UFO conversion options - plating followup

[Bernie Benz]

Scott,

Of course, your plating guy doesn't want to loose your business, and of
course a thru hole will have some plating deposited from each end if totally
open on each end, but rotors aren't.  Conventional rotors using outside
calipers have at least a 135 degree turn angle at the hub for cooling air or
metalic ions in a plating bath before even being lined up to "see" into the
internal cooling passages from that end.  Same condition with UFOs relative
to the plating "visibility" to an anode on the rotor OD.

The first molecular layer of plating has a higher affinity for dissimilar
cathode material than it does for its like kind, therefor you may see a
coated surface, but a salt spray corrosion test will show no corrosion
resistance of that single molecular layer in the "dark hole".

The electroless plating process does not have this visibility limitation,
but is suitable for limited materials, Ni being the first to be developed.
I'm not up on its current capabilities or corrosion resistance, but rest
assured it will ba at a much greater price.  Better to put the corrosion
resisting alloying agents into the base cast iron.

Bernie


> From: QSHIPQ at aol.com
> Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 20:58:36 EDT
> To: QSHIPQ at aol.com, b.m.benz at prodigy.net
> Cc: 200q20v at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: UFO conversion options - plating followup
>
> Bernie FYI:
> I spoke to my plating guy today.  He indicated that as long as the vents go
> THRU to the hub, you will get plating on the inside of the vanes.  Alas, it
> may not be as even or as pretty as on the face of the rotor, but it will
> accomplish the same thing wrt the rust issue.  He's also very interested in
> what "might" be better for the task.  He didn't buy into my immediate comment
> about using ceramic coating, his point being that when ceramic coatings
> crack, you get hot spots that can cause more problems than you are trying to
> resolve.
>
> HTH
>
> SJ