Plating Equipment

Plating is specified for many components; for connectors, plating may be accomplished in many ways. Components are ideally produced in a "strip" form where a metal carrier connects them in a chain, often hundreds of feet long. This allows the parts to be automatically fed through a strip plating line at a high rate of speed. Parts that cannot be manufactured in strip form are placed on racks or in rotating barrels that are sequentially placed in various plating baths.

In addition to plating tanks and power supplies, plating lines often have complex ancillary equipment to unreel, guide, maintain tension, mask, accumulate, dry, measure plating thickness, reel, and package the plated product. Waste treatment and precious metal reclamation is usually included.

APEX has experience in all aspects of plating equipment, from basic fixturing to complete high-speed plating line design and installation.

WHY APEX:

• Gain access to world-class capabilities
• Utilize hands-on manufacturing experience
• Optimize the plating process
• Obtain knowledge of root causes of quality problems
• Draw on extensive experience in designing and installing plating equipment
• Troubleshoot with a multidiscipline team

APEX CAN PROVIDE:

• Review of existing processes
• Plating equipment design
• Plating line recommendations
• Techniques for selective plating
• Plating cost analysis
• Equipment cost estimates

EXAMPLES OF APEX PLATING EQUIPMENT ACTIVITIES:

• Developed a "spot plating" process for lead frames
• Reduced the consumption of gold by precision stripe masking
• Redesigned plating racks to double their throughput
• Identified the cause of component damage and recommended corrections
• Critiqued the design of a proprietary new plating line
• Redesigned a component to reduce the plating cost
• Served as an expert witness in a plating line intellectual property damage suit