According to people in this career, the main tasks are...
| Task | Importance |
|---|---|
| Immerse workpieces in coating solutions or liquid metal or plastic for specified times. | 93% |
| Adjust dials to regulate flow of current and voltage supplied to terminals to control plating processes. | 89% |
| Inspect coated or plated areas for defects, such as air bubbles or uneven coverage. | 89% |
| 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. | 88% |
| Remove objects from solutions at periodic intervals and observe objects to verify conformance to specifications. | 87% |
| Observe gauges to ensure that machines are operating properly, making adjustments or stopping machines when problems occur. | 87% |
| Maintain production records. | 87% |
| Remove excess materials or impurities from objects, using air hoses or grinding machines. | 84% |
| Determine sizes and compositions of objects to be plated, and amounts of electrical current and time required. | 84% |
| Test machinery to ensure that it is operating properly. | 84% |
| Measure or weigh materials, using rulers, calculators, and scales. | 83% |
| Measure, mark, and mask areas to be excluded from plating. | 83% |
| Examine completed objects to determine thicknesses of metal deposits, or measure thicknesses by using instruments such as micrometers. | 82% |
| Immerse objects to be coated or plated into cleaning solutions, or spray objects with conductive solutions to prepare them for plating. | 82% |
| Read production schedules to determine setups of equipment and machines. | 82% |
| Suspend objects, such as parts or molds from cathode rods, or negative terminals, and immerse objects in plating solutions. | 81% |
| Suspend sticks or pieces of plating metal from anodes, or positive terminals, and immerse metal in plating solutions. | 81% |
| Adjust controls to set temperatures of coating substances and speeds of machines and equipment. | 80% |
| Rinse coated objects in cleansing liquids and dry them with cloths, centrifugal driers, or by tumbling in sawdust-filled barrels. | 80% |
| Monitor and measure thicknesses of electroplating on component parts to verify conformance to specifications, using micrometers. | 79% |
| Operate hoists to place workpieces onto machine feed carriages or spindles. | 78% |
| Position and feed materials into processing machines, by hand or by using automated equipment. | 78% |
| Position objects to be plated in frames, or suspend them from positive or negative terminals of power supplies. | 78% |
| Operate sandblasting equipment to roughen and clean surfaces of workpieces. | 75% |
| Spray coating in specified patterns according to instructions. | 75% |
| Clean and maintain equipment, using water hoses and scrapers. | 74% |
| Plate small objects, such as nuts or bolts, using motor-driven barrels. | 73% |
| Clean workpieces, using wire brushes. | 72% |
| Mix and test solutions, and turn valves to fill tanks with solutions. | 72% |
| Replace worn parts and adjust equipment components, using hand tools. | 72% |
| Place plated or coated materials on racks and transfer them to ovens to dry for specified periods of time. | 71% |
| Measure and set stops, rolls, brushes, and guides on automatic feeders and conveying equipment or coating machines, using micrometers, rules, and hand tools. | 71% |
| Position containers to receive parts, and load or unload materials in containers, using dollies or handtrucks. | 70% |
| Attach nozzles, position guns, connect hoses, and thread wire to set up metal-spraying machines. | 68% |
| Perform equipment maintenance, such as cleaning tanks and lubricating moving parts of conveyors. | 67% |
| Install gears and holding devices on conveyor equipment. | 62% |
| Preheat workpieces in ovens. | 58% |
| Cut metal or other materials, using shears or band saws. | 57% |
