Classic Car Gurus is a website put together by a classic car and restoration enthusiast who wanted to create a one stop resource guide for people who drive, restore or show, classic cars.  The website provides, among many other great features,  a listing of businesses that provide goods and services related to classic car restoration.  These suppliers are called “Gurus”.  Of course, A Class Metal Finishers are listed on the site as a guru for chrome plating and polishing services.

If you’re into classic cars and need to find suppliers to help with your project we recommend you visit the classiccargurus site.

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A Class Metal Finishers employs several electroplaters with varying degrees of knowledge or experience.  Some are “home grown” (taught on the job), others have come to the company trained or qualified in previous roles.  In all cases, because A Class is such a diverse operation, it is necessary to expose each plater to, and train them in, the “idiosyncracies” of the company’s particular set of operations.  Over time, each plater becomes more skilled and knowledgeable as they learn the variety of processes by “doing” them. With processes ranging from decorative Chrome or gold plating to functional coatings, or the now popular ’satin’ finishes, up to date skills and knowledge of many plating processes are a must.

Plating in progress

In South Australia (where A Class operates), there is no longer a “trade training school” as such to support the learning of this rare trade skill. This requires that the company keep an internal focus on developing skills and overcoming skills gaps. The team of platers are supported and mentored by A Class’s own “experts”. All in all, the ‘home grown’ approach to training seems to deliver results. “We could not offer such a diverse range of electroplating services without a good skills base. We are really pleased at the way our platers continually rise to new learning challenges.” says Phil Wood, Operations Manager (Plating).

A Class also reports that it is important to have documented procedures and instructions to support each process and the electroplaters who use them.

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We often get asked – what is the difference between hard chrome and normal chrome plating?

Chrome (short for chromium) plating is commonly performed for either DECORATIVE or FUNCTIONAL purposes.  The functional version is referred to as Hard chrome. Actually, as far as plating solutions and technologies go – aside from a few practical differences – both types are much the same.  The main difference is in the THICKNESS of the chromium material applied.

Standard chrome plating for decorative uses is a much thinner deposit (about ONE micron) of chromium over the relatively thick layer of nickel plating underneath.  Hard chrome, however, is a much thicker deposit of chromium – ranging anywhere from 5 microns to, in some cases, over 3000 microns – depending on the purpose of the coating. (A micron is equivalent to one millionth of a metre, or, one thousandth of a millimetre. In inches there are about 25 microns to one thousandth of an inch)

Because it is thicker, Hard chrome provides much greater corrosion and wear resistance, which is a benefit for many industrial uses but is overkill and expensive for decorative applications.  Hard-chrome can be used to build up surface thickness on items that have worn down – for example shafts, bores or tool surfaces.  The thicker the deposit the more uneven the surface dimensions become – thus requiring the part to be re-machined after plating.  An alternative to hard chrome, that achieves similar levels of corrosion and wear resistance, but builds up evenly, (thus avoiding the need for re-machining) is Electroless nickel.

Decorative chrome plating is still a resilient coating, it can certainly stand up to alot of exposure and last many years (example – plated chrome parts on cars or motorcycles).  The nickel plating (and to a lesser extent the copper plating) layers beneath the chrome provide alot of protection and corrosion resistance and, applied properly, will meet the quality and longevity standards for its intended purpose.

Please contact electroplaters “A Class Metal Finishers” if you need more detailed information about any plating process.

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Bice Oval, Christies Beach was packed for the Old Skool and New Age motor show event last Saturday (March’ 10).  Cars, bikes, boats and their owners flocked to the show and by all reports had a great day.

Some great resto jobs and plenty of chrome plating were on display. The rain held off well – so all that polishing wasn’t in vain.  Many well presented entries were awarded across all categories.  We were privileged to host Jeff Smith’s Suzuki GSXR (pictured) on our site, along with his Ducati.  Pro Street Racing placed a Custom Harley with us too.  It was great to see them both go home with prizes.  This was our third time sponsoring this annual event which has grown every year.  Our chrome, plastic chrome and candy coloured chrome displays got alot of attention with visitors very pleased to learn that chrome no longer has to be limited to metal parts.  Looking forward to hearing back from some of the passionate car and motorcycle restorers and enthusiasts we met on the day! Thanks to all those who visited.

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On Saturday 27 March 2010, A Class Metal Finishers’ custom chrome plating and other services will be on display at Bice Oval, Christies Beach.  Off Ya Rocker Promotions are once again staging the “Old Skool n New Age Auto Show”, an annual event showcasing a range of classic and modern cars, bikes and other things of interest to automotive enthusiasts.

Greg Wood, Manager of the A Class’s Polishing and Special Treatments Division will be on deck to provide specialist advice to restorers with chrome parts in need of refurbishment or customisation.  He will also display examples of the company’s offerings in the area of chrome plating of plastic and non metals as well as colour finishing (e.g. candy chrome).  It could be a good opportunity to pin Greg down for some expert finishing advice – he’s usually a pretty hard guy to catch!

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Traditionally only one type of plastic was able to be chrome plated – namely ABS plastic (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene).  This material was (and still is) used for a wide range of plastic moulding of parts for chrome plating.  ABS materials contain properties which enable the parts to metallise  through the application of specific plating chemistry in the pre-treatment stage.

A Class Metal Finishers Pty Ltd has long experience and expertise in the plating of ABS plastics (volume production products and restorations) and nowadays, having developed processes and methods based partially on available technologies and partly on our own process innovations,  can also offer chrome plating of ANY plastic materials.  This ability is very exciting for car and bike customisers and restorers as well as designers as it offers scope to chrome plate things we previously wouldn’t have dreamed about.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Manufacturers are continually challenged with ‘make or buy’ decisions. Elements of the make or buy decision include: maximising margin, minimising risk, core business focus, supporting and sustaining the process, process reliability and control, nature of technology (e.g. disruptive vs core)

Electroplating is an example of a process sometimes considered more appropriate to hold in-house. However the trend in recent years is toward outsourcing of this process. Why?

Consider these points:

Outsourcing lets everyone focus on what they’re best at.

Metal finishing is most often just a small part of the final product. Outsourcing any plating or finishing required enables the manufacturer to focus on their own areas of expertise (e.g. designing and making the product), without unnecessary distraction from ‘non core’ activities. Your metal finishing service provider has chosen that field as their core business, therefore they are better positioned to develop and control surface finishing processes, skills and knowledge whilst managing complexity and improving the quality.

Increasing Environmental Awareness has most serious manufacturers seeking to reduce impacts. Outsourcing is an opportunity to score ‘green points’ through elimination of hazardous processes. At the industry level, the servicing of a number of manufacturers by a single electroplating service provider, enables economy of scale to kick in – a real plus for the overall impact on our environment. Of course outsourcing also enables the manufacturer to diminish the risks associated with managing hazardous processes from both environmental and employee safety perspectives.

Activity in Skills Development for Electroplaters and Polishers at the broad industry level has severely diminished in the last 10 or so years. Is it feasible for a manufacturer, whose core business might be product development, design or production, to be burdened with responsibility to develop and manage skills/knowledge in a specialised field like electroplating?

There are obviously many more elements to the make or buy decision. Ultimately the ‘right’ decision will be the one that best supports the manufacturer’s endeavour to “deliver a product of the required specification and quality to its customer at the right price”.

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High Purity Gold Plating in Electronics

Gold plating can be used in electronics and high tech products for creating superior corrosion resistance and conductivity enhancement. The gold plating process used is known as “high purity gold plating”. This process ensures as high as possible purity of the gold deposit on the surface for maximum performance.  The gold coating behaves like a filter for conduction of sound and current more smoothly.  High purity Silver has similar conductive properties and is often used in Radio Frequency applications.

Examples of electronic items often gold plated are – sound system parts, antenna parts, computer connections and adapters, computer internals, communication devices, and so on.

I recently bought a new TV and to connect it to other devices I was sold a HDMI cable that had gold plated connections. Whilst I could have bought a standard nickel plated one, I was advised that the gold plated version is highly recommended for best performance of the communications equipment.

The look of high purity gold plating is a dull, deep yellow. Unlike decorative gold plating which is bright and somewhat harder wearing. Because of the softness of high purity gold plating it is not recommended for surfaces which will be subject to high wear.

High purity gold plating results in a dull velvety appearance

A good plater can ensure the gold plating process is performed properly. It is also advisable to seek advice from your plating service supplier at the product design stage to ensure good planning and maximum benefit from the process.

A Class Metal Finishers Pty Ltd can provide further advice on the high purity gold or silver plating processes.

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Copper plating before nickel and chrome plating

Copper Plating

• Copper is usually used as an “undercoat” in most common plating processes (e.g. “triple chrome” is copper, nickel then chrome plated)
• The colour of newly plated copper (salmon pink) makes it appealing as a metal colour alternative, however it tarnishes quite easily.  A coating or two of lacquer straight after plating can help preserve the colour but it’s best not to expose it to weather extremes or the lacquer will break down and cause the copper to tarnish
• To achieve an aged bronze look, you can blacken the copper after plating then buff away the black at the high points, leaving an “antique” effect.
• Copper plating can assist to rebuild poor or damaged surfaces by plating additional thickness onto parts.
• There are two main varieties of copper plating – acid copper and cyanide copper. Acid copper is a safer coating for health and environment, however cyanide copper performs better in applications involving aluminium substrates. Acid copper is the most common type used for plating.  When plating aluminium alloys, some prefer to nickel plate straight onto the surface to avoid the use of cyanide copper, and this is possible, however this can sometimes be difficult to control and achieve good quality results.

Copper plating blackened then polished to achieve antique effect known as “Florentine Bronze”

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A Class Metal Finishers (Pty Ltd) Celebrated our first 20 years in business in 2009.

We feel like we’ve come a long way after starting up in 1989 with just 3 employees!  Couldn’t even count the amount of metal we’ve electroplated onto people’s products (in the hundreds of tonnes).  It would be great get some comments on this blog from customers we have plated or polished jobs for.  What have you thought about our service?  Did you think we’d make it to 20 years? What are your predictions for our future?

Here’s a pic of “the boys” taken on our “birthday”

From left: Phil, Greg & Rod Wood – some of A Class’s owners and founders

Have a great day and hope to see or hear from you some time soon!

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