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Contacts in the Electroplating Industry

I was recently hired in Savannah at a company that does aerospace electroplating. I have some experience in the field because I did an internship at another company that plated small parts. I am young and not extremely familiar with all the ins and outs of everything. Testing the solutions is no problem to me but I run into trouble if something happens, such as an over flow situation. At our shop we have, chromic deoxidizer, chromic anodize, Alodine/chem film, dichromate-nitric passivate and nitric acid deoxidizer. I'm looking for some people who can give me guidance or that can point me in the right direction of finding classes and information (other than the website, I use it a great deal already) so I can be better equipped for anything that may happen in the shop. I would be grateful for any information or guidance that can be given to me. Thanks!

Aimee Longacre
Plating Shop Employee - Savannah, Georgia, USA
August 18, 2011

Hi, Aimee.

Please start at www.nasf.org (National Association for Surface Finishing) to see if there is an AESF branch or NASF chapter that meets in your area, and to learn about on-line training and national conferences.

Some of your processes are anodizing or related to anodizing, so you might also contact www.anodizing.org (Aluminum Anodizing Council).

Regrettably, with the severe decline in the domestic metal finishing industry, and a general movement away from real person-to-person meetings, you may be reduced to on-line training and an annual conference. My local AESF branch (Philadelphia) still meets 5x a year, but of the fifty or more branches that were active a decade ago, I don't think there are a dozen active branches in the country at present. Hard as it is to keep things alive, it's still much easier that bringing them back from the dead, so we're very happy to hear of your interest, especially because you are young :-)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
August 19, 2011