Frequently Asked Questions

How small an area of precious metal can you plate?

For gold and palladium/nickel, then mini - spot plating tools enable areas as small as 0.5mm diameter to be very accurately deposited. This maybe on the surface of connectors or semi-conductor devices or plated "through" the stamped component, where for density of packing the edge is used as the critical surface.

How fast are components plated reel to reel?

Continuous plating lines can be manufactured to plate at any speed, but obviously the faster they run the longer the line and at some point this trend is not economically viable. Most of our high volume lines plating 2 - 3 microns nickel, up to 1.5 microns gold and 3 - 4 microns tin/lead will operate at up to 20 metres per minute.

Can we use finishes other than gold for connectors?

Yes palladium and palladium/nickel alloys are used very successfully - the popularity of these finishes changes with the metal market prices of gold and palladium.

Are special plating tools expensive?

Yes - but the precious metal savings on high volume parts means the tool is paid for usually in 2 -3 months. It also means that by using the latest technology your connectors will be the most competitively priced.

How many metals do you plate in one pass?

Our standard high speed machines will plate five different metals - copper, low stress sulphamate nickel, gold flash, selective heavy gold (wheel, spot, FRS, or contour techniques) and selective tin/leads.