Major Upgrades Transform CCA into the Leading Hard Chrome Plating Facility in Australia.

Category: News

At CCA Hardchrome, we are constantly striving to provide the best service and products to our customers. That’s why we are excited to announce significant upgrades to our hard chrome plating operation, specifically designed to better serve customers with very large hydraulic cylinder rods, such as those on large mobile cranes.

One of the key upgrades is the installation of new purpose-built, state-of-the-art electroplating tanks, including horizontal plating cells. The centerpiece of which is Australia’s longest 360-degree horizontal-rotation chrome plating tank. The only rotation-plating system of its kind in the country, it is engineered to deliver superior chrome deposit depth and concentricity for rods up to 12 meters in length.

Our new rotation-plating system features a conforming anode system that delivers optimal current density with an ideal anode to cathode ratio, resulting in reduced contaminants and improved adhesion. This ensures even and consistent chrome deposition along the entire length of the rod, achieving chrome deposit depths over 350 microns for rods of extreme length. The result is a hard chrome finish that lasts longer and performs better in the long run, providing our customers with superior quality products.

These upgrades have expanded our capacity and raised the quality of our hard chrome products, allowing us to serve our customers even better.

 

At CCA Hardchrome, we are dedicated to continuous improvement and investment in cutting-edge technology to meet the evolving needs of our customers. These upgrades have expanded our capacity and raised the quality of our hard chrome products, allowing us to serve our customers even better.

These upgrades to our hard chrome plating operation are a testament to our commitment to excellence, and we look forward to serving our customers with the highest quality hard chrome products for their hydraulic cylinder rod requirements.

Contact us today to learn more about our upgraded hard chrome plating operation and how we can meet your specific needs. We are excited to continue providing top-quality hard chrome products and services to our valued customers at CCA Hardchrome!

CCA Hardchrome’s 2021-2022 Holiday Trading Hours

From the entire team at CCA Hardchrome, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season. We thank you for your support in 2021 and look forward to working with you in 2022.

Please note that during the festive season, our hours of operation will be as follows:

 DATE  HOURS  EMERGENCY CONTACT
Thursday, 23 Dec  Regular Trading Hours   N/A
Friday, 24 Dec  7:30am to 1pm  Matt Moxon 0437014675
Monday, 27 Dec  CLOSED  N/A
Tuesday, 28 Dec  CLOSED  N/A
Wednesday, 29 Dec  CLOSED  N/A
Thursday, 30 Dec  CLOSED  N/A
Friday, 31 Dece  CLOSED   N/A
Monday, 3 Jan  CLOSED  N/A
Tuesday, 4 Jan  Regular Trading Hours  Matt Moxon 0437014675
Wednesday, 5 Jan  Regular Trading Hours  Matt Moxon 0437014675

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regular trading hours will resume Tuesday 4th of January 2022. 

While every effort will be made to process requests promptly during the holiday period, supplier and freight company closures will impact our turnaround times. We thank you for your patience during this time.

Merry Christmas!

The team at CCA Hardchrome

CCA Hardchrome Conducts Independent Analysis Testing

News-Articles-Independent-TestingCCA Hardchrome recently undertook some independent analysis testing to better understand how our services compare in the market and to get a better understanding of our current workshop capabilities following on from some significant investments in machinery over the last two years.

We are pleased to announce the result of the Independent laboratory testing verified “CCA’s average chrome hardness in excess of 1180 HV, or over 68 HRC”.

With significant investments to our state-of-the-art facilities, CCA Hardchrome are continuously striving to deliver service quality excellence for our valued customers. From high precision hard chrome plating to heavy duty sulphamate nickel plating, we take pride in the excellent reputation we have developed over the past 30 years for delivering fast turnaround solutions for your specialised applications.

Should you have any hard chrome requirements, please do not hesitate to contact us on 02 9838 5895 or at info@ccahardchrome.com.au.

What is Hydraulic Cylinder Rod Hard Chrome Plating?

Blog-Articles-Chrome-plating-explainedIn order for hydraulic systems to run smoothly, it is crucial for the chard chrome plating on a cylinder rod to be perfectly finished to precise specifications. There are a number of steps and factors that come into play during the hard chrome plating process to ensure your hydraulic cylinder performs to the required standards.

This blog will detail the step-by-step process of hard chrome plating and give you a deeper understanding to this key cylinder repair step.

The Hard Chrome Plating Process

1. Inspection

The cylinder rod is inspected during the initial evaluation to determine the condition prior to the chroming process. An inspector will make note of any signs of corrosion, pitting, marring, damage, cracking or flaking. The presence of any of these conditions will be taken into account during the re-chroming process.

 

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2. Grinding & Stripping
Old material on the cylinder rod must be removed before new chrome can be applied. This step needs to be completed carefully to preserve the steel beneath the old layer and without affecting the rod diameter. This can be done with two methods – electrolytic stripping and stone grinding.

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– Electrolytic Stripping: The cylinder rod is placed in a reverse electrolysis tank, essentially the opposite of electrolytic plating. A negative current applied to a chrome solution strips the old chrome off the rod by allowing chrome molecules to separate from the surface.

– Stone Grinding: This method uses large stone grinding wheels to remove old chrome. The rod is rotated at a constant rate on a large lathe-like grinding machine and brought into contact with a spinning stone grinding wheel. The old material is worn away by the friction. This method is highly technical and requires a highly experienced and skilled operator to determine how much pressure to apply to remove the old chrome layer without damaging the steel underneath.

 

3. Cleaning and Masking
The rod then needs to be prepared to be placed in a bath of chromium solution. Prior to doing so, the rod must be cleaned thoroughly. Undesirable anomalies may occur if debris and contaminants are not properly cleaned during this step. This will lead to conditions such as pitting, pinholes, flaking and peeling of chrome during the cylinder life. The ends of the rods are also masked at this step to ensure the final product has a neat and professional finish.

 

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4. Plating
Electrolytic plating is a familiar process, being used in a range of applications spanning from plating gold jewellery to applying metal plating to satellites.

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Electrodes are attached to the object and placed in a solution of dissolved metal molecules. A positive current is applied and runs through the solutions and out through the electrodes. The dissolved metal molecules in the solution are then attracted to the metal surface of the cylinder rod. CCA Hardchrome use a special formulation of Chromium in our chroming solution baths.

The rods are placed in this electrolytic solution for a specific amount of time in order to build up the layer of new chrome. This stage is more technical due to the specific requirements for hardness and surface finish quality. The precise current must be delivered steadily whilst the solution chemistry and temperature are regulated at a maintained level during the plating process. Errors or interruptions to power or temperature during this stage will lead to a poor chroming job, and cause cylinder failure not long after repair.

 

5. Surface Finishing
This is a 2-step process of post-grinding and linishing to finish the rods once a new layer of chrome has been applied. The perfect surface finish is achieved by reducing the chrome coating to the exact thickness, and polished.

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– Post Grinding: The stone grinding technique is once again used in this step to reduce the initial surface thickness closer to required specifications. The post-grind is an even more delicate process as the surface finish is measured in fractions of millimetres and any errors in this process will ruin the chroming.

 

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– Linishing: This process consists of sanding the cylinder rod meticulously to the required thickness, whereas surface finishing uses purpose-made sanding machines. The rod is centred on the large linishing machine. This machine spins at a constant rate while linishing belts of varying grades are used to sand the chrome surface to the desired thickness and consistency.

The surface thickness (consistency), roughness and texture are crucial for cylinder performance, making this a very important step in the chroming process.

Increased external contaminants and unacceptable leakage causes cylinder life to be reduced. This may occur if the surface roughness of the rod is too high, since the optimal degree of roughness is required to facilitate the fluid dynamics of the hydraulic seal.

The seal runs on a smooth layer of oil. This oil layer is provided when microscopic striations fill up with fluid during operation, reducing friction and abrasion to drastically improve a cylinder’s performance and lifespan. Leading hydraulic seal manufacturer Hallite recommends a surface finish between 0.1-0.3mm, although it is noted that seal material may affect the optimal surface finish.

CCA Hardchrome have two of these linishing machines at our Kings Park facility. These machines are sizeable enough to accommodate the large scale cylinders from cranes and heavy mining machines.

 

6. Inspection
For the chroming process to be complete, the job must pass a final inspection. With ample experience and digital devices for surface thickness and roughness measurement, an inspector checks the quality of the chrome job and ensures there are no defects.
Certain things the inspector checks include:
– Optimal surface thickness
– Optimal roughness
– No excessive pitting or pinholes
– No cracking or delamination of the chrome
– Presence of any other anomalies

 

 

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7. Wrapping
The final step sees the finished rod wrapped up in cardboard and protective plastic. Wrapping the rod securely ensures that the perfect, new chrome surface is protected when it is transported back to the repair division.

 

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Chroming a piece of precision equipment such as a cylinder rod is a painstaking and methodical process. With a passionate team of expert technicians and engineers, CCA Hardchrome are proud to deliver the highest quality chroming product to our customers.

CCA Hardchrome’s New Sulphamate Nickel Plating Tank

News-New-Sulphamate-Nickel-Plating-TankCCA Hardchrome’s latest investment is the addition of a sulphamate nickel plating tank at our Kings Park premises.

Striving to continuously widen the range of service capabilities we provide to our customers, CCA Hardchrome recently undertook the project to design and build a sulphamate nickel plating tank in February 2019.

This sulphamate nickel plating tank allows us to complete sulphamate nickel plating together with hard chrome plating to provide durable, wear resistant and corrosion resistant surfaces. These surfaces are able to withstand damp and saline environments such as underground coal mines. Being a highly efficient plating process, nickel-chrome plating is an economical option where heavy build-up is required.

CCA Hardchrome are pleased to announce that with the addition of this new tank, our nickel plating line is now in full production.

New Cylindrical Grinding Machine Expands Capabilities

News-Articles-new-machineOur staff at CCA Hardchrome have been anticipating the arrival of a Churchill cylindrical grinding machine – the latest acquisition and addition to our chrome plating facility. This investment allows CCA Hardchrome to expand our capabilities, increase throughput and provide faster turnaround times for our customers.

This machine is able to grind rods up to 4 metres in length and 600mm in diameter and was acquired from the England-based Churchill Machine Tool Co., an acclaimed manufacturer of professional machine tools. With our desire to source a refurbished grinder, Churchill assisted in the sourcing of the suitable donor machine.

With the machine restored to as-new conditions following refurbishment, the electronics in the machine were upgraded to the latest technology. This project was completed within our desired time frame and budget, and CCA Hardchrome are incredibly satisfied with the result.

Work-in-Progress-at-Churchill-Machine-Co-2  Work-in-Progress-at-Churchill-Machine-Co-2  Work-in-Progress-at-Churchill-Machine-Co-2

Pictured: Work in Progress at Churchill Machine Co.

Known for reliability, Churchill Machine Co. lead the industry when it comes to the quality of their cylindrical grinding machines. As such, the four month refurbishment and shipping lead-time was well worth the wait.

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Pictured: Grinder departing Manchester

Making every effort and care while working to very fine tolerances, our thorough installation preparations included the construction of a 600mm thick reinforced concrete footing.

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Pictured: Footing construction

We employed Johnson’s Transport, experts in machine moving, to handle the lift-off, unboxing and positioning of the machine.

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Pictured: Arrival in Kings Park

Joel, the representative from Churchill Machine Co., flew out especially to complete the final stage of machine installation once it was safely in position. Working immediately, the machine was put into production and has performed to our satisfaction.

We’d like to thank Joel, Jonathon, Marcus, Ernie and the rest of the team at Churchill Machine Tool Co. for their support throughout this process.

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Pictured: Unboxing and positioning in Workshop

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Pictured: Machine in final position

Please contact us with any chrome plating enquiries. As our capabilities in hard chroming continue to expand and develop, CCA Hardchrome remain committed to delivering quality excellence to all of our customers in their hard chrome needs.

CCA Hardchrome’s In-House Chrome Plating Success

News-Article-Success-In-chromeCCA Hardchrome are pleased to highlight a number of recent successes for the company. We are thankful to all our customers who have continued supporting our mission to deliver chrome plating service excellence.

One recent highlight in particular is the commission of an additional 7000lt Chromic acid bath. This addition is just one of several upgrades to our Kings Park facility that will continue to be implemented over the next few months. These upgrades will allow CCA Hardchrome to increase both the capacity and efficiency of our facility, giving us the capability to offer our customers a wider scope of services and quicker turnaround times.

CCA Hardchrome are incredibly proud of our dedicated team. It is with their continue efforts that we have been able to expand our in-house capabilities across a wide range of services and sectors including hard chrome plating, surface engineering, cylindrical grinding, linishing and general machining.

Our capabilities include the specialisation of resurfacing hydraulic piston rods up to 4 metres in length and 600mm in diameter. We also have the capacity to provide customised hard chrome plating solutions, tailored to suit specific customer requirements.

CCA Hardchrome’s fully furbished plating plant is state of the art, able to maintain optimal bath chemistry, temperature and current density to produce uniform, dense hard-chrome deposits with maximum efficiency. We are proud to service both large and small scale customers with consistent and high quality chrome plating solutions.

Should you have any hard chrome enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@ccahardchrome.com.au

CCA Hardchrome Acquired by Berendsen Fluid Power

Berendsen-acquire-CCA-HardchromeCCA Hardchrome are pleased to announce our recent acquisition by Berendsen Fluid Power. Berendsen Fluid Power are Australia’s leading hydraulics company, servicing and supplying to a hydraulics customers across a diverse range of industries.

We look forward to our partnership with Berendsen Fluid Power as experts in surface engineering, chrome plating and cylindrical grinding services, and are excited to join Berendsen’s network of capabilities across Australia’s diverse industry segments.

CCA Hardchrome will operate as an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary of Berendsen Fluid Power and provide chrome plating and grinding services for Berendsen’s repair workshops and clients in the construction, manufacturing, mining and energy sectors.

Our chrome plating operations with Berendsen Fluid Power will commence in September 2017. Leading up to our official launch, CCA Hardchrome is currently undergoing a number of updates and upgrades, including our business corporate identity, premises and information systems.

Further details about our capabilities will also shortly be available on Berendsen Fluid Power’s website. Should you have any enquiries in the meantime, please contact CCA Hardchrome at info@ccahardchrome.com.au