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  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Electropolishing Cost

Can anyone tell me how electropolishing is priced for sheet metal parts. Is it by metal surface area? General rough dimension of the part? By piece? Etc? What is a reasonable cost?

Charlie Peck
- USA
2000

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2000

Looked at from a slight distance, electropolishing looks nearly identical to electroplating: unpack the parts, rack them, carry them through a series of open-top tanks, dry them, inspect them, repackage them; deal with the waste, the rectifiers, the chemical makeup, the ventilation, the regulatory agencies, the employees and customers. Which leads to: the cost is very similar to the cost of plating, and labor is the lion's share of the cost.

The shop will quote you basically based on how much labor they think is involved in the steps previously outlined, and how many parts they feel they can get through the line per hour. So "envelope size" may be the unit of measure for cost even through square footage would be what dictates chemical and electrical consumption.

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

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2000

Primarily, the biggest factors in determining the cost to electropolish a part are as follows;

1. Quantity How many pieces per mo/yr.

2. Surface area to be electropolished.

3. Amperage/Minutes required to achieve desired finish.

4. Time (labor) required for racking, pre-processing

5. " " " " " un-racking, post-processing

There could be other factors involved such as fixturing cost, particularly for short or one-time runs.

Phil Sterrett
- Cleveland, Ohio USA