I worked for a small company in Ohio, small enough to say it is a little row boat floating out in the big ocean. To keep in business, a little boat has to bring in enough fish to fill it thereby taking care of all those aboard. I quickly learned I was hired specifically for a contract to work the plating line designed by a scientist at IBM, which was a whale of a fish to try to hook.

Ever heard of an IBM Inkjet Printer splashing into the market in the same way their computers first dominated the technology field like a tsunami? No? Brace yourself because you are about to hear why not.

The magic rotating basket of tubes was the key part of the process to make this project feasible, but it was the ingredients that became its downfall.

After a quick wash and rinse in the first rectangular tank, the basket was next dipped into the most wicked acid I have ever known. This is the mystery chemical of the movies where some small amount spills onto the floor of a ten story building and it burns through every floor until it reaches the basement. Only a polyurethane tank could withstand the powerful reactive nature of the acid. The purpose of this tank of rude acid was etching the ceramic tubes so that the metal would stick during the plating process.

The magic basket allowed the tubes to tumble through the liquid forcing it through the middle as well as having it smoothly flow over the outside. It worked wonderfully until arriving at the plating process where the mesh netting which had been etched by the acid drew the metal to it like a moving car in a snowstorm. All of the metal fell out of solution before it could plate the insides of the tubes.

So, I moved the tubes into beakers with a magnetic swirler for the final step. These medium size fast food drink cups could only hold 100 tubes at a time, which I had to count as closely as possible. How was this process ever going to ramp up to high production so that IBM could make millions of tubes to install in their Inkjet Printers? The job lasted 8 months.

No successful plating process, no whale of a fish being caught by the brave men in the row boat. Actually, the fish on the hook was a Tuna, but when they reeled it in, only the head was left after the body had been bitten off by a larger shark.

Makes me wonder if there could have been a reason that a giant fishing vessel did not take on the project in order to catch the whale.

Hope you have a Happy Friday.