Ernest (Ed) Fine, you can cold plate but there is a high probability that you will need to remove the contents of the box. This is because it is likely that the box will be dipped in, but certainly "painted" with, an acid based passivating solution before plating.
You could try sputtering the box edges - but this again is likely to need the box emptied. Neither of the above (I am advised) can be carried out in the field. The only option that I am aware of, that will protect the steel from rusting, that can be applied in the field, is the "galvafroid" type option. I suppose it depends on whether the boxes are returned to you for fixing or whether an engineer goes out to the site. If the latter then there is probably only one option. I do not work for galvafroid :-) Regards Tim ************************ Tim Haynes A1N10 Electromagnetic Engineering Specialist SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems 300 Capability Green Luton LU1 3PG ( Tel : +44 (0)1582 886239 7 Fax : +44 (0)1582 795863 ) Mob : +44 (0)7703 559 310 * E-mail : [email protected] P Please consider the environment before printing this email. There are 10 types of people in the world-those who understand binary and those who don't. J. Paxman From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ernest Rayman Sent: 17 December 2009 15:34 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Conductive Paint *** WARNING *** This message has originated outside your organisation, either from an external partner or the Global Internet. Keep this in mind if you answer this message. Ed, Good question. The enclosure will only be opened to replace the fuse. Hopefully almost never. I do not think we can just tin the surfaces with out the heat damaging the rest of existing powder coating that we did not remove. That would be an excellent solution although. The goal is to fix the existing enclosures. A cold plating sounds like a good area to investigate. Thank you, ________________________________ > Subject: RE: Conductive Paint > Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:15:34 -0800 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Ernie: > > > > > > > > Yes, conductive paints are best reserved for when other factors > dictate their use. Adhesion is tricky, the paint provides no gap-filling > effect, and mechanical wear is a problem too. > > > > > > > > The first question to answer is how often the customer will need > to open and close the mating surfaces. If the box gets sealed and never > touched, you could get good performance from just aluminum foil taping the > seams after mating. OTOH, if this is a cover that opens several times a day, > they you need to use something mechanically robust, like BeCu fingerstock or a > braided gasket > > > > > > > > I would try to use a conductive chemical treatment first. Most or > our enclosures are aluminum, so a conductive chem-film treatment is our > preference. You mentioned rust, so I assume the enclosure is steel. For a steel > box, you could simply tin the mating surfaces and use a knit mesh braid gasket. > Very old-school! You could also fabricate the enclosure from galvanized plated > steel. > > > > > > > > If all you want to do is fix the existing one field enclosure, > then there are conductive plating solutions (silver and other), that you can apply > to the mating surfaces. > > > > > > > > > > > > Ed Price > > > > [email protected] > WB6WSN > > > > NARTE Certified EMC Engineer > > > > Electromagnetic Compatibility > Lab > > > > Cubic Defense Applications > > > > San Diego, CA USA > > > > 858-505-2780 > > > > > > Military > & Avionics EMC Is Our Specialty > > > >> -----Original Message----- > > > >> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Ernest > > > >> Rayman > > > >> Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 6:06 AM > > > >> To: [email protected] > > > >> Subject: Conductive Paint > > > >> > > > >> We had en enclosure built and the sheet metal people > powder coated > > > >> every metal to metal contact surface. > > > >> We have had a couple of systems misbehave in the > field and it is an > > > >> immunity issue. > > > >> > > > >> We have scraped all the powder coating off the metal > to metal mating > > > >> surfaces but we do not like the bare metal because > it will eventually > > > >> start to rust. > > > >> I have looked into a couple of conductive paints > that we can use but > > > >> the lead engineer has expressed a distrust and > dislike of conductive > > > >> paints. > > > >> > > > >> I am looking for suggestions about what conductive > paint you have used > > > >> with success and if there are other options for rust > control this late > > > >> in the game. > > > >> > > > >> Thank you for all your help and Happy Holidays to > everybody, > > > >> Ernest Rayman > > > > > > > > - > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to> > > > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at > http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc > > Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. > > > Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > > Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html > > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > > Scott Douglas> > > Mike Cantwell> > > > For policy questions, send mail to: > > Jim Bacher> > > David Heald> _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/171222984/direct/01/ - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]> - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
