Fowler Industrial Plating is an ISO certified metal finishing company.We specialize in High Quality Electroless Nickel Plating, Aluminum Anodizing, Electrolytic Hard-Gold Plating and Black Oxide for alloys of Steel and Copper. With a combined experience spanning nearly 100 years, we have the knowledge and ability to offer a superior level of quality for any situation. We are ISO 9001:2008 certified, and we provide public notary services!
Fowler Industrial is strategically located just outside of Chattanooga, which allows us the geographical advantage of being able to serve not only the Southeast, but the Midwestern and Northern states, as well. For more product info, click here.
read moreWe at FIP will literally put our quality up against any other plating company. Our chemist has spent the last 20 years fine tuning the Electroless Nickel, Hard-Gold and Black Oxide processes to produce the finest coatings in the world and we absolutely guarantee our work.
Our devotion to quality does not inhibit us from offering the fastest delivery times. Our typical turn-around time is 5 working days, but we also offer 4-day, 3-day, 2-day and same-day service. Ask Dana for details.
At FIP, we are Process Engineers and proud to accept the tough, “weird” jobs that other metal finishing companies shy away from. We plate on just about every metal substrate, plus some non-metal ones, too. Whether you’re looking for a simple nickel coating on steel, stainless steel, aluminum or titanium, or you need to plate cobalt and gold onto graphite or diamond, we are your go-to shop.
Fowler Industrial Plating has a goal: To be the best metal finishing company on the face of the earth. Not just in the Southeast, or in the United States, but in the world. We’re not necessarily interested in offering the most services or the lowest prices. Producing the highest quality, most aesthetically pleasing and durable coatings within the shortest amount of time and working with our customers to constantly improve and innovate those coatings, however, is our mission and our goal. Many customers have described our work as the best they’ve ever seen, as described in the Testimonials column below! Saying that we want to be the best is an easy thing to do and it sounds great, but what does it actually mean?
We are proud of our company and of the level of quality we have been able to achieve. We are also anxious to keep improving on every aspect of our services.
Founder, President, Chemist, Pollution Control Engineer, Process Engineer, Plater and Inventor. Randy studied Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry at Harvard University, has a degree in Engineering Technology and has worked in the plating, metal finishing and environmental industries since 1987.
Office Manager. Madison Greening is the office manager at Fowler Industrial Plating. She specializes in all things customer service with a background in customer service and teaching, and has a Bachelor of Psychology & Communication degree. She also oversees all details within plating projects to ensure quality and customer satisfaction throughout the process. Madison possesses excellent leadership and organizational skills that help her to ensure effective teamwork while working closely with all staff members.
Plant Maintenance, MIL-SPEC Testing and Plating. Gene has an MBA through Caterpillar’s Education System and is a gifted mechanic, welder, engineer, carpenter, plumber and executive. He retired from a career with Caterpillar to build Fowler Industrial Plating
Staff Plating Consultant. David’s experience within the metal finishing industry dates back to 1969. He has worked as a Technician and Aircraft Mechanical Technician for companies such as Continental Airlines, Maytag and Cormetech. David studied Electroplating Technology at Kushner and NASF, Meta Finishing at Milton Weiner Laboratory, and majored in Legal Studies at Phillips College and Leadership Management at Lee University. He specializes in performing the impossible.
By definition, Electroless Plating is metal deposition by a controlled chemical reaction. In contrast to an electroplating solution, electroless nickel (EN) solutions require no external source of current to plate. EN baths utilize a hypophosphite-based reducing agent salt that is dissolved in solution. The process provides a continuous build-up of deposit, since the metal being plated is itself a catalyst for the plating reaction. This is why EN is also known as autocatalytic nickel plating. Fowler Industrial Plating most often uses a mid-phosphorous, high gloss plating process which, as deposited, provides a coating that is 91-97% nickel, with the balance as phosphorous. Knoop hardness, as deposited, is around the 550 range, but can reach hardness levels exceeding 900 Knoop, which approaches 90 Rockwell C, following a post-plating heat treatment. All nickel plated parts are immersed into a PTFE-based Teflon solution as soon as they are plated. FIP also offers nickel-cobalt coatings. Ask for details.
Aluminum Anodizing is an electrochemical process that imparts a dense, porous coating of aluminum oxide to the surface of machined, aluminum parts. The process is known as "Anodizing" because the part becomes the anode in a direct-current electrical cell during the process. The resulting oxide layer can accept and bond with colored dyes and/or prevent abrasion and oxidation. Hardcoat, known as Type III Anodizing, provides a thick, hard layer, capable of achieving Rockwell C 40-60 hardness levels.
Fowler Industrial Plating offers MIL-A-8625 Sulfuric Acid Anodizing and Hardcoat Anodizing, Types II and III.
Bright, hard-gold electroplating deposits a 99.7% gold / 0.3% cobalt alloy onto the substrate. Many people ask if it is “real gold.” Yes, it is real gold, and boasts a karat value of over 23. Bright, hard-gold is used extensively in the electronics industry (printed circuit boards), as well as the cryogenics industry, among others.
Fowler Industrial Plating offers Black Oxide coatings for alloys of steel and copper, but nearly any base metal can be black oxide coated, if a copper strike layer is plated to the surface prior to immersion into the oxide bath. Both solutions are highly alkaline. Black Oxide for steel uses a nitrite-nitrate salt to generate the oxide layer and copper alloys use a chlorite or chlorate formula. Steel baths are operated at 285F and copper baths at 180-190F. Black Oxide provides a deep black coating for both aesthetic and mild corrosion resistance. Following the oxide application, the steel parts are immersed into an oil post-dip, while the copper parts are either left as-is or clear-coated with a lacquer that is formulated for the task.
“Our company was looking for a plating company to apply electroless nickel to industrial parts with an anti-leaching standard used in the jewelry industry. Several US companies turned us down flat after seeing the standard; however, Randy and the staff of Fowler Industrial Plating accepted and exceeded the challenge. Fowler Industrial Plating reproduced the Standard’s testing protocol and achieved certification within a month.” (“I do not recommend anyone as a general rule; however, I will continue to recommend your company to anyone seeking plating or black oxide. You were the only company in the world that qualified under the Seco nickel standard on the second attempt and continued to remain at the bottom of the list for nickel leaking throughout my time there.”)
