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THE CHALLENGE
Quality Float Works, Inc. suddenly needed a plating supplier. Its previous supplier had gone out of business, and its parts presented a special challenge.
A manufacturer of hollow metal float balls and assemblies used to level liquid controls in a variety of industries — including gas, plumbing, oil and agriculture — Quality Float’s products are used worldwide.
“When our supplier shut down, we were left in a bind,” says Jason Speer, President of Quality Float.
The challenge is that the company’s products are buoyant; they need to be submerged during plating — one reason Quality Float did its own plating in house for years.
While other platers turned Quality Float down, saying they didn’t have a way to coat buoyant parts, Bales was different. Bales was willing to develop a custom solution that would ensure quality, while saving time and cutting costs.
THE SOLUTION
After some initial research and development, Bales found a way. “We engineered a set up and a process that involved creating a special rack with a weighted fixture to hold the floats under the solution,” says Harry Raimondi, Bales Technical Services Manager.
When it came to choosing a coating, Bales recommended Electroless Nickel, which provides excellent protection against corrosion — perfect for parts that will be used in industrial applications.
Bales was even able to cut production time. Before, Quality Float was bead blasting its parts before sending them out for plating. Now, the company can forgo bead blasting, because Bales uses a chemical surface preparation to assure a clean foundation before plating. “They were able to save us a step,” Speer says.
THE RESULT
Bales has been Quality Float’s plating partner ever since. “Bales was the only one who could come through for us,” Speer says. “Others just couldn’t meet our needs.”