I spent a happy hour today getting a tour of the BAR plating and B&C Ceramic and Powder Coating shops at 30-6 and 30-7 Powers Drive in Meriden 06451. BAR owner Bruce Rogers (the dad) has done plating work for more than 28yrs and his son Craig is professionally experienced in media blasting and re-coating all surfaces.
They employ 5 full-time, skilled mature professional platers and I was impressed by the apparent order and safety of the shop. There were parts from motorcycles, cars, snowmobiles, superchargers and aircraft present while I was there, and a wall shelf of waiting work. Each part is carefully inventoried when it is received and a firm estimate assigned. Parts don't so much get passed hand to hand for the many different steps to "recovery"; rather an individual craftsman will assume control of one part and perform each step of the work. That gives them total accountability for the result and a feeling of 'owning' the work. The results are outstanding and provides for excellent care of irreplaceable parts (you should have heard the stories of some of the items they've been given to work on).
On the opposite side of the wall, son Craig Rogers owns and operates the full-service professional media blasting, ceramic and powder coating shop. He showed me his blasting cabinets, his powder and ceramic booths and his baking cabinets. With that professional gear he is able to handle motorcycle and car frames, wheels and car parts.
Together, these guys are the answer to a lot of our prayers. They do 95% of their work on-site and YES, JOHN ~ these guys would have saved you. Sorry I didn't find their card in time. Some wheels get sent out for technical reasons but the turn-around time is very acceptable. I saw some of their finished products and their work is "brilliant" (haha!). They can polish, or chrome, or powder coat your cam cover, bumpers, wheels or body script any color rapidly while your Z hibernates this winter. I'm picturing copper-colored 5-slot wheels!
They are amenable to attending one of our Monthly Meetings together this Zeason (I recommend North Haven because it's close to them) and demonstrating their abilities in exchange for some piZZa. They are both nice guys and easy to talk with. They can custom-coat your Datsun, Husqvarna, Cris-Craft, Beechcraft or (probably) your Colt.
Direct your questions about repair and plating or polishing of any metal to Bruce @ (203) 630-1046. Your questions about media blasting, ceramic or powder coating should be called in to Craig @ (203) 988-7082. Be sure you tell them you're a CTZCC member and you learned about them on our Club website.
I took a lot of pictures for you there, but as usual I'm having trouble posting them here. I will ship them to someone with a real computer and let them post them for me. Sorry,
Frank T
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File comment: Apparently there's no limit to what they can gold-plate, including what might be in your pocket!
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