Is this galvanising acceptable?

[julianf]

I know this is a deviation from my landrover thread, but i wanted a wider audience than just landrover fans...

I picked up my bulkhead yesterday. This got sent to the glavanisers blasted, and welded.


The results from galvanising leave some to be desired, but i dont know if this is just how it is when working with old parts - however, some of the worst areas are on fresh new weld, so im really not sure, hence asking here!


Photos -

These were not mucky areas. The last photo, especially, the large area in the bottom right, you can still see the score lines in the metal from the sander. I dont know what the brown marks are that look like liqud, but theyre not of concern.



Basically, im after some guidance as to if this is just the way it is, or if a better job could / should have been done?

 

[Burdekin]

I don't know about the galvanising but the welding and quality of craftsmanship looks quite low I would say from the pics.

 

[Swift&Bold]

I don't know what a good galvanizing job should look like, but I'd be expecting better than that!
It just seems pointless!

 

[RonA]

I know this is a deviation from my landrover thread, but i wanted a wider audience than just landrover fans...

I picked up my bulkhead yesterday. This got sent to the glavanisers blasted, and welded.


The results from galvanising leave some to be desired, but i dont know if this is just how it is when working with old parts - however, some of the worst areas are on fresh new weld, so im really not sure, hence asking here!


Photos -

These were not mucky areas. The last photo, especially, the large area in the bottom right, you can still see the score lines in the metal from the sander. I dont know what the brown marks are that look like liqud, but theyre not of concern.



Basically, im after some guidance as to if this is just the way it is, or if a better job could / should have been done?

Hi Julianf,
I had the chassis on a very old car shot blasted & then spray galvanised. I had expected the shot blasting to be very aggressive & so it was, so I replaced dodgy bits on the chassis with new metal before starting the process. After the galvanising the chassis finished up good & solid.
Were the landrover parts solid enough to be shot blasted? Given the appearance of so many holes post shot blasting I would have thought the company (you used) would have alerted you to its condition before continuing with the galvanising. Not good customer relations in my book.
RonA

 

[julianf]

The welding was me - its nicer on the bits that will be seen, but i wont pretend to be any good.

The blasting was done by a different place, prior to welding, and then off to galvanizing.


Im almost wondering if it shouldnt have been blasted again, post welding?

 

[the snooper]

the bottom left area I then last photo looks to me as if you were chasing the rot when you were welding it

 

[julianf]

This is the area in the last photo, before it went to galvanising -

There's nothing on there but surface rust (which i thought the acid stripped)




Im not trying to 'blame' the galvanisers - im not experienced enough to know either way. Its not a perfect job, but its not god-awfull either.

 

[julianf]

the bottom left area I then last photo looks to me as if you were chasing the rot when you were welding it

Yes, exactly.

A lot of that area is weld, rather than original metal - was this the reason for the incomplete zinc coat? Again though, where it hasnt taken is on top of ground weld.

 

[the snooper]

Yes, exactly.

A lot of that area is weld, rather than original metal - was this the reason for the incomplete zinc coat? Again though, where it hasnt taken is on top of ground weld.

I know its too late now but if I had to do the job that full panel would have been cut out and replaced looking at it after it has been galvanised it almost looks like you have used stone chip on it ie its very textured, pitted from rust and therefore must be quite thin, I think that's your problem, the steel isn't in great condition and shows after the process

 

[Burdekin]

Looks like rust staining from your welds. Are you painting this, if so you might be fine cleaning the rust and painting and sealing the welds and seams, otherwise I'd bite the bullet and re-do it.

 

[colnerov]

Hi, It looks to me that you have done local repairs to what you thought were reasonable surrounding areas. Then part of the process is an acid dip and this has removed rust from areas that you thought were reasonable but weren't and left the colander effect. I agree with Snooper that I would have changed the whole panel rather than patch it, after all they are known as problem areas.

Colin

 

[steve t]

Looks like contamination issue to me, some paint residue or other crap so galv wont take, the black marks around weld used to see that a lot with stick welded stuff not properly cleaned off.

 

[penfold]

The welding was me - its nicer on the bits that will be seen, but i wont pretend to be any good.

The blasting was done by a different place, prior to welding, and then off to galvanizing.


Im almost wondering if it shouldnt have been blasted again, post welding?

This probably; the crusty bits appear to be oxides, slag etc left over from the welding.

 

[julianf]

I accept all of the above, but then ive also got areas like this -

That's just a bit of flat plate. It was clean after blasting,and not been touched with the welder.

I thought it was just scale / residue, and there was zinc under, but im not so sure.

 

[Chris Stevens]

I know this is a deviation from my landrover thread, but i wanted a wider audience than just landrover fans...

I picked up my bulkhead yesterday. This got sent to the glavanisers blasted, and welded.


The results from galvanising leave some to be desired, but i dont know if this is just how it is when working with old parts - however, some of the worst areas are on fresh new weld, so im really not sure, hence asking here!


Photos -

These were not mucky areas. The last photo, especially, the large area in the bottom right, you can still see the score lines in the metal from the sander. I dont know what the brown marks are that look like liqud, but theyre not of concern.



Basically, im after some guidance as to if this is just the way it is, or if a better job could / should have been done?

As with any sort of painting or plating, if the preparation work isnt 100% this will be very visible on the finished job.

 

[penfold]

I accept all of the above, but then ive also got areas like this -

That's just a bit of flat plate. It was clean after blasting,and not been touched with the welder.

I thought it was just scale / residue, and there was zinc under, but im not so sure.

I've seen things like that before; I suspect it's bits of the aforementioned grot that have floated free from where they were then deposited at random elsewhere on the item being galvanised, perhaps due to surface tension causing an attraction/suction effect when it's being lifted out of the bath.

 

[the snooper]

I accept all of the above, but then ive also got areas like this -

That's just a bit of flat plate. It was clean after blasting,and not been touched with the welder.

I thought it was just scale / residue, and there was zinc under, but im not so sure.

From the pictures they look like pits, are they ?

 

[octo0072000]

i certainly wouldn't pay the money to have it painted either, just buy some aldi metal paint and give it a few coats with a good brush most of the bulkhead is hidden anyway.
other point is you will have to redrill most of the holes and retap any threads in the bulkhead anyway due to them being filled with galv

 

[Wendelspanswick]

See my previous posts about SW Galvanisers, I used them 4 times and never got a service that was to my satisfaction so I switched to Cardiff Galvanisers and have never had a problem with them.
I think the issue with SWG is that they tend to do agricultural galvanising where the cosmetics are not so important.
With your parts being thin I wonder if they did a quick dunk at a lower temperature to avoid distortion and this has meant that the zinc has not taken on the worst areas and/or the acid has leached out from any enclosed areas and attacked the fresh zinc.

 

[julianf]

That is kind of what i thought, but i cant think they adjust the temp of the bath for each job - im guessing its more a case of how long they leave it in there for?


Im going to go back on monday and speak to the quality control chap (if such a person exists) and see what they say. Im not going to go in for a row or anything, just say that i thought things would be better, and is that as good as it gets, and see what they say.