Background

Metal Finishing suppliers to Australia’s manufacturers and restorers, A Class Metal Finishers Pty Ltd (A Class), is located in Lonsdale, South Australia.  Established in 1989 as a family partnership, A Class quickly developed a reputation for producing high quality surface finishes through the extensive industry (plating & polishing) knowledge and experience of the Wood Brothers (Rod, Phil and Greg). From a single 300 square metre factory workshop in 1989, A Class since grew to employ dozens of staff. Through several expansions, we currently occupy over 5000 square metres of land and are probably the largest/most diverse Metal Finishing shop in Australia.

Service activities range from restoration of car and motorcycle chrome, to high volume polishing, to decorative plating, to specialised functional coatings for high tech products. Experience in each of these areas has further developed A Class’s knowledge and led to our becoming a leading supplier and problem-solver of electroplating, metal polishing and other surface finishing challenges.

‘Problems’ we solve for our customers

• Make metal surfaces look good (e.g. shiny, matt, clear of bumps or scratches, a particular colour, or just clean)
• Remove or prevent corrosion (to greater or lesser degrees, depending on the need)
• Restore surface even-ness (this may be minor or major resurfacing work)
• Repair rust holes and dents (surface re-building – but there are limits!)
• Build up the surface (e.g. where wear has occurred)
• Protect a surface from wear (resist wear)
• Increase hardness of a surface (often for industrial purposes)
• Apply ‘precise’ coating thicknesses when tolerances matter (We can work in microns of thickness. A micron is 0.001, or one-thousandth, of a millimetre.)
• Create better surface conductivity (e.g. enhance performance, or reduce interference, in electrical or radio frequency conduction)
• Create a new look (e.g. colour-finish some old silver, or bike wheels? Or take your kitchen door handles from chrome to gold or copper?)

Industry Knowledge

The metal finishing industry has greatly diminished in size since the the auto industry ‘designed out’ many chrome parts and accessories. This part of the metal finishing industry has thus become relatively small. Despite this challenge, A Class has managed to attract or develop a high level of industry knowledge and expertise and grown the company out of this knowledge (whilst some operators have faded away). We do have challenges developing and retaining such specialised industry skills and knowledge, however A Class works proactively to identify alternatives for the future.  Our skills and knowledge focus have earned us a reputation as metal finishing industry experts.

Process Technology Applicators!

A Class is NOT a developer of proprietary plating technology (the chemical companies are best at that). We are, however, very good at adapting our surface treatment technologies, capabilities and processes to meet a specific customer requirement. The information provided in each “process” related page of this website provides insight to the uses and benefits of various metal finishing processes. A Class is also able to develop capabilities in new processes or technologies to suit YOUR needs – if there is a business case for it.

Quality

Satisfying our customer needs for quality in both service and production are primary aims. A Class Metal Finishers is quality assured to the International Standard ISO 9001:20015. Of course we always strive to live up to our (A Class) name!
A computerised job tracking system underpins our quality control procedures, making it easier to track, control and prioritise the many customer jobs travelling through our plating, polishing and other treatment plants, thus ensuring timely delivery of jobs and customer confidence in our systems.

Other Company Features

– We supply many industries, including Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering, Electronics, Defence, Aerospace and Mining
– Plating to mil-spec or other specifications is available on request (subject to capacity or spec).
– A Class has been recognised as an innovative and successful company, and earned recognition in several business awards.
– We have an on-site Laboratory capable of testing both the processing solutions and the plated coatings.

Unusual enquiries are quite welcome!

We have been known to plate or treat some strange things – gold plated teeth, chrome plated golf balls, baseball gloves, insects (only dead ones of course!), a boar skull, a grass wedding ring – the list goes on.
Whilst sometimes jobs like these can be “pains in the proverbial…” we do like a bit of fun and variety now and then so please don’t hold back with your strange requests!!

About the “A Class” logo

Our logo is an expression of the excellence we seek to achieve. The gold and silver represent the finishes we provide. The three ‘streams’ represent the coming together of different people and organisations (e.g. customers, staff, suppliers), working together in a common direction to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders (represented by the formation of the arrow at the centre). It’s all about quality and win-win outcomes. Please help us to help you and challenge us to live up to our name and our logo!