As far as PACLOCK® can surmise, PACLOCK® is the only manufacturer of affordable padlocks using electroless nickel plating techniques. Why, and what does everyone else do?

Typical padlocks produced in China, Taiwan, and Mexico use nickel electroplating whereby electricity is a critical component of getting the nickel coating to adhere to the padlock’s steel body. The real problem with this technique on padlocks is that electroplating is significantly bad at plating deep into holes – the electrical charge on the body is greatly reduced as the depth of a hole increases. This causes very poor plating coverage and poor uniformity that, in turn, means the padlock itself will show signs of rust and corrosion very quickly.

Electroless nickel, on the other hand, does not rely on electricity to create the reaction that adheres the nickel plating to the steel body. Because of this, a padlock body plating using an electroless nickel process will have an extremely uniform finish that gets deep into every hole or cavity. Why is PACLOCK® the only manufacturer using electroless nickel? Because it’s considerably more expensive than traditional nickel plating… but PACLOCK® thinks it’s worth it.