 30 millionths of an inch thick), which is easily done with hydrochloric acid. Paints and adhesives don't stick great to nickel, but they do stick better than to chrome. Maybe it's not beyond possibility to install a system where you spatter the adhesive and tags onto the tool after nickel plating and before chrome plating to obviate the need for etching.

Regards,

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

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