Vacuum Metal Deposition Chambers

[Andrew Schriever]

Does anyone know who manufactures these types of systems? I did a net search and found one company that apparently sells a system specific to forensic work, West Technology.

I noticed from the RCMP's article that a company named Edwards makes them, but does anyone know of any others? And how much do they cost initially on average? How much are the consumables?

Thanks in advance.

[Stephanie Howard]

Andrew

As I'm presently tasked with researching VMD machines for my agency, there are three companies I've run across who manufacture these machines. West Technology as you mentioned, BOC Edwards (who manufactured the RCMP VMD) and a company called Vacuum Metal Deposition, run by Steve Todd out of the Costa Mesa PD. For more information, you can check out the links:

http://www.bocedwards.com/coating_system/forensic.cfm

http://www.scafo.org/library/110502.html

Costs run anywhere from around $50,000 to north of $200,000 depending on the size of machine you're looking and the available options you're interested in.

Infomation I have on cost of consumables is that it's around 20-25c per run. Bulk buying of the gold and zinc varies, so you should check with the individual companies for pricing.

Steve

[Andrew Schriever]

Thank you Steve.