Information sources

Question:

Where can I find the type of information that you use to answer the questions that appear in the Plating Clinic? J. W.

Answer:

It would be nice to say that I pull all the information needed directly from the storage space between my ears but this is not the case. Yes, some come from this source but like a hard drive on a computer, there are some bad sectors and files that no longer can be found. If nothing else my many years in and around the industry have taught me that if I don’t have the necessary info, I know where to go and find it!

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We start out with perhaps the most basic source of information, published books. Over the years many books have been written on various aspects of electroplating. Many of these books are “out-of-print” but some are a still available. Books can be purchased from the American Electroplaters & Surface Finishing Society (www.aesf.org), Amazon.Com (www.amazon.com), ASM International (www.asm-intl.org) and Finishing Publications (finpubs.demonweb.co.uk).

Another excellent source of information is the published literature. We are talking the various metal finishing publications. If you don’t have time to read these publications, the Internet can help you. Products Finishing offers PF Online (www.pfonline.com), which allows you to find much of the material published in Products Finishing in the last number of years. The National Resource Metal Finishing Center offers a web site, www.nrmfc.org, with references to many papers published in the last 10 years. There is a yearly fee for complete access to the site but it is worthwhile. Another web-based resource that is invaluable is the Surface Query site, www.surfacequery.com. This site has more than 70,000 entries including patents and covers much of the metal finishing literature throughout the world. This site also requires a yearly fee.

Another web site that is also very useful is www.finishing.com that offers a number of services but perhaps the most important being the posting of questions and responses. A software program, SOLUTION by Lawrence J. Durney, Kushner Electroplating School, www.platingschool.com, contains practical information about electroplating.