Design guidelines for plated parts
Following a few basic design guidelines will help ensure your parts are plated properly and pass SendCutSend review.
Sizing & hole requirements
Sizing limits apply to flat parts before bending
| Min part size (flat) | 1″ x 3″ |
| Max part size (flat) | 23″ x 23″ |
| Required hanging hole | ≥ .063″ (1.60 mm) |
| Min hole / cutout size | ≥ .040″ (1.02 mm) |
| Min hole (laser cut) | ≈ 50% of material thickness |
- Every plated part needs a hole that can be used to hang the part during the plating process
- Verify min hole sizes for your material in the Material Catalog
- Need to check sizes for other services? See our Processing Min/Max Size Charts
What to expect with plated parts
- Some imperfections in the base material may show through the plating
- Color and finish may vary batch-to-batch; different alloys produce different results
- Machining tabs may be visible and need to be removed after delivery (we don’t offer de-tabbing)
- Plating can be scratched with aggressive use, exposing the base material
- Bend lines will be visible through the plating (die protection isn’t available)
- Zinc plating adds approximately .0003″ per side; nickel adds approximately .0002″ per side
- Any post-plating processing (hand-bending, grinding, assembly) can mark the finish
- Plating must be removed before welding
Additional plating resources
If you’re designing parts for plating, these resources may help:
Pre-flight checklist
- File is in a format that we accept (2D: .dxf, .dwg, .ai, .eps; 3D: .step or .stp)
- All holes and cutouts are at least 50% material thickness for laser cut parts
- All holes and cutouts are no less than 0.070” for most waterjet cut parts
- All holes and cutouts are no less than 0.125” for all CNC routed parts
- File is built at a 1:1 scale, preferably in inch or mm units
- 2D files: all objects on the same layer, text converted to outlines, no open contours, all shapes united or merged, floating interiors bridged or stencilized
- 3D files: single solid sheet metal body, uniform thickness with a face at every edge, modeled at stock thickness with matching bend specs
- All stray points, duplicate lines, empty objects and text areas have been removed