Nickel plating cost calculation

A. Hi Rishi, Realistically, the way this is done is the same as other costing situations from the repair of your car suffering a strange noise, to the installation of a swimming pool: you go to 2 or 3 or even more shops with the specific parts in question and get a quote.

The reason is that there are both obvious and subtle factors that affect the cost dramatically. For most businesses the largest single cost is labor. If the parts in question can be figuratively shoveled into plating barrels for bulk processing, those labor costs can be very low; if the parts in question must be racked one at a time into exact orientations with multiple spring clips that could easily require 10X or 20X as much labor.

If the parts in question are in any way cup shaped, it could be that there is no single orientation which will both not trap air and allow full drainage. Plus there is the question of whether I.D. plating is required, how thick the plating must be, etc. Personally, I've never once seen a guide book, or "fake book" on this subject in a whole career in plating.
Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Steve:

Despite the fact that sulfamate nickel is perhaps the most expensive nickel bath, it is going to be much less expensive than EN (as much as six times). Once the bath is set up, the main direct expenditures are nickel anode pellets (around $10.00 USD/lb) and electricity (chicken feed as it's almost 100% efficient to theoretical 20 amp-hr per mil/sq-ft). You are not supposed to use large amounts of brighteners and the like in these baths. Another factor is labor and technicians to take care of the expensive investment. The bath operates at moderate temperature of some 45 °C.

On the other hand, EN has different properties and has to be considered only when electrolytic methods are not suitable. We have figured that $0.02 USD/mil/sq. inch is rock bottom total cost for us (chemicals, energy, labor and waste treatment).

With it's temperature of 90 °C it's also one of the hottest baths of the industry (near boiling) and the dump process is not simple nor cheap.

Hope to have helped.

GOOD LUCK,

A. 0.0005" is reasonable when on the purchase order. What thickness, grade or class was specified per FED-QQN-290 (replaced by AMSQQN290) , ASTM B689....?
Substrate material, any copper underplating, buffing, special racking, unusual geometry, electrolytic or electroless nickel, adhesion baking, etc. all affect pricing. Usually, labor & overhead (utilities, environmental) cost much more than the plated metal. The current price of nickel is > $19/pound, triple that 3 years ago, so a surcharge can be justified.

A price is reasonable if borne by the market w/o engendering more suppliers. Fair if equal quality work is unavailable elsewhere for lower total cost.

A. Ken,
As of last Friday, the large nickel distributors were quoting $22-$24/lb plus an up charge if it was less than a can. A nickel surcharge is definitely indicated or just a higher price for plating.

A. You also may talk to some of the other plating shops that do nickel plating. Some shops are now using a nickel/steel mixture to help abate the cost of nickel.

A. Dear

I do not think it is that difficult. First get Material cost. This you can get by Area X Thickness X density of Nickel X cost per unit weight of Nickel. (Ni plating will have high efficiency). Then add cost of electricity which you can know by Volts and Amps and time to plate. Add machine hour rate of Nickel bath which can be calculated including Nickel anodes, chemical, operator's cost. If you wish you can add cost of consumables like water and emery or sandpaper you may use. Did you add cost of fuel or heating the liquid? If you now add administrative cost, depreciation and profit you desire, you should not be too far from exact answer. Good luck.

A. At 100% efficiency nickel electroplates 1.095 grams per ampere-hour, so at 95% efficiency this is 1.04 grams per ampere-hour. At 95% efficiency, it also takes 20 ampere-hours per square foot to plate a thickness of 0.001".

So, if you know the amperage and the time, you can calculate the mass of nickel plated, and from the surface area, you can also calculate the average thickness.

 Thanks!