Poor galvanised finish problems

[baconbarm]

I picked up some hand railing from the galvanisers today, the finish was decent on some sections but rubbish on others.

To be honest, its an ongoing problem- its a lottery whether a job will need a slight touch up with a file before paint, or needing to be fully padded off with a flap disk.

Is it my fault for not prepping them enough? Or is the galvanising firm rushing them through and not going through whatever process they do properly?

Have a look at the photos- what do you reckon?

 

[brightspark]

is it just me ?? no photos

 

[baconbarm]

Sorry, bear with me

 

[baconbarm]

 

[baconbarm]

I can handle the odd 'snotter' but some of the rails were rough to the touch all the way along- even a random lump of zinc on the bottom photo.

All the steel is new, I pad off any spatter and smooth any lumpy welds. I just cant understand how 15 railings from the same steel stock, prepped exactly the same can vary so much in finish

 

[Parm]

Definitely som quality control issues with your galvanizer. Next time take photos of the job going in and compare against the finished article.

 

[BrokenBiker]

i wouldn't be happy with that. Ive had a few small things galv'd and none of them have looked like that.

looks like it was applied with a 3" brush on the end of a fishing rod

 

[Hitch]

It can be quite variable, always expect to clean it up a bit.
Grinding heavy spatter off probably doesn't help- the galv sticks to the weld metal and will leave you with little raised lumps.
Most of what you have there looks like dross that has been picked up when removing from the tank.
Just the speed they pull it out of the bath can make a difference.

4th picture, the ball is different because it had a different surface finish initially, and probably is a different makeup of steel, which also affects the finish.
Looks like they may have wired it up round there. Its inevitable there is a bit of roughness where the wires were.

5th picture, not nice, but it happens sometimes. Sand it off and touch up with some good quality galv spray.

 

[Welderpaul]

Like Hitch says, not the greatest, but I have seen much worse.

You always need to remember hot dip galvanising is a very industrial/brutal process. It will never give a perfect finish which can be an issue when the item isn't powdercoated/painted following galv.
Sometimes sanding off after galv can make the surface finish look worse and you need to be careful you don't sand through the galv.

 

[Jrstainless]

Hi there we've used a few different companies and always the same standard (usually poor)
I believe small customers get dipped in the leftovers. Our work 85% of the time is alwAys bent , twisted and scabby. It's as if they unload with a tipper wagon.
But when you look at large companies ie lamposts etc the galvanising is spot on!!
It's been like this for many years and can't see it changing unfortunatly
JR

 

[brightspark]

Hi there we've used a few different companies and always the same standard (usually poor)
I believe small customers get dipped in the leftovers. Our work 85% of the time is alwAys bent , twisted and scabby. It's as if they unload with a tipper wagon.
But when you look at large companies ie lamposts etc the galvanising is spot on!!
It's been like this for many years and can't see it changing unfortunatly
JR

thats due to quality controll . larger high volume customers can demand it. mear mortals get what there given

 

[baconbarm]

thats due to quality controll . larger high volume customers can demand it. mear mortals get what there given

Makes sense.

Now that I think about it............ when I went to the galvers I use now for the first time, I remember being introduced to the gaffer and we had a little chat, I explained to him I was going to use them from now on because I wasn't happy with the finish of the previous galv shop, when I picked up the first job it looked like it had been chromed it was that smooth

 

[baconbarm]

I had a bit of a moan at the galv shop last week about the quality, and the last couple of jobs have been spot on.

Anyway, ive finished fitting the original job in question, the customer was happy and I got paid.. so all's well.

 

[haigy]

Who does them for you.i used work at barkers in stoke on trent. They galv n powder coat.

 

[baconbarm]

Who does them for you.i used work at barkers in stoke on trent. They galv n powder coat.

Id rather not say buddy,

The reason being I had a problem with the company, I complained and they resolved the problem- so it wouldn't be fair on them

 

[haigy]

Fair play to you mate