"CHROME" plating
- Thread starter McDenny
- Start date
Thanks Lee, I'll be call them tomorrow morning.
McDenny
New Member
Ted Brown
Member
CRS is real bad these days on some old info, (will look to see if I can find one of my old price sheets) but I think it was about $125 for a complete welded frame... I priced some steel tubing the other Day, and almost fell over, compared to what I used to pay... RPM sells his radius rods for less than I can buy the USA tubing for, maybe he is buying import steel? Got to be a bunch cheaper...
The steel we buy is made in USA. You have to buy steel in large quantities to get a good price and you really have to shop around for it. Steel for the most part is sold by the pound. An order of 100 lbs is just a pain in the a$$ to a steel supplier. Buy 2500-3000 pounds and you get a pretty good discount and they will deliver it for free. 3000 pounds of steel is not that much. A 4' x 8' peice of 3/8" plate weighs 500 pounds.
Ted Brown
Member
Yes you are sooooo right about big quantities, An example= a bike seat that I was using on a product for a Co. retailed for $12 something, my wholesale cost was $5.80, when the Company told me they wanted a price for me to build them 5000 units, the costs on everything hit the dirt... Just that seat alone, now costs me $.35 = CENTS!!! Just think about this for a second, and now you get the idea about Wal-Mart's buying power... A lot of Companies buy their meterial using this method of ordering 5000 parts and taking delivery once a Month as to how many they use in a Month, no stocking room problems that way and no big money outlay either, pay as it is delivered, at the 5000 price, pretty hard to compete with that kind of buying power and price... Smart thinking, I would say...
PS, A very good business friend once told me to call 6 different places to get prices on steel, and that I would get 6 different prices, go with the cheapest, as it changes everyday...
For what it's worth......... hey, no snickering.
When there is an item I want to make that will eventually be polished or maybe chromed, I'll take the time to polish or have polished the raw material prior to machining or cutting and welding.
I've done this for aluminum wheelie bars. I've had sticks of aluminum tubing polished before hand, then I cut, notched (made aluminum soft jaws for the Bridgeport vise) and then welded'em.
Finish polishing of the completed bars is very inexpensive at this point.
When there is an item I want to make that will eventually be polished or maybe chromed, I'll take the time to polish or have polished the raw material prior to machining or cutting and welding.
I've done this for aluminum wheelie bars. I've had sticks of aluminum tubing polished before hand, then I cut, notched (made aluminum soft jaws for the Bridgeport vise) and then welded'em.
Finish polishing of the completed bars is very inexpensive at this point.
McDenny
New Member
Gonna send out RPM's front shock mount brackets to Performace Plating to see how much they will cost. I want to have some of my radius rod ends chromed, but wondering if it is just cheaper to buy them or have them chromed, maybe I will throw them in the box and just have them qoute me on them, what could it hurt, right?? :egypt:
Keep us posted on this please.
Lee_in_KC
Active Member
Performance Plating charged me $50 to plate those same shock mounts. Let us know what they charge you.
McDenny
New Member
OK, I heard from Performance Plating a couple days ago. I sent out both front shock mounts that I purchased from RPM, all 12 of my radius rod ends, and 2 of the specialty bolts that hold on the front radius rod ends. I am not sure how they will plate 2 of the radius rod ends, they have Teflon around the ball, so I will have to see how they come out. The cost for everything was $248.00 shipped back to me. I told them to do it. seemed very fair on pricing.
Mr T Bucket
Member
You're not going to be impressed with the outside of the building, that's for sure. You'd drive right by it. Plus, they may not even do the plating on the premises. Not sure. I've only been up to the counter, never in the back.
It was a common practice to set up a polishing shop here years ago when gov. regulations made a small plating shop so spendy to put together. The Twin Cities has several large industrial plating shops that do dip and ships. The problem was with the quality of the plating. Usually it was a quick copper dip maybe some nichol and them crome. And then there was the problem of lost pieces. You want to be sure to write up a detailed inventory your parts and go over the list when you drop them off. There are some shops now that do a decent job but you need to specify what you want.
Ron
Ron
McDenny
New Member
OK, just got my parts back today. They all look good, one of the shock mount brackets has a scratch, not bad, hopefully you wont be able to see it when they are mounted, or I can try to polish it out. Total was $248.00
2 Shock mount brackets $130.00
4 Heim joints $20.00
8 Bolts $40.00
Misc $32.00
Waste fee $11.00
Shipping & Handling $15.00
2 Shock mount brackets $130.00
4 Heim joints $20.00
8 Bolts $40.00
Misc $32.00
Waste fee $11.00
Shipping & Handling $15.00
