{"id":1893,"date":"2014-08-29T10:24:12","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T15:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/?page_id=1893"},"modified":"2022-04-01T12:02:52","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T17:02:52","slug":"average-range-minimum-plating-thickness-specification-requirement-print","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/technical-library\/plating-topics\/average-range-minimum-plating-thickness-specification-requirement-print\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the difference between an average, range or minimum plating thickness specification and how do I properly call out my thickness requirement on a print?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There are five (5) methods most commonly used for defining plating thicknesses.\u00a0 They are average, range, minimum, maximum and customer negotiated.\u00a0 The differences between each are very distinct.\u00a0 The definition of each is provided below:<\/p>\n

Average
\n<\/strong>An Average deposit thickness requirement is given as a single number i.e. \u201cnickel plate 0.0002\u201d.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 An Average deposit thickness provides the target that the mean of multiple thickness readings should be within a 75uin window.\u00a0 In the example given this would be 0.0002\u201d \u00b1 0.000075\u201d (200\u00b175uin).\u00a0 However,\u00a0it is at the plater\u2019s discretion to choose the location where to measure the product unless the measuring location is indicated on the print.\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0This is a very important distinction as the plating thickness on electroplated products can vary considerably from point to point.\u00a0 The thickness distribution is heavily dependent on part geometry.\u00a0 On products that are drawn out such as rods or pins there can be an extremely wide range of thickness.\u00a0 However, the thickness distribution can be quite minimal on spherical products such as ball bearings.<\/p>\n

Range
\n<\/strong>A Range deposit thickness requirement is given as a range of numbers i.e. \u201cnickel plate 0.0001-0.0003\u201d.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The range provided is the range within which the mean of the thickness measurements must lie.\u00a0 Similarly to Average thicknesses, it is\u00a0at the plater\u2019s discretion where to measure the product unless the measuring location is indicated on the print.<\/i>\u00a0 If the range is \u2264 0.00015\u201d (150uin) it is treated as a single average with the mid point of the range being the target average and the definition of average thickness above applies.<\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 A range specification\u00a0does\u00a0not\u00a0imply that all readings collected on all articles at any location must be within the range.\u00a0 This is only designated by Minimum and Maximum thickness requirements defined below.<\/i><\/p>\n

Minimum
\n<\/strong>A Minimum deposit thickness requirement is identified with a single number with the word minimum i.e. \u201cnickel plate 0.0002\u201d minimum or min.\u201d\u00a0 A Minimum thickness requirement\u00a0 is defined as all readings measured on the significant surfaces must be greater than the thickness indicated.\u00a0 In the example provided the thickness measured on any significant surface would have to be greater than 0.0002\u201d (200uin).\u00a0 Significant surfaces are generally defined as any portion of a part that can be touched by a 0.75\u201d diameter sphere.\u00a0 However, the manufacturer of a product can identify significant surfaces as required on the blueprint of the product.<\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 There is no upper limit of thickness that applies in this definition.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Maximum
\n<\/strong>A Maximum deposit thickness requirement is given as a single number with the word maximum i.e. \u201cnickel plate 0.0002\u201d maximum or max.\u201d\u00a0 A Maximum thickness requirement is defined as all readings measured on significant surfaces must be less than the thickness indicated.\u00a0 In the example provided the thickness measured on any significant surface would have to be less than 0.0002\u201d (200uin).\u00a0 If a significant surface is not defined all readings shall be less than 0.0002\u201d (200uin) on any area of the part that can be touched by a 0.75\u201d diameter sphere.<\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 There is no lower limit of thickness that applies in this definition.\u00a0 Any measurable deposit thickness is acceptable.<\/i><\/p>\n

Customer Negotiated Specifications
\n<\/strong>When a customer has a defined specification or sites commonly referenced specifications i.e. ASTM, MIL, AMS etc.\u00a0 they shall be followed unless both the specification and thickness requirement are provide on the print.\u00a0 In this case, the thickness otherwise specified on the print supersedes the spec referenced.\u00a0 For example, specification QQ-N-290 requires minimum plating thickness requirements based on the grade of the plating (i.e. in QQ-N-290 Grade G is 0.0002\u201d Minimum).\u00a0 However, if a customer were to indicate on a print, \u201cNickel Plate per QQ-N-290\u00a0 0.0001\u201d-0.0003\u201d,\u201d this is understood as a range plating thickness requirement\u00a0 because the customer has otherwise specified the thickness desired without indicating the grade.\u00a0 If a customer desires the thicknesses defined within the spec, the specific grades should be cited, i.e. \u201cNickel Plate per QQ-N-290, Grade G.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customer-unique specifications can always be developed based on the wishes of our customers but they must be known upfront.\u00a0 Unique specifications developed by a customer will be referenced on the appropriate process routing instructions and will be inspected to accordingly. This document will be the ruling document as to significant surfaces, thickness interpretation and target thicknesses desired.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are five (5) methods most commonly used for defining plating thicknesses.\u00a0 They are average, range, minimum, maximum and customer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":122,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1893","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P7G6ce-ux","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1893\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedplatingtech.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}