Surface finishing, matched to where your part works.
Anodizing, plating, powder coating, wet paint, polishing and laser marking — managed under the same order as your machined, cast or molded parts. We control surface prep and masking, run coatings at audited specialist lines, and measure film thickness, adhesion and color before dispatch.
- ISO-aligned outgoing QC
- NDA on every project
- No strict MOQ
- Powder coating
- 60 – 120 µmAny RAL or Pantone color
- Polishing
- Ra 0.2 µmMirror, brushed or blasted
- Finish review
- Within 24 hoursFree with every quote
Finish selection
Five finish families. Most parts use more than one.
Where the part works decides what the finish must do; the base material decides which finishes can do it. Pick both and we build the stack — the finish to start with, the prep under it and the mark on top — with the thickness, size change and spec that come with each.
Where will the part work?
What is the part made of?
Start with Type II anodizing. It is the only finish that fits both answers; chromate conversion and powder coating work with a trade-off.
Ranked on base material and environment. Film thickness and salt-spray hours depend on alloy, pretreatment and sealing; your quote confirms the numbers for your part.
Send your drawing for a quote
Anodizing
An oxide grown out of the aluminum itself, so it cannot peel like paint. Type II takes dye for color; Type III hardcoat builds a dense layer for sliding and abrasive contact.
- Best on
- Aluminum, titanium
- Film
- 5 – 50 µm Type II / III
- Size change
- +33 – 50% of film per face
- Durability
- 336 h+ salt spray sealed
- Looks
- Clear, black, red, blue, gold
- Spec
- MIL-A-8625
- Type II dyed
- Type III hardcoat
- Chromate conversion
- Titanium color
Key applicationHardcoat on pneumatic actuator bores; black Type II on instrument housings.
Quote anodizing
Plating & conversion
A thin metal or conversion layer that stops rust and keeps threads in tolerance. Zinc-nickel and electroless nickel for steel, passivation for stainless, chromate where aluminum must stay conductive.
- Best on
- Steel, brass, stainless
- Deposit
- 2 – 25 µm Zn-Ni 8 – 12
- Size change
- Full deposit thread PD +4t
- Durability
- 720 h+ salt spray Zn-Ni
- Looks
- Clear, black, bright, satin
- Spec
- ASTM B841 / B733
- Zinc-nickel
- Electroless nickel
- Passivation
- Black oxide
Key applicationElectroless nickel on brass valve trim; zinc-nickel on steel brackets and fasteners.
Quote plating
Powder coating & painting
Charged powder that melts into a tough, even film in the oven — the most durable color for metal. Wet paint and soft-touch coatings cover plastics and anything that cannot take 200 °C.
- Best on
- Steel, aluminum, zinc
- Film
- 60 – 120 µm powder
- Size change
- Full film fits masked
- Durability
- 500 h+ salt spray pretreated
- Looks
- Any RAL / Pantone
- Spec
- ISO 2409 adhesion
- Polyester
- Epoxy / FBE
- Texture & matte
- Soft-touch paint
Key applicationFusion-bonded epoxy inside and out on ductile iron valve bodies; RAL 7016 matte on enclosures.
Quote coating
Polishing, brushing & blasting
Mechanical finishes change the metal itself, not a layer on it. Bead blasting gives an even matte that hides handling marks, brushing a directional grain, and polishing a mirror that cleans easily.
- Best on
- Stainless, aluminum, brass
- Roughness
- Ra 0.2 – 3.2 µm mirror to blast
- Size change
- −5 – 25 µm removed
- Durability
- As base metal passivated
- Looks
- Matte, #4 satin, #8 mirror
- Spec
- Ra to ISO 21920
- Glass bead blast
- #4 brushed
- #8 mirror
- Electropolish
Key applicationMirror-polished 316L for food-contact valve internals; bead-blasted 6061 under black anodize.
Quote polishing
Laser marking & printing
Fiber, UV and CO2 lasers write logos, serial numbers and DataMatrix codes that last as long as the part. Silkscreen and pad printing add multi-color graphics and panel legends.
- Best on
- Metals, anodize, plastics
- Mark depth
- 0 – 0.2 mm anneal to engrave
- Size change
- None no masking
- Durability
- Solvent and wear proof
- Looks
- Black, white or bright
- Spec
- DataMatrix, ISO/IEC 16022
- Fiber 1064 nm
- UV 355 nm
- CO2 10.6 µm
- Pad print & silkscreen
Key applicationUDI DataMatrix codes on surgical instruments; part numbers through black anodize.
Quote markingSide by side
Typical values. Marked rows feed the ranking above; pick a column to open it on the board.
| Property | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For your part | Start here | Trade-off | Trade-off | Pairs with it | Add-on |
| Best for | Wear and color on aluminum | Rust on steel, threads | Color, outdoor parts | Look, feel, hygiene | Logos, serials, codes |
| Substrates | Aluminum, titanium | Steel, brass, stainless, zinc | Steel, aluminum, zinc; plastics (paint) | Stainless, aluminum, brass, titanium | Metals, anodize, most plastics |
| Thickness | 5 – 50 µm | 2 – 25 µm | 60 – 120 µm | −5 – 25 µm removed | 0 nothing added |
| Size change per face | +33% (Type II) to 50% (Type III) of film | The full deposit; thread PD grows 4× | The full film; fits are masked | Stock removed; edges soften | None |
| Salt spray | 336 h+ sealed | 720 h+ Zn-Ni | 500 h+ pretreated | As base metal | As the finish under it |
| Wear resistance | High Type III | Medium | Medium | Base metal | Not a coating |
| Color range | Dye colors | Metal tones | Any RAL / Pantone | The metal itself | One color mark |
| Cost per part | Medium | Medium | Medium | High mirror | Low |
| Added lead time | 2 – 3 days | 3 – 5 days | 3 – 4 days | 1 – 3 days | Same day |
| Callout we work to | MIL-A-8625 | ASTM B841, B733, A967 | ISO 2409, ISO 2813 | Ra, ISO 21920 | ISO/IEC 16022 |
Values are typical. Film thickness and salt-spray hours depend on alloy, pretreatment and sealing; lead time is added to machining or casting. Your quote confirms the numbers for your part.
Prep, coating & QC lines
Where your parts are prepped, coated and verified.
Mechanical prep, masking and laser marking pair with audited anodizing, plating and powder-coating lines in our specialist network — backed by our outgoing QC lab that measures thickness, adhesion and ΔE color on every batch.
Capability view, not a single shop. Each batch is routed to an audited partner line that meets these specs. The fleet page lists full tank dimensions, coating booths and audited shop-floor lines.
Explore our partner shop networkAnodizing and plating line
Chilled hardcoat tanks, dye and sealing stations and rack plating on one line, so the aluminum and steel parts in one order are finished together.
- Anodizing
- Type II, Type III, Ti color
- Plating
- Zn, Zn-Ni, electroless Ni
- Conversion
- Chromate, passivation
- Racking
- Titanium, contact points agreed
- Film
- 5–50 µm
- Hardcoat bath
- 0–5 °C
- Salt spray
- 720 h Zn-Ni
Powder coating and wet paint line
Multi-stage pretreatment, powder booths with quick color change and a batch cure oven, plus a wet-paint booth for plastics and soft-touch coatings.
- Pretreatment
- Degrease, zirconium conversion
- Powders
- Polyester, epoxy, hybrid
- Wet paint
- 2K PU, soft-touch
- Color check
- Spectrophotometer, ΔE
- Film
- 60–120 µm
- Cure
- 180–200 °C
- Color
- ΔE ≤ 1 to master
Polishing and blasting cell
Bead blast cabinets, belt and wheel polishing and vibratory finishing, with a profilometer at the bench so every Ra on the drawing is measured, not judged by eye.
- Blasting
- Glass bead, ceramic, alumina
- Brushing
- #4 satin, hairline
- Polishing
- #8 mirror to Ra 0.2 µm
- Deburring
- Vibratory, by hand
- Mirror
- Ra 0.2 µm
- Brushed
- #4 satin
- Roughness
- Measured per batch
Laser marking cell
Three laser sources cover metal, anodize and plastics. Serial numbers come straight from your list, and DataMatrix codes are read back by a verifier before the part moves on.
- Fiber
- Metals, anodize, 1064 nm
- UV
- Plastics, fine detail, 355 nm
- CO2
- Paint, organics, 10.6 µm
- Codes
- DataMatrix, QR, serials
- Sources
- 3 lasers
- Smallest text
- 0.3 mm
- Codes
- Verified on line
Outgoing finish QC lab
Every coated batch returns to our QC room for thickness, adhesion, thread/plug gauge and color verification before release. You get the report before the parts ship.
- Thickness
- Eddy current, magnetic gauge
- Adhesion
- Cross-hatch, ISO 2409
- Color and gloss
- Spectrophotometer, 60° gloss
- Corrosion
- Salt spray, ASTM B117
- Thickness
- Every batch
- Color
- Vs. your master
- Salt spray
- On request
Material range
What we finish, on one table.
Hover or tap an element for the finishes it takes, the grades we see most and the spec we work to. Filter by finish to see what each line can treat. Gray cells are used as machined.
- Anodize
- Chromate
- Bead blast
- Powder coat
- Laser mark
Aluminum alloys
The metal we finish most. Wrought grades anodize evenly in any color; high-silicon die-cast alloys anodize gray, so we powder coat them instead.
- Grades
- 6061-T6, 7075-T6, 5052, ADC12
- Go-to finish
- Blast + Type II
- Spec
- MIL-A-8625
- Light alloys
- Iron & steel
- Stainless steel
- Copper alloys
- Zinc alloys
- Plastics
- Used as machined
Finish samples
Approve the finish on metal, not on a screen.
Color, gloss and texture change with the material under them. We finish test coupons in your alloy or resin on the production line, measure them, and keep the one you sign as the master for every batch.
- Your materialCoupons are cut from the same alloy or resin as the part.
- Measured, not eyeballedThickness, ΔE, gloss and Ra on every coupon.
- Signed master sampleEach production batch is checked against it.
- Masking agreed firstThreads, bores and contact faces marked up front.
ΔE ≤ 1.0 to master
Send the drawing with the finish callout. We confirm the spec, thickness and color code, and mark masked features and rack points before anything is finished.
Coupons in your material. Test panels — or first-article parts — are finished on the production line, so color and texture match what production will make.
Every coupon is measured. Thickness, color difference, gloss and Ra go into a short report, with photos under D65 daylight.
You sign one as the master. We keep it in the lab and check every production batch against it, so batch ten matches batch one.
- Coupons
- Your material
- Report
- ΔE + thickness
- Master
- Kept in the lab
Around the finish
Prepared, finished and inspected under one order.
A finish is only as good as the surface under it and the packing over it. One routing sheet covers every step around the tank, so parts arrive ready to assemble.
-
OP 10
RecordPre-finish dimensions CNC capability
Machine or cast
Parts come from our CNC, casting or printing lines with the finish build-up already allowed for on critical fits.
-
OP 20
RecordMasking & rack points
Deburr, clean & mask
Edges broken, oils removed, and threads, bores and contact faces plugged or taped. Rack points are placed so contact marks land on hidden faces.
-
OP 30
RecordBath & cure log Compare finishes
Finish
Blasted, anodized, plated or coated to the callout on your drawing, with the bath or oven data logged for each load.
-
OP 40
RecordThickness & color report Quality process
Inspect & test
Thickness on every batch, cross-hatch adhesion, and color and gloss against your master sample. Salt spray when the drawing calls for it.
-
OP 50
RecordTracking the same day Multi-process assembly
Mark, pack & ship
Laser marking after the finish, then parts bagged or slotted in custom EPE foam so cosmetic faces never touch. Shipped via DHL/FedEx express air or sea freight on DDP or DAP terms.
Finishing questions
What engineers ask before they call out a finish.
Straight answers on thickness, masking, color and reports. Anything else goes to an engineer, not a sales queue.
Which finish should I choose?
Start from the material and where the part will work. On aluminum, anodize: Type II for color, Type III for wear. On steel, zinc-nickel or electroless nickel for corrosion, and powder coat for color outdoors. On stainless, passivate, then blast, brush or polish for the look. Your free finish review names the finish and the callout to put on the drawing.
How much does a finish change my dimensions?
Plating and powder coat add their full thickness to every face. Anodizing grows about a third (Type II) to a half (Type III) of its film outward. On threads the pitch diameter grows by about four times the coating thickness, so we mask threads or size them before finishing. Mark critical fits on the drawing and we confirm them in the review.
Which features do you mask?
Threads, toleranced bores, sealing faces and grounding points are masked by default when they are dimensioned or marked. Note any others on the drawing. We also agree rack points with you, so contact marks land on faces nobody sees.
Can you match our brand color?
Yes. Send a RAL or Pantone code, or a physical sample. We finish test coupons in your material, measure them with a spectrophotometer and hold production to typically ΔE 1.0 or better against the master you approve.
Which reports come with the parts?
Coating thickness readings for every batch and a visual check under controlled light. Adhesion, color, gloss, roughness and salt spray results are added when your drawing calls for them. Certificates of conformance are available on request.
How much time does finishing add?
Typically 2 to 5 working days on top of machining or casting. Laser marking is usually same day; hardcoat and multi-coat paint take the longest. Your quote gives the lead time for the finished part, not just the machining.
Can you supply RoHS-compliant finishes?
Yes. Trivalent passivates and chromate-free conversion coatings are available for every plated and conversion finish. Tell us if your drawing requires RoHS or REACH and we include the declaration with the parts.
Your specs stay yours.
Whether it is a custom brand color, a multi-layer coating stack, or the part geometry underneath it, your CAD and finish specs stay in an access-restricted vault—never posted to a public job board.
- Mutual NDA available before you upload
- Never posted to public supplier boards
- Access restricted to your project team