DIMENSIONS:

Standard dimensions for pieces to be coated are limited to a maximum value of a cylinder D 600mm, height 850mm. On specific request we can coat pieces with maximum dimensions of a cylinder D 900mm, height 1800mm.

PROPERTIES OF THE SURFACES TO BE COATED:

• The surfaces must be “naked”; they mustn’t have been previously treated with blueing, vaporization or any galvanic treatment. Surfaces don’t have to show traces of oxidations due to hardening or other heat treatments and residuals of worked materials (e.g. plastics, rubber, other metals).
• The cutting edges must be free from burrs or burnings.
• Surfaces must be free from oxidations, residuals of paints, adhesives (e.g. Loctite), adhesive tapes (e.g. Scotch, Tesa)
• Never use marking pencils to point out the areas to be coated, but please fill out our form “Ordine di rivestimento Lafer” adding a sketch with the working surfaces
• Areas to be coated must be protected with a slight, easy to remove layer of protective oil.
• Photo-incised surfaces are suitable for coatings.
• It’s necessary to remove from nitrided and electro-spark machined surfaces loose and brittle layers (white layers) before coating.
• Components to be coated should have holes or threads such as to be mounted on the fixturings frames.
• Parts made of steel must not be magnetized.
• Hardened steel parts must have a tempering Temp° higher than the coating Temp°.

SURFACES POLISHING :

• Surfaces roughness Ra must be as low as possible: the best finishing is obtained by lapping or fine grinding. The best coating adhesion is obtained with the best surface finishing.
• Never polish surfaces with rubber grinding wheels.
• Diamond paste polishing must be performed with care, to avoid surfaces overheating and absorption of paste particles; please avoid pastes with granulometry finer than 3μm.
• For fast and not mirror-effect polishings you can use Sisal wheels with white and light blue polishing pastes.
• We can offer a specialistic polishing service for moulds based on nine finishing levels defined by the Zanola Scale (from level SZ01 to SZ17).
• Isotropic Finishing: it’s available our service of Isotropic Finishing normally combined with stress-relieving process.

MOULDS AND ASSEMBLED PARTS PREPARATION:

• All the mounted parts of dies and moulds must be disassembled, unscrew plugs and caps.
• Cooling and lubricating holes and channels must be opened and cleaned with solvents; alternatively the holes can be closed by vacuum seal copper caps.
• Polished surfaces must be protected with a slight, easy to remove layer of protective oil.

BRAZING:

• Brazing alloys used for braze-welded tools must resist to high vacuum pressure (8x10-6 mbar) and high temperature (600°C) without degassing; these alloys mustn’t contain cadmium and zinc

MEASUREMENT OF SURFACES STRESSES AND RESIDUAL AUSTENITE CONTENT:

• On moulds, tools and components surfaces it’ possible to check the status of surface stresses with a non-destructive method: these measurements can be certified and it’s possible to modify a situation from tensile surface stresses to compressive stresses by shot-peening process.
• On moulds, tools and components surfaces it’ possible to check the content of residual austenite with a non-destructive method: these measurements can be certified and it’s possible to reduce dramatically the high value of residual austenite due to previous wrong heat treatments.

DECOATING LAFER:

• STEEL: it is possible to remove completely PVD layers from any coated surfaces. This method is strongly recommended before any recoating operation for gearing hobs and shapers (Tin, Hyperlox and Exxtral coatings) and for aluminium diecasting pins (Superlattice coating).

• HARD METAL (HM): it is possible to remove PVD TiAl (Titanium-Aluminium) based coatings from HM surfaces. it is possible to remove PVD Ti based (Titanium) coatings, from HM surfaces with partial chemical and appearance degradation of the surfaces.

• TITANIUM ALLOYS: it is not possible to remove Titanium based coatings.

• It is not possible to remove PVD Crhomium based coatings (CrN, NewChrome and Superlattice) from the following surfaces:

- Any grade of Hard Metal (HM);

- Nichel alloys or chemical/galvanic nichel plated surfaces;

- Galvanic Crhomium plated surfaces.

PARTS PACKING AND SHIPPING :

• The acceptance department is equipped with automatic roller conveyor; we can handle packages up to europallet dimensions (120x80xH100cm). Packages exceeding 30Kg must be delivered on pallets.
• The parts must be packed with the maximum care in order to avoid damaging during the transportation. The same packaging will be re-used for the return expedition; we can also supply plastic Lafer boxes.
• Don’t use bubble wrap material in direct contact with tool surfaces; please use separating paper.
• Always enclose our form “Distinta utensili da rivestire” or “ Ordine di rivestimento Lafer” with clear evidence of the functional areas of the tools, such as to fasten the processing of your orders.
• Goods are travelling at own risk of the customer even if carriage free shipped