Commercial and Industrial Electroplated Finishes

Three Rivers offers many types of specialized precious metal plating services. We utilize a wide variety of proprietary plating techniques and processes that we have developed over many years.

Our commercial gold and platinum plating lines can produce high qualify finishes for almost any application. We currently work with many high tech corporations, innovative companies, inventors and entrepreneurs who use the benefits of a pure gold or platinum finishes to enhance the quality and ridged requirements of their quality products.

Our Metal Finishes

We meet the Military Specifications for our plated finishes. We can meet or exceed the following Specifications.

GOLD PLATING- MIL-G-45204C Type I-III
PLATINUM PLATING
NICKEL PLATING- MIL QQ-N-290A
COPPER PLATING - MIL-C-14550B

Our Capabilities

RACK PLATING - BARREL PLATING - SELECTIVE PLATING
CUSTOM and PROTOTYPE PLATING
POLISHING AND BUFFING SERVICES AVAILABLE
DAMAGED SURFACE RESTORATION AND REFURBISHING (We can probably restore it.)
WE GOLD PLATE PARTS TO 8 FEET LONG

Delivery Times

EXCELLENT EVERY DAY "TURN-AROUND" TIMES
EMERGENCY "EXPRESS-PLATE" SERVICE AVAILABLE (same day - 24 hour turn-around when applicable).  Additional fees apply.
DAILY UNITED PARCEL & FEDERAL EXPRESS SERVICE
WE CAN DROP SHIP DIRECT TO YOUR CUSTOMER

Certification and Accountability

We test and thoroughly inspect our gold plated surfaces an a daily basis to assure a quality gold plate.

VISUAL INSPECTION
BETA BACKSCATTER RADIATION
X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY
RESULTS TRACEABLE TO N.I.S.T.. STANDARDS 
ADHESION TESTS
LETTER OF CERTIFICATION - UPON REQUEST

Laboratory

We utilize our own in-house laboratory and practice traditional wet chemical, A/A spectrometry and X-Ray analysis to test our tanks and products on a daily and weekly basis.

WET CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ATOMIC ABSORPTION - FLAME EMISSION - SPECTROMETER - Perkin- Elmer "Analyst 100"
X-RAY THICKNESS TESTER - CMI International
SEQUENTIAL X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY -Seimens "SRS-1"
METAL CONTENT ANALYSIS
HULL CELL TESTING
TANK VOLUME METAL CONCENTRATION
CLEANER TANKS/ACID TANKS ANALYSIS
ION EXCHANGE RESEARCH AND DESIGN
ONGOING RECYCLING RESEARCH

Maintenance

DAILY/WEEKLY PLATING TANK ANALYSIS
pH ADJUSTMENTS
CHEMICAL ADDITIVES
S. P. C. IMPLEMENTATION

Testing

We utilize the following methods of testing to assure repeatable high quality plated finishes.

SALT-SPRAY/FOG ENVIRONMENTAL CHAMBER
ELECTRON BETA-BACKSCATTER RADIATION
X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY ANALYSIS - Traceable to N.I.S.T. Standards
ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY ANALYSIS
PHYSICAL TESTING

Our Environmental Safety

We are licensed with the local, state and federal authorities including the local Water Pollution Control Plant of Fort Wayne, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, State Emergency Planning Commission, Federal RCRA, SARA and EPA laws. We have been members of the "Strategic Goals Program" by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and Purdue University and used the knowledge to update our facility.

We are a close-loop facility with a near "Zero-Waste" output.

Rinse waters from our metal electroplating operations are stored, pH adjusted and ultra-filtered to 1/2 of a micron particle size. The first step of our wastewater system utilizes commercial reverse osmosis technology. One side of the output of the reverse osmosis system is the concentrate portion. The concentrate is pretreated and pumped through Electrowinning Cells. The cells use insoluable platinum coated titanium anodes. Nickel, copper, chormium, gold, silver, platinum, palladium. rhodium and ruthenium metals are reclaimed in their elemental statel and/or as metallic compounds in a sludge. The other output of the reverse osmosis output is the water portion which is virtually free of contaminating metals. The water is then pumped through a series of "Ion Exchange" columns and the output is very pure water. This water is then used over again in our rinse tanks. We recycle the hazardous metal compounds we generate through our electroplating process and recycle them back into our process, thus incorporating a "closed loop" stream of our metals, cyanides, acids and caustics. There are two basic ways that we "recycle" the regenerated solutions from our ion exchange columns.

We turn the waste waters back into two separate recyclable materials...metal and clean water. We have custom built our regeneration system and tailored it to comply with our hazardous plating streams. 
Our facility inventories and handles government reportable "Extremely Hazardous Chemicals". We have a written and registered "Emergency Contingency Plan" and "Chemical Inventory" on file with the local and state authorities. Copies are available at the Allen County Emergency Management Agency, the State Emergency Planning Commission and the Fire Local Departments, along with copies located and posted along with all MSDS sheets in our Fort Wayne, IN facility.

COMMUNITY "RIGHT-TO-KNOW" DATA AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EPA - ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL PERMIT # IND 984876508
SIC CODE - #3471
D&B # 17-261-5528
CITY OF FORT WAYNE - INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER LICENSE - PERMIT # 08851
ION EXCHANGE SYSTEM - CONTINUOUS RINSE WATER METAL RECOVERY - CLOSED-LOOP SYSTEM
TIER II & SARA REPORTS TO ALL LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL AGENCIES
WE SAMPLE OUR WASTEWATER OUTFALL REGULARLY

ISO-9000

At present we are not ISO-9000 compatible, although we are working to acquire the certification.

Click Here if you have something that you would like gold plated