Plating is a very tricky bussiness. I know first hand and have been very involved in plating and manufacturing of metal parts for some time.
Im in Ca, i have ran through ,gone thru, fired, and flat out searched far and wide for good platers, espeacially brass. Ive tried thinking outside of the pin cabinet and used car guys that only do chrome bumpers. Looking at there shelves i could see hundreds of imperfections.
Attention to detail very hard in plating. If step one is screwed up, plating is useless. The acid strip of old chrome and brass is essential to the steps thats follow. The 69 rule, 9 percent copper, 6 percent nickle, then chrom or brass. If the bath and tempeture are not right you will get bad adhesion. We in pinball tend to nit pick and complain. I always have to remind myself its a lot better than it was.
Ron and Chris where both using the same guy. As both of thier businesses grew the list got long this year and the line got longer to receive parts. I think its a very good thing woody sold the buss to Chris. Streamlining with one guy will help this go faster, instead of 2 guys hammering the same plater.
Both Ron and Chris are outstanding individuals in this hobby and worked very hard long days to provide a service. We are actually very lucky that Chris stepped in after Mike's passing.
Turn around rime ...i once waited 9 mo for Mike to brass a part..because the line was long. I also was told by Mike several times do not send parts, it will he 3 mo before i can even drop them off. So i feel the turnaround time has actually improved since Chris started carrying so many swap parts. Mike wouldnt set up a booth ever at a show. He knew there wasnt enough time to take all the orders. The powder coat technology exploded here in the past 3 years. Paints and compounds have improved to adhere to our metal.
I understand the op frustration in his batch. But, we are lucky that the service even exists.
I see in pics the lack of adhesion in the joints and weld points, these are the hard areas to get an even coat.
Sorry for long post, hope i was able to make a few points.
Plating is hard, running a bussiness is hard. Dealing with pinball people can be harder. Patience in pinball is critical in our craft. Need i point out a few hundred threads on the home page. Im at over a year on several projects. Ive been involved with Dan and lite speaker panels for over a year, well close to a year. Manufacturer, concept and design, r and d, licensing, plastics, omg, who would want to get into this hobby like that? Then i see a guy complain about mounting hardware, geez.
Just yesterday i got the good news my Fish Tales is ready. I should have it in a week.
Just this week i heard from Chris, been 3 months and im very happy with that. Should have my stuff in a couple weeks.
Pinball takes time, plating takes longer, making a product for all to enjoy in this hobby, takes years.