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Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Tasks

Core Tasks Include:

Inspect coated or plated areas for defects, such as air bubbles or uneven coverage.
Immerse workpieces in coating solutions or liquid metal or plastic for specified times.
Set up, operate, or tend plating or coating machines to coat metal or plastic products with chromium, zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel, or other metal to protect or decorate surfaces.
Maintain production records.
Remove objects from solutions at periodic intervals and observe objects to verify conformance to specifications.
Observe gauges to ensure that machines are operating properly, making adjustments or stopping machines when problems occur.
Adjust dials to regulate flow of current and voltage supplied to terminals to control plating processes.
Rinse coated objects in cleansing liquids and dry them with cloths, centrifugal driers, or by tumbling in sawdust-filled barrels.
Examine completed objects to determine thicknesses of metal deposits, or measure thicknesses by using instruments such as micrometers.
Remove excess materials or impurities from objects, using air hoses or grinding machines.

Supplemental Tasks Include:

Immerse objects to be coated or plated into cleaning solutions, or spray objects with conductive solutions to prepare them for plating.
Position and feed materials into processing machines, by hand or by using automated equipment.
Test machinery to ensure that it is operating properly.
Operate hoists to place workpieces onto machine feed carriages or spindles.
Adjust controls to set temperatures of coating substances and speeds of machines and equipment.
Position containers to receive parts, and load or unload materials in containers, using dollies or handtrucks.
Perform equipment maintenance, such as cleaning tanks and lubricating moving parts of conveyors.
Clean and maintain equipment, using water hoses and scrapers.
Determine sizes and compositions of objects to be plated, and amounts of electrical current and time required.
Suspend sticks or pieces of plating metal from anodes, or positive terminals, and immerse metal in plating solutions.
Monitor and measure thicknesses of electroplating on component parts to verify conformance to specifications, using micrometers.
Measure or weigh materials, using rulers, calculators, and scales.
Suspend objects, such as parts or molds from cathode rods, or negative terminals, and immerse objects in plating solutions.
Measure, mark, and mask areas to be excluded from plating.
Mix and test solutions, and turn valves to fill tanks with solutions.
Place plated or coated materials on racks and transfer them to ovens to dry for specified periods of time.
Read production schedules to determine setups of equipment and machines.
Position objects to be plated in frames, or suspend them from positive or negative terminals of power supplies.
Measure and set stops, rolls, brushes, and guides on automatic feeders and conveying equipment or coating machines, using micrometers, rules, and hand tools.
Preheat workpieces in ovens.
Replace worn parts and adjust equipment components, using hand tools.
Clean workpieces, using wire brushes.
Operate sandblasting equipment to roughen and clean surfaces of workpieces.

The data sources for the information displayed here include: O*NET™. (Using onet291)