Top Plating Services Companies

How to choose a plating services provider

Start with the specification. Ask the shop to confirm in writing that it plates to the exact military, ASTM or customer standard on your drawing, and which tests it runs to prove thickness, adhesion and hardness. Shops serving aerospace or defense often hold Nadcap accreditation for chemical processing, which is a useful filter for critical parts.

Check tank dimensions and racking against your largest part, and ask how they mask threads, bores and sealing faces. Ask about environmental permits and waste handling, since plating chemistry is tightly regulated and a shop that falls out of compliance can stop production without warning.

Red flags include no certificate of conformance, reluctance to share test results, and quoting without seeing the drawing or a sample part.

What plating services cost and why

Plating is priced per part, per lot, by surface area or by weight, often with a minimum lot charge to cover setup and bath time. The process itself sets the baseline: hard chrome and precious metals cost more than zinc, and electroless nickel varies with phosphorus content and thickness.

Cost rises with coating thickness, part size, masking complexity, and post-plate work such as grinding, baking and inspection. Repair jobs that need stripping old coatings add steps. Certifications, test reports and tight thickness tolerances also add cost, but on load-bearing or sealing parts they are what you are paying for.