JP3375451B2 - Barrel plating equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a barrel plating apparatus in which an object to be plated in a barrel immersed in a plating solution comes into contact with a cathode electrode while being stirred by rotating the barrel and electroplating.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a barrel plating apparatus shown in FIG. 3, in which a barrel 1 is made of a non-conductive material such as PVC and acrylic and has a cylindrical shape or a hexagonal pillar shape, and a net shape or innumerable holes are formed. The plating solution 5 can pass through the barrel 1. The barrel 1 is driven by the belt rack 12 driven by the motor 11 in the barrel rack 3 or the plating tank 4.
And the gear 13 transmits and rotates. A lead wire 9 having a cathode electrode 8 at its tip is always mounted in the barrel 1. The lead wire 9 is fixed to the barrel rack 3 and short-circuited to the current-carrying member 16.

With this barrel plating apparatus, the object to be plated 2
Is electroplated as follows.

First, the object to be plated 2 is charged through a charging port (not shown) with an opening / closing lid of the barrel 1. The barrel rack 3 is dipped in the plating solution 5, the drive of the motor 11 is transmitted to the belt 12 and the gear 13, and the barrel 1 is rotated. By supplying electricity to the contact portion 15 at the same time, the current-carrying member 16,
Electricity flows through the lead wire 9, and the cathode electrode 8 at the tip of the lead wire 9 and the object 2 to be plated at the bottom always come into contact with each other to be electroplated while being stirred.

[0005]

In these conventional barrel plating apparatuses, since the cathode electrode 8 and the lead wire 9 are always charged in the barrel 1, the acid and alkali chemical solution treatments in the previous step and During washing with water in the process, the barrel 1 is constantly exposed to severe conditions as it rotates. Therefore,
The cathode electrode 8 and the lead wire 9 have many troubles such as corrosion and disconnection, which cause defective plating. Further, the contact portion 15 is always polished and if not cleaned, contact failure occurs.

Further, when plating is repeated many times, unnecessary plating is attached to the cathode electrode 8 and the plating has to be peeled off periodically. Especially, in the case of an automatic barrel plating apparatus, the number of barrels is large. It takes a lot of trouble and time. In the case of a multi-layer plating device, since different types of plating are formed in multiple layers, the peeling time is long and the precious metal recovery rate is poor.

Further, when the object 2 to be plated is taken in and out of the barrel 1, the work efficiency is poor due to the presence of the cathode electrode 8, and the object 2 to be plated remains in the barrel 1. Under the present circumstances, this is one of the obstacles in automating the taking in and out of the object to be plated 2.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks and eliminates plating failure due to disconnection and contact failure of the cathode electrode 8,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a barrel plating apparatus which is easy to maintain and is suitable for automation in which the object 2 to be plated is easily taken in and out.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a barrel plating apparatus in which an object to be plated in a barrel immersed in a plating solution is driven by a motor to rotate the barrel and contact the cathode electrode while being stirred and electroplating. In, the plating tank is equipped with a mechanism that allows the lead wire and the cathode electrode in the barrel to be attached and detached.The cathode electrode and the lead wire are slidably mounted in a tube that is attached to the side surface of the plating tank via packing, The structure is such that an electrode drive device is provided so that one end of the tube at a position higher than the liquid level can be automatically attached to and detached from the barrel in the plating solution.

[0010]

In the barrel plating apparatus according to the present invention, when the barrel 1 containing the object 2 to be plated is immersed in the plating solution 5, the cathode electrode 8 and the lead wire 9 are connected to the electrodes by the tube 7 arranged on the side surface of the plating tank 4. It is extruded by the air cylinder of the driving device 10, charged into the barrel 1 in the plating solution 5, and the object to be plated 2 and the cathode electrode 8 come into contact with each other to be energized, and at the same time, the barrel 1 rotates to plate the object to be plated 2. To be done.

At the end of plating, the cathode electrode 8 and the lead wire 9 are pulled out from the barrel 1 by the electrode driving device 10 and placed in the tube 7. Then, the barrel 1 is pulled up from the plating solution 5 and the plating is completed after washing with water.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a barrel plating apparatus showing a state where a cathode electrode according to an embodiment of the present invention is housed in a tube. FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view of the barrel plating apparatus showing a state where the cathode electrode of the embodiment of the present invention is extruded.

As shown in FIG. 1, the barrel plating apparatus of the present invention has a barrel 1 formed of a non-conductive material into a cylindrical shape or a hexagonal column shape, and has an opening for inserting a cathode electrode 8 and a lead wire 9 at both ends. 14 is provided. The barrel 1 supported by the barrel rack 3 is rotated by a motor 11 via a belt 12 and a gear 13.

The plating tank 4 is provided with a tube 7 made of a material capable of withstanding the plating solution 5 such as Teflon via a packing 6 on the side surface of the tank. A coated lead wire 9 having a cathode electrode 8 at its tip is slidably mounted in the tube 7,
The lead wire 9 is connected to an air cylinder which is an electrode driving device 10. The cathode electrode 8 at the tip of the lead wire 9 is pushed out by the driving of the electrode driving device 10 and inserted into the barrel 1.

One end of the tube 7 on the side of the electrode driving device 10 is located at a position higher than the liquid level of the plating solution 5, and the plating solution 5 does not leak when the cathode electrode 8 is removed.

With this barrel plating apparatus, the object to be plated 2 is put into the barrel 1 through the opening 14 of the barrel 1 or the opening with an opening / closing lid (not shown), and the plating pretreatment is performed, and then the plating tank 4 is placed. Soak. Drive of the barrel 1 is transmitted to the belt 12 and the gear 13 by the motor 11 and starts to rotate. At the same time, the tube 7 arranged on the side of the plating tank 4
The cathode electrode 8 stored in 1 is pushed out together with the lead wire 9 by the air cylinder, and is inserted into the barrel 1 as shown in FIG.

After a lapse of a predetermined plating time, the cathode electrode 8 and the lead wire 9 are pulled out from the barrel 1 by an air cylinder and stored in the tube 7. Then, the barrel 1 is pulled up from the plating solution 5 and washed with water to complete the plating.

Peeling off the cathode electrode 8 and the cathode electrode 8
At the time of replacement, the lead wire 9 can be easily removed by pulling out the lead wire 9 from the electrode driving device 10 through the tube 7. Further, since one end of the tube 7 is located higher than the liquid level of the plating solution 5, the plating solution 5 will not leak.

In the embodiment, the barrel structure is described as a cylinder or a hexagonal prism, but other than this, the invention can be applied to a tulip type barrel having an open upper portion and basket plating. Although the air cylinder is used as the electrode driving device 10, it goes without saying that the effect does not change even if it is driven by a motor or manually.

[0020]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, since the cathode electrode and the lead wire are not present in the barrel except during plating, the cathode electrode and the lead electrode in the acid or alkali solution in the previous step are Prevents aging due to lead wire corrosion,
Prevents defective plating due to accidents such as disconnection and poor contact. Further, the number of cathode electrodes conventionally attached to each barrel is greatly reduced, and maintenance time can be reduced. Further, when the object to be plated is put in or taken out from the barrel, the cathode electrode and the lead wire are not provided, so that the putting in and taking out is easily and surely performed. The various effects described above facilitate the automation of loading and unloading of the object to be plated into and out of the barrel, which has been conventionally difficult.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a barrel plating apparatus in which a cathode electrode according to an embodiment of the present invention is housed in a tube.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view of a barrel plating apparatus in a state where a cathode electrode according to an embodiment of the present invention is extruded.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a conventional barrel plating apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 barrel 2 Plated object 3 barrel rack 4 plating tank 5 plating solution 6 packing 7 tubes 8 cathode electrode 9 lead wire 10 electrode drive 11 motors 12 belts 13 gears 14 openings 15 contact points 16 Conducting member

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Satoshi Okada 6-12 Hommachi, Tanashi City, Tokyo Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. Tanashi Factory (56) Reference JP 62-80299 (JP, A) Actual Publication 46-9224 (JP, Y2) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) C25D 17/20

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. In a barrel plating apparatus in which an object to be plated in a barrel immersed in a plating solution is rotated by driving a motor and brought into contact with a cathode electrode while being electroplated to be electroplated A barrel plating apparatus having a mechanism in which a cathode electrode and a lead wire are detachable. 2. The cathode electrode and the lead wire are slidably mounted in a tube attached to the side surface of the plating tank through a packing, and are automatically placed in the plating solution from one end of the tube at a position higher than the plating solution surface. 2. The barrel plating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an electrode driving device which is detachably mounted in the barrel.