Metal Finishing equipment we can provide our clients in a wide variety of industrial applications.

Our Metal Finishing customers work with a variety of metals and processes. Designing metal finishing production lines to meet the demands of the metallic parts industry requires expertise in all facets of metal plating, bulk coatings and surface treatments. We design, build and test out full or partial metal finishing production lines for a variety of industries and customers who demand a knowledgeable design team.

Anodizing

Mid-Western Processes, Inc customers process two types of anodizing finishes. These include Type II. (Sulfuric Acid), and Type III. (Hard Anodizing). Anodizing is the rapid controlled oxidation of the surface of aluminum, creating an oxidized film. All anodize films are electrically nonconductive and are porous. This allows the coating to be dyed a variety of colors.

Anodize - Type II (Sulfuric Acid)

The growth in the popularity of aluminum has resulted in consistent growth in Sulfuric Anodizing (Also called clear anodizing), the most wide-used of the three types of anodizing offered. Providing improved wear resistance and corrosion protection to a wide-range of aluminum parts, Sulfuric Anodizing offers many applications on aluminum alloys. These include the hardness of the finished process plus its excellent corrosion resistant features. Because the nature of the process, it is easily dyed a wide range of colors to achieve special cosmetic effects.

Anodize - Type III (Hard Anodize)

Hard Anodizing is used when an extremely hard, abrasive resistant coating is required. It is basically a modification of the sulfuric acid process, requiring lower temperatures and higher voltages during processing. As a result, a denser, thicker film is formed.

Black Oxide

Our finishing production line system capabilities include include industrial applications for Black Oxide on steel, stainless steel, copper, and brass substrates. Black Oxide is typically used to establish a protective coating over steel and stainless steel that is corrosion resistant and has a uniform black finish. The unique nature of Black Oxide is that it does not alter the dimensions of the part after processing. Black Oxide is used widely by gun and fastener manufacturers, on spark plugs and is commonly used by furniture manufacturers.


Cadmium

We can build both barrel and rack capabilities into Mid-Western designed finishing plants. From acid-based bath cadmium, which provides superior corrosion resistance. to traditional cadmium plating baths all built with Hoists -parts conveyors -tanks to drying stations. Used primarily as a sacrificial coating to steel, Cadmium is second only to zinc plating as a corrosion protective coating.

Historically, because of our outstanding success meeting rigid salt spray requirements, Cadmium has most often been the coating of choice for customers with products used near salt water environments. Window hardware and other materials used in the home construction industry commonly require cadmium plating.

Cadmium is also used by the automotive industry for disc brakes, radiator hose fittings, door latches and tension-bar bolts. Its’ solderability, low contact resistance, and corrosion resistance have been pursued for connectors, relays, and chassis by the electronics industry. Give us a call if your metal finishing line need added capability.


Conversion Coatings on Aluminum and Magnesium

Corrosion resistance of aluminum , Magnesium and steel parts can be achieved by applying a chromate conversion coating. Chromating of aluminum is an economical replacement for anodizing when abrasion resistance is not required. Chromating is often also used as a post-plating process to improve corrosion resistance. Chromating also provides an excellent paint adhesion.

MWP offers clients finishing systems used on magnesium parts with a chromate coating at a reasonably low cost. Because of its good corrosion protection at a reasonable cost it is ideal for computer connector parts for the automobile industry. The process also provides excellent adhesion and therefore is popular for applications involving a wide-range of exterior environments, such as for the building and construction, materials handling, sporting goods, and transportation industries.

This process can be applied to all alloys and forms of magnesium, including die castings. It also provides an excellent pretreatment base for paint.


Copper

Mid-Western Processes, Inc has built both rack and barrel copper plating capabilities for clients. Copper is often used because it has a high plating efficiency and provides an excellent undercoat for other metals. MWP provides production lines for the three basic types of copper processes, including alkaline, acid, and mildly-alkaline. Choosing the right process depends on part configuration and intended use. We design finishing systems to your exacting requirements.


Decorative Nickel Chrome

We have made multiple nickel chrome lines allowing customers to plate nickel chrome on steel, aluminum and brass. Nickel Chrome is used where a decorative, reflective finish that provides corrosion protection is required. It is most often used in transportation industry, but others who specify nickel chrome include customers within the furniture, plumbing, and marine hardware industries.

Electropolishing on Stainless Steel

The Electropolishing process removes oxides and impurities from the surface of the metal and leaves a sterile and passive finish. Electropolishing smoothes, polishes, de-burrs, and cleans stainless steel parts resulting in a smooth, high luster finish.

Because the metal part is bathed in oxygen, there is no hydrogen embrittlement. In fact, electropolishing removes hydrogen from the surface of the part and because bacteria cannot successfully multiply on a surface without hydrogen, electropolishing is idea for medical, pharmaceutical, semi-conductor, and food processing equipment and parts.

Electroless Nickel

If you provide high, medium, and low phosphorus electroless nickel composite coatings, we can design and custom build your next production line. Certain types of plating, like Electroless nickel, can be processed without the use of electricity. Electroless Nickel is a process that deposits a uniform thickness of nickel onto the parts by chemical reduction. This allows complex shaped parts to be plated evenly and completely. Electroless nickel offers customers an excellent corrosion protection and its hardness and low surface friction characteristics make Electroless Nickel well suited for bearing surfaces, drills, taps, gears, and sprockets. Electroless Nickel is also widely used by the electronics industry for many different parts, including resistors and conductors.


Hard Chrome and Sulfamate Nickel Hard Chrome

Hard chrome finishing capabilities include hard chrome on both steel and aluminum substrates and sulfamate nickel hard chrome. Hard Chrome plating finds uses in many engineering applications. Here, the main consideration is hardness, not corrosion protection. Thick layers of chromium are plated on the parts to provide a hard, smooth surface that has a low resistance to friction. The coating is ideal for parts like hydraulic pistons or cylinders.

Sulfamate Nickel Hard Chrome - Because of the improved throwing power of the plating bath, high rates of deposition combined with the functionality of hard chrome plating; this process results in a finish with high durability and significantly greater corrosion protection than hard chrome alone. In particular, Sulfamate Nickel Hard Chrome has become a popular coating for hydraulic cylinders where the part is exposed to the environment. By putting the hard chrome coating over the sulfamate nickel application, the hardness of chrome on top of the corrosion protection of the sulfamate nickel, Sulfamate Nickel Hard Chrome is an ideal process for cylinders used in construction and agricultural applications.

Mechanical Finishes -Including vibratory finishing, polishing, and bead blasting. Vibratory Finishing, another important pre-treatment process that prepares the metal for plating. With Vibratory Finishing, ceramic media are used to debur and clean parts, creating an excellent surface finish on the part prior to plating. Polishing provides surface enhancement by means of metal removal and is accomplished by both automated and manual polishing equipment. Mid-Western plays a vital role in the design of equipment used throughout the quality metal finishing industry.


Nickel Plating - Electrodeposited

Nickel plating provides customers with a finish that offers both decorative and corrosion resistant parts applications. Our customers usually offer three types of nickel plating processes, including Bright Nickel, Semi Bright Nickel and Sulfamate Nickel. Some applications are smooth, matte deposits that are most often applied to improve corrosion performance of industrial equipment. Pure nickel deposits are used to control wear, erosion, surface hardness and lubricity, offering an excellent coating for electronics applications.

Phosphate Coatings of Ferrous Metals -A chemical conversion coating that transforms the surface of a base metal into a non-metallic crystalline coating is phosphating.
MWP can provide Manganese and Zinc Phosphate coating production lines which are best suited for their wear-resistant properties. Typical parts that are well suited for Manganese Phosphate include cylinder lines, transmission gears, piston rings, and camshafts because this finish prevents metal-to-metal contact between moving parts. In addition, it also has excellent oil retentive qualities resulting in good lubricity and corrosion resistance.

Silver -Both rack and barrel silver plating capabilities are required by some clients. Silver is used as an economical coating on electrical connectors that are designed to operate at higher and less critical electrical holdings. As in Gold Plating the recovery and recycling process of precious metals is an important part of our design capabilities.


Tin and TinLead - Tin plating capabilities include alkaline stannate process (matte finish), bright acid tin, and tin lead finishes. For electronics, tin has the ability to protect the base metal (typically copper, nickel, and tin-nickel) from oxidation, thereby preserving the solderability of the base metal. Tin-Lead is plated onto the metal to protect the base metal from oxidizing and at the same time improve solderability. Given the benefits of tin plating, for both protection and enhanced solderability, those customers in the electronics parts industries most often use this process.

Zinc plating systems from Mid-Western Processes, Inc
MWP Plating systems provides customers with both acid zinc and alkaline zinc plating production lines. The Zinc plating process offers an excellent sacrificial protection to steel parts. Acid zinc has high conductivity resulting in a brilliant deposit on the part. While alkaline zinc may not be as bright in appearance, the throwing power of the alkaline process is much better. It is also less brittle and provides a more even thickness. Alkaline zinc is usually the best selection, when the part requires plating in recessed areas or the part will be crimped after plating.

Value Added Services that Mid-Western Processes, Inc provides our clients include: machining, metal fabrications and prototypes, production line designs, industrial robotics designs, material handling systems, Cad/Cam 2D-3D modeling, I/O and PLC machinery controllers and cabinets, ISO 9001 specs and interchangeability standards for all industries.

Mid-Western Processes, Inc. has been involved in Metal Finishing for over 25 years. During this time we have gained extensive practical experience in the design, construction and function of Metal Finishing Plants, employed both in our own sub-contract operation and in our many customers’ installations which we built for them. We can offer equipment ranging from compact manually operated plant up to fully automatic, computer controlled multi-station installations for a wide range of applications including:

Cleaning * Pickling * Electropolishing *Electroplating *Anodising *Phosphating * Effluent Treatment.

Design & Manufacturing Versatility. That’s the unique quality that characterizes our team. Flexible and constantly improving, Mid-West Processes Inc. adapts quickly and elegantly to your industrial business needs. We listen carefully to provide only the services you require. But a process can’t be efficient and versatile on its own; a team must bring it to life. One of our greatest assets is a team of experts that can work with your experts quickly, efficiently and effectively. It’s the depth of our skills and competencies that creates versatility.