Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Need E-Coating service for skateboard tool
March 14, 2020
Q. Hello,
Here you can see our multi-tool:
We want to offer these in colors, such as gold or hot pink, etc.
It seems e-coating would be nice and thin, unlike powder coating. This is good so our wrenches fit right.
Still, question one is: what thickness of e-coating would you recommend and should we be subtracting this thickness on the sizes of our wrench openings in our 3D model before investment casting these? If we weren't e-coating these, the engineer would adjust our model as needed to account for any shrinkage or expansion in the material after heating and quenching/tempering.
We take delivery in France and the U.S. so these can be finished in China or Europe or the U.S. depending on the batch, etc. Don Holm
Founder - Los Angeles, California
Ed. note: Sorry, this RFQ is old & outdated, so contact info is no longer available. However, if you feel that something technical should be said in reply, please post it; no public commercial suggestions please ( huh? why?)
A. Hi Don. I think E-coating will probably be somewhere about 0.0002" -- that's 2 ten-thousandths not 2 thousandths. To my understanding it is not typical to adjust dimension of tools of this nature for thicknesses in that range, but I would ask a vendor to do a couple of sample parts and see what you think of it before committing to the process or adjusting your other steps. (Readers/responders usually enjoy having as full a picture of the poster's situation as practical, so we note Don's earlier posting on topic 25543).
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
March 2020
Q. The factory making the keys just said they think e-coating would peel off so is there a better alternative? I assumed e-coating was better than paint due to thickness and powder coating would be more likely to chip. Open to suggestion.
Don Holm- Los Angeles, California, USA
March 15, 2020
A. Hello again Don. Although there is obvious truth to the fact that organic coatings (paint, powder, e-coating) are softer than metal and are not as wear-resistant, chip resistant, and strongly adherent as metal plating, e-coating should be fine.
Proper adhesion is a matter of proper cleaning and pretreatment. Send a few of your existing keys out for sample e-coating. I think any organic coating will chip/wear off the tip of the phillips screwdriver pretty quickly, but based on your earlier postings, and people's normal experience with phillips screwdrivers, I wouldn't expect this to be a big deal.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
March 2020
Thanks, I hoped for that answers I will make samples the goal and not likely modify the 3D models. I will solicit estimates once the casting process is done. Takes about 35 days. We are changing a few things like the logo on the existing tool.
- Los Angeles, California USA
March 15, 2020
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