Originally Posted by JameyLynn (Post 2553165)

Am I the only one that thinks a Cricket would make a sweet hood ornament? :lol:

Originally Posted by JameyLynn (Post 2553165)

Am I the only one that thinks a Cricket would make a sweet hood ornament? :lol:

Originally Posted by kbinkster (Post 2552474)

O.K., Willy talked to Wally again and Wally said that he was mistaken, they do send out confirmation emails. So, if you have emailed an order, but have not received a confirmation, check your spam folder and if there's nothing there, please call.

There have been some delays in this latest run of Crickets. The main Cricket builder is Josh. In May, he took off for about a week when his wife had a baby. That's a happy reason for a delay and would have only held things up a week. But now, there is another problem that is beyond GTT's control.

GTT sends out the main cone/valve body to be anodized. Usually, the turn-around time is quick. This time, however, there is a problem with the anodizers and that is holding things up. Custom color torches are ready and going out now (because GTT does that in-house). But, the standard purple anodized torches are being held up. Wally said that based on what the anodizers told them, the standard purple torches should go out in July.

Originally Posted by Cosmo (Post 2554981)

One of my best friends owns one of the biggest anodizing/plating companies on the east coast. Usually does same day turnaround. They run all their standard colors every day. Longest it's ever taken was 2 days. Want me to put you in touch with him?

Originally Posted by kbinkster (Post 2555093)

Like I said, the turn-around time from the one they have now is usually very fast - usually a week to two weeks, the fastest was 2 days in their shop. I don't know what their hold-up is with this run. If you would like to PM me your friend's info, I'll pass it along.:)

Originally Posted by kbinkster (Post 2555283)

Baskets?

I've dabbled in anodizing.

Originally Posted by Cosmo (Post 2555682)

Yeah. The parts go into a basket that is lowered into the anodizing tank so they can do multiple parts at one time.

Originally Posted by kbinkster (Post 2555963)

It was my understanding that the big operations use racks for anodizing multiple items because spot welding individual items to hanging wires wouldn't be practical.

The parts being anodized cannot touch each other. All points of contact will not be anodized. Rack contacts and spot welded spots are usually somewhere discrete that won't be seen - like screw holes and under caps and stuff like that.

Originally Posted by ArtcoInc (Post 2555988)

Since anodizing is an electro-plating process, the parts being plated must make electrical contact with whatever holds them in the plating tank. Larger parts are usually hung from a rack. Like you said, the platter will try to rack on a non-visible feature, such as a threaded hole. I have not seen where the parts are actually spot-welded to the hanging wires.

Very small parts, however, are often put into a basket. Like you said, where ever the part contacts the rack or basket, there will be a small point where there won't be any anodizing. This is inevitable. I suspect that the baskets are shaken occasionally, moving the parts around in the baskets, making the initial points of contact available for plating.

Malcolm

Originally Posted by ArtcoInc (Post 2555988)

Since anodizing is an electro-plating process, the parts being plated must make electrical contact with whatever holds them in the plating tank. Larger parts are usually hung from a rack. Like you said, the platter will try to rack on a non-visible feature, such as a threaded hole. I have not seen where the parts are actually spot-welded to the hanging wires.

Very small parts, however, are often put into a basket. Like you said, where ever the part contacts the rack or basket, there will be a small point where there won't be any anodizing. This is inevitable. I suspect that the baskets are shaken occasionally, moving the parts around in the baskets, making the initial points of contact available for plating.

Malcolm

Originally Posted by Cosmo (Post 2556073)

I'm not actually sure how he does it. But, he does it. They do all kinds of stuff for the government with incredibly strict tolerances so I'm assuming they know what they are doing.

I called him this morning to ask if he could do the knobs and torch bodies. He's out of town until later this week.