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Stencils available for selective plating?

April 6, 2011

I manufacture surgical instruments and we gold plate many of them. We are looking for something special to give our products a different look. I'm looking at using a two tone plating process where I plate in one material, and then apply a stencil of some sort and plat with a contrasting color, so when I remove the stencil letters the base color shines through. Now, the stencils seem to be the problem. I need to print them, or cut them as it were, like an Avery label template so that I can make a large number of the same stencils, as these will not be reusable. See I want to leave the letters on the part as opposed to the way a regular stencil works. Does anyone know of a process like this, or someone who can make stencils like that for me? Any suggestions?

I would, also like to find a Black finish similar to the Black Chrome they do in Europe, except easier and safer. I don't care for those smokey quartz black chromes I see for car parts. I need something darker, like a Black Pearl.

Sorry! Two questions, but they are related.

Thanks, Joe

Joe Black
Product research Director and COO - Tucker, Georgia