How to Calculate Chemical Additions & Rebuild Plating Baths (Makeups)

Keeping a plating bath stable shouldn’t require tribal knowledge, guesswork, or a senior chemist with 20 years of notes. Lab Wizard Cloud automates the entire workflow from detecting when chemistry needs to be added, to triggering a full bath makeup, to scheduling analyses after a makeup is complete.

This guide explains how additions and makeups work, how they are calculated, and how to set them up step by step in Lab Wizard Cloud so your team can operate consistently and confidently.

Why Chemical Additions Matter

Chemical additions keep your bath:

• On target
• Stable across shifts
• Balanced as dragout, load size, and consumption vary
• Predictable for thickness, deposition rate, and quality
• Ready for audits without scrambling

Why Makeups (Bath Rebuilds) Matter

Every plating bath eventually reaches a condition where:

• Impurities accumulate
• Breakdown products rise
• Additions become inefficient
• Metal turnover is reached
• The bath no longer plates predictably

A makeup (sometimes called a rebuild or remake) restores the bath to its ideal starting composition.

Lab Wizard automatically schedules makeups based on time, product throughput, or chemistry driven criteria such as metal turnover.

How Additions & Makeups Work Together in Lab Wizard Cloud

Here’s the real magic:

1. Scheduling tells the team what to analyze and when.

2. Analysis results determine whether an addition is needed.

3. Additions may trigger a makeup point if the bath has reached its cumulative chemical threshold.

4. After a makeup, Lab Wizard can automatically:

   • Reset cumulative additions
   • Trigger all analyses
   • Log the event in the audit trail
   • Calculates SPC automatically

🧪 Part 1 — Configuring Chemical Additions

Additions determine how much chemical to add when an analysis shows a value outside the desired range.

Where to Configure

Setup → Additions → [Select Addition] → Edit

Here you configure:

• Chemical name
• Units (g, mL, lbs, etc.)
• Addition instructions (that will be displayed when the addition is issued)
• Minimum addition amount
• Maximum addition amount
• Makeup point
• Re-analyze after add

Minimum & Maximum Addition Setpoints

• Minimum Addition
  Additions below this value are ignored.

• Maximum Addition
  Additions above this amount are ignored.

Pro Tip:
Using min/max rules across multiple additions can be used to add different chemicals at different thresholds.

Makeup Point (Metal Turnovers)

Once the cumulative additions reach a configured threshold, Lab Wizard automatically triggers a station makeup.

Ideal for:

• Copper metal turnover
• Additive life expectancy
• Organic buildup limits
• Consumption tracking

🧮 Part 2 — How Addition Formulas Work

Typical additions use basic formulas, but advanced users can build dynamic calculations for further automation and control.

Requirements

• Must reference at least one analysis concentration
• Cannot reference manual inputs
• Calculated values ≤ 0 are ignored
• Min/max limits still apply

Example

(Sample.targetValue - Sample.concentration) * 8.309

🔧 Formula Tools Available

Arithmetic

+   -   *   /   %

Comparison

<  <=  >  >=  ===  !==

Logical

&&   ||   !

Conditional

condition ? if_true : if_false

Example:

Sample.concentration < Sample.targetValue
  ? (Sample.targetValue - Sample.concentration) * 4
  : 0

🧪 Part 3 — Configuring Makeups

Where to Configure

Setup → Stations → [Select Station] → Makeups → Edit

Trigger Options

• NONE — Manual only
• TIME — Every X hours
• PRODUCT — Throughput based
• BOTH — Whichever occurs first

Trigger All Analyses After Makeup

After a makeup, Lab Wizard can reschedule all analyses

Makeup Instructions

Displayed directly in workflow:

• Safety notes
• Steps
• Rinse procedure
• Neutralization details

🔄 Full Workflow Example: Nickel Sulfamate Bath

Cumulative adds since last makeup

• 970g

Analysis Result

• Target: 330 g/L
• Actual: 315 g/L

Formula

(330 - 315) * 2.24 = 33.6 g

Min/Max Rules

• Min: 5 g
• Max: 30 g

System Action

• Lab Wizard schedules 33.6 g
• Once this add is marked as completed:

970g + 33.6g = 1003.6g

This exceeds the maekup point of 1000 g, makeup is triggered

📦 Implementation Checklist

✔ Configure additions
✔ Configure makeup triggers
✔ Enable re-analyze after add
✔ Define makeup instructions
✔ Let Lab Wizard automate the workflow

🚩 Common Mistakes

❌ Not utilizing makeup points for metal turnovers
❌ Leaving makeup instructions blank
❌ Forgetting to update the addition amount when modifications are made
❌ Allowing tribal knowledge to override workflow

Related Internal Resources

• Metal Turnover: How to Calculate & Compare Across Baths
• How to Manage Plating Bath Chemistry Automatically
• Reduce Chemical Waste in Plating

External References & Industry Standards

• Controlling Chrome Bath Impurities (Finishing and Coating)
• How Metal Contaminants Affect Nickel Plating Baths (Finishing and Coating)