Letter 30069

How to start your own Chrome Plating shop [Texas] 

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Hi Ted,

I'm 28 years old and I'm seeking a career in chrome plating, I've always been interested in opening my own shop however I have no idea where to start, what advise would you give someone with no experience for me to start? How much investment do you think would be required? I want to keep my full time job and start this as a weekend gig and eventually do this full time. I know it's something I can't do out of a garage or home. Every time I ask people who have experience on this they seem to not want to share the info, I guess its a competitive thing? Anyway if you could just give me your input on this would be highly appreciative. Thanks Ted for all your support!

Fernie Campos
Hobbyist - Addison, TX, USA

Sure, there are some limits to what knowledge people are willing to freely share, but nobody is seriously concerned about potential competition from you. Do you worry that someone with no experience, and no idea how to start, will teach themself your boss' job on weekends, while holding a full time job in another industry, then jump in and put your boss out of business and you out of work?

It's more like this: after you've read four or five plating books, joined the AESF (www.aesf.org), attended a few meetings, taken a 5-day electroplating course (AESF or Kushner Plating School), then people will be able to help you. Trying to tell someone how to start a chrome plating business with no background is like trying to explain to someone how to apply Laplace transforms to solve differential equations when they haven't had algebra yet.

I'm not saying that it is highly technical rocket science; to the contrary, I knew a fellow with a 6th-grade education who successfully ran a plating shop, but if you want to learn how to compete successfully in it with insufficient experience to even land a journeyman position in a plating shop is a hard thing to do.

If you quit your present full-time job and become a plater, then people will worry about competition from you! Barring that, step one is to read our FAQ on Chrome Plating, step two is to read the Metal Finishing Guidebook cover to cover, Fernie. Then get back to us.

I'm glad you don't want to do it out of your garage. Good luck.

 
Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com Inc. - Brick, NJ

Hello My name is Ray (for short)

I have a few questions about starting a plating business.

I understand that most people warn off Home brew set ups which I can understand. I'm not here to argue setting one up at home but I was wondering is there safe alternate chemicals to work with? I was reading on some of these home starter set up sites where you could buy environment safe products like an imitation chrome. Is this really safe for us and the environment or is it a smoke screen? I'm just needing something right now to plate on plastic parts as far as chrome is concerned. Then I read where there is Gold plating kits without poisonous gases to deal with or is that BS also? Now if I set one up whether at home or a shop is there a economy version of a waste management system? I mean if I have to open a shop in order to plate I think I should start small and see if it will catch on. I don't want to sink a 100,000 into something that may not catch on and be out a ton of money. I understand there are no guaranties in starting a business but I just think losing 5-10k is better than 100,000.00.

Speaking of waste systems--

Does a system that evaporates the water worth a flip? Its left with a slug type material stored in drums that is picked up by a waste disposal company?

I also hear this Odessa, Tx spill a lot in regards to a home brew set ups, is there a link etc to this? My town gets its water basically from the same place as Odessa and I've never heard of this before. Since I'm in Odessa a lot is there some sort of records office I could pop in and take a look at the case? I just would like to know as much about what I'm up against if I choose to start my own plating business.

I also have been thinking of Anodizing and wondered how I go about finding someone who could safely dispose of the old acid? I hear people say that a local disposal company wouldn't relieve you of any responsibilities as fair as the EPA is concerned? Also can't the acid just be neutralized and not cause any damage when disposing of it?

Thanks for your time and replies whether it's good or a flamer.

Raymond Hayes
Student - Midland, Texas, U.S.A

Avoiding real chrome is always a good idea if the chemicals will not be managed by trained professionals, but any electroplating that you sell as a servive or as a plated part makes you subject to EPA 40 CFR 433 waste disposal permitting requirements, Raymond. It's on line if you want to read it. It doesn't matter what you or the vendor think is safe, it is all regulated. Evaporation is probably okay as a rule, but still requires permits. Further, it is best not to mix wastes, so you might need a bunch of different evaporators.

Plating on plastic is a complicated procedure, however, so you might consider a chrome-like paint for your plastic, such as offered by Alsa or Gold Touch. These have come a long way in the last few years, and many OEM automobiles now come with chrome-like paint on the wheels rather than real plating.

The Odessa superfund site was not a "home brew set up", but it was a chrome plating shop operating out of a double garage. The liability for costs case was tried in the Federal courthouse in Midland there; I was involved. Here is one article about the Odessa case that I found on-line.

Just as it was once thought safe to take drums of chemicals and bury them, and the people who did it 40 years ago are paying the costs of those wastes, today's disposal methods may not suit the citizens of tomorrow. One problem is that you are responsible for the waste forever.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com Inc. - Brick, NJ

No plating system is environmentally safe! Some are worse than others, namely chrome and cyanide based systems. Evaporation only slightly works. eventually you get so much "salt" in it that it virtually will not evaporate and is a miserable mess to clean. They are more functional where you only need to reduce the liquid level and plow back the filtered concentrate into the plating tank. This will eventually kill the plating tank tho. (unless and except). Plating is fully as much an art as a science. Who do you plan to learn from? You will require a lab of sorts to control your tanks. Are you a chemist or an experienced lab tech? Read the fine print of any "hobby" system!! It will say" dispose of all material in accordance with local, state and federal regulations". Some implied information is flat out illegal. You will be fine until someone finds out about your operation or you have an angry customer that turns you in. Fines typically are from $500 to $5,000 per offense, per day, plus costs. Something as simple as an unlabeled haz waste tank or a label without a start date or a disposal record can bring many days fines if they chose. AND multiple levels of government can levy fines. Lastly, it is a dirty nasty business.

James Watts
- FL

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