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Steve's Plating Corporation

Polishing

When it comes to chrome plating, the rule of thumb is that the final plated finish is only as good as the pre-polished (or unpolished) material. The surface condition of the material prior to plating will more or less determine the quality of the plating job. Sequentially, the amount of polishing required to reach a desired finish is determined by the surface condition of the actual raw material. For example: rough castings will require more polishing operations than cold rolled steel.

Commonly polished materials include mild steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass and copper. Listed below are the different types of metal polishing at Steve's Plating:

Auto-buffing
SPC has three automated straight-line buffing machines that have the capability to buff round, square and rectangle tubes up to 20' long.

Round tubes can be buffed cylindrically or lineally while square and rectangle tubes can only be buffed lineally.

Auto-abrasive polishing
 SPC has two automated straight-line abrasive machines (a.k.a. Timesavers) that can apply any abrasive grit finish lineally to flat plates or square and rectangle shapes. Round shapes would be belted on our manual machines in either direction: cylindrically or lineally.

Hand buffing and polishing
SPC has over 20 manually operated polishing stations that are generally used for hand-held parts, irregular shapes and items not conducive to the straight-line polishing machines noted above.

 

Listed below are common terms used to describe the different types of polished finishes available at SPC. These terms will help you communicate your desired finish to an SPC representative:

 

Satin finish: rough to medium grit abrasive finish.

Brushed finish: fine grain abrasive belt or scotch-brite wheel finish.

Straight buff finish: buff material to bright finish; not meant to remove scratches, inclusions or porosity.

Mirror buff finish: buffing procedure used in conjunction with abrasive polishing. Abrasive belts are used to remove surface imperfections and buffing to bring metal to a mirror-like condition.

In conclusion, metal polishing is basically an art form and the polishers at SPC average over 10 years of polishing experience. We can help you make wise decisions as to how much polishing is required to achieve your ultimate desired finish.