Production finishing at per-piece pennies
Barrel plating finishes large quantities of small parts at low per-piece cost: parts tumble freely in a perforated rotating barrel immersed in the plating solution, receiving uniform coverage without the labor of individual racking. The standard process for fasteners, bolts, screws, washers, and pins.
When barrel is the right choice
The tradeoff is contact marks — tumbling parts show small cosmetic contact points. For fasteners and hardware that's entirely acceptable; the functional, corrosion-resistant properties are unaffected. For precision parts where contact marks can't be tolerated, rack plating is the correct approach.
- High-volume small parts — fasteners, bolts, screws, washers, pins
- Uniform coverage on all surfaces without individual fixturing
- Low per-piece cost at production volumes
- Up to 350 lbs per barrel load (14" dia. × 42" barrel)
Available finishes
Clear zinc (trivalent chromate) is the bright, RoHS-compliant standard; yellow zinc adds a gold iridescence and higher salt-spray baseline — both per ASTM B633. Stainless hardware can also be passivated in barrel quantities. Commonly combined with our production machining programs where hardware is finished alongside machined components.