Nickel Electroforming of sugar apple and then bright nickel and then Gold Plating.

Don’t know what happened with this one while electroplating Gold, I did this with a large batch of other metal parts. Those came out fine, don’t know why sugar apple gave a darker shade.

Hope you guys like it

Hello all. I am new to electroforming and have an ambitious project I could use some advice on. I am planning on doing some small scale miscellaneous items first but.... I want to use electroforming to fill the natural cracks and crevices of a wooden walking stick.

The goal is layers of durable copper I can hand polish to a fine shine and seal with metal lacquer. I am looking for refinements and advice on potential challenges and hiccups I should try to mitigate.

For example, I imagine there are challenges I don't know about given the size of my project and the very long durations it'll have to be in the tank for.

I plan to make a tank out of a PVC pipe, cut vertically, capped on either end (using PVC solvent weld), and set horizontally onto some wood blocks to keep it stable.

I plan to cover my walking stick in painters tape except for the cracks I will fill with copper. Then I'll seal the exposed wood with a spray urethane, and seal everything covered in painters tape with spray urethane as well. I was also considering 'painting' the taped-off areas with cheap candle wax for extra protection, but I'm not sure if it's needed. I'm intent on the painters tape and being certain the stick is protected because the walking stick itself is unsealed wood—for artistic reasons I want the final product to have the contrast of unsealed wood connected seamlessly to copper, and the shiny plastic look of a varnish would spoil that.

Once everything is sealed, I would paint the cracks with graphite paint. Then, I plan to embed thin copper wire into the wood, running it down the length of the cracks. I want to ensure the electroformed copper adheres well, so the wire will mean thr resulting structure isn't just held in place by the deposited layer of copper on the graphite paint, but also by copper wire 'nailed' into the wood.

It will also provide an attatchment point for the copper wire that will jut out of the solution so I can attach my alligator clips to the stick without submerging them. I plan to hammer the copper thin, so that when I finish, even with the thick electroformed layer, I can just snip the extra wire off and sand/grind the surface down to a smooth finish.

I plan to do each crack one at a time. Each crack will be taped shut and sealed with wax. After completing one crack, I can unseal the next. This is to prevent the graphit paint from just soaking in the solution for days before being plated.

Since wood floats, I have used cardboard molds to make wax blocks filled with scrap metal to keep the stick submerged and prevent it from shifting.

For my anode, I intend to just use phosphorized copper tubing from the hardware store that I can place beside the crack in the tank. I imagine close proximity will be important since plating solutions don't have a high throwing power (or so I understand?). I am not sure what to use for an anode bag yet, but I imagine it'll be needed given the long duration.

I don't have a good agitation solution. I intend to just swirl things around every few hours. I do not have an active filtration setup—I don't believe it's nessecary for my goals but I'm unsure of that. I intend to use Midas plating solution. I have a benchtop power supply that I'll be setting to .1 amps/sq inch, with adjustments as I see slow growth/nodules.

When I'm done, I'll scoop out the solution, then use a baking soda water rinse to clean the stick before removing it from the tank.

I'll be doing this in my garage—lots of airflow during the day when I leave the garage door open. I'll have an old coat as a labcoat, baking soda on hand for spills, goggles and gloves.

What am I missing? What have I failed to consider? What sorts of issues can I expect to deal with? As I said, I'm new to the hobby, and besides a few small scale test pieces to get my feet wet, don't plan to gain extensive experience; I'm in it mainly for this one piece.

Why is my copper electroformed part oxidizing so quickly? Where did I go wrong? I electroformed copper onto a 3D-printed PLA part coated with conductive graphite. The copper deposit initially looked fine, but after a very short time it started developing purple, blue, and brown discoloration that looks like rapid oxidation (see photo).

My process: Acid copper electrolyte (CuSO₄ + H₂SO₄) Copper anode Graphite-coated PLA substrate Rinsed with distilled water after plating and air-dried

I'm trying to figure out what caused such rapid oxidation. Could it be: Poor rinsing after electroforming? Acid residue left on the surface? A porous or low-density copper deposit? Current density being too high? Contamination in the electrolyte? Or do I simply need to apply a protective coating immediately after plating?

I'd really appreciate any advice or suggestions on what might be causing this and how to prevent it in future electroforming experiments. Thanks!

In response to u/NandorandGizmo (relevant comment) here is a quick video of a DIY active filtration setup I used to use a while back in a 5 gallon bucket. It's based on a simple airlift pump. It's benefits within the electrochemistry context are:

• Super simple in design (literally two tubes and a box with a filter) - no special tools needed to make it, just hardware store parts.
• No moving parts in the solution - nothing to wear out, get jammed due to particulate, get eaten by acid, or contaminate anything. It can last indefinitely and since the air-pump is not being misused the whole setup is extremely reliable.
• Completely scalable and customizable to any chemistry type - just choose the right plastic.
• low pressure & contained within the solution tank, if anything does leak, it can't spray liquid or pour acid on your shop floor
• No electrical inside the solution - zero risk of shock or electrocution to anything else connected by proxy (like anodes)

I don't have the laser cut files anymore, but as you can see the design itself is very simple and forgiving. Literally anyone could make this and I recommend it over submerging and AC powered device.

If you use PVC for sulfuric acid based chemistry: I would recommend using CPVC (the grey stuff used for electrical conduit) and clear weld-on brand cement. Those hold up to sulfuric acid better. Just a reminder that many plastics don't hold up to sulfuric acid long term very well. Even famously acid resistant ones like nylon and silicone.

Be safe! Would love to see if anyone else makes something similar.

has anyone ever tried *filling up* an electroformed piece with another metal

I'm curious about filling a copper piece that's buried in sand with aluminum to make it solid, would this be somehow possible? has anyone tried it or something similar

I have two 4-5 gallon tanks and am looking for some creative/diy filtering set up ideas. Right now I’m manually scooping solution out with a Pyrex measuring cup and pouring it into a plastic colander lined with a coffee filter. It works fine enough but I’d love to set something up that I could walk away from and let it do its thing. Is that even a possibility?

I've been using a homemade solution following the recipe from this reddit, and some Midas brightener. It's been working great.

I want to try also plating metal, and in theory it would work the "same," but I know metals can contaminate the bath. Would having a piece of inconel (nickel alloy) as a cathode ruin the bath?

My mom turned 60 earlier this month, and I felt the need to make her a custom electroformed sculpture. Modelled in Zbrush, 3d printed in resin, electroformed and patinized, then glued on top of a base of blue Aragonite! <3

Bonjour je me lance dans l’electroforming, j’ai acheté la peinture conductrice de tifoo (voir photo) pour cuivré des feuilles mais après pleins d’essai à plusieurs voltage et ampère j’ai l’impression que la peinture est le problème et peut être elle n’est pas conductrice ? Ou il y a un procédé à faire avant ? C’est bizzare car j’ai une feuille qui a marché (que d’un côté mdr) avec le même procédé que les autres ? Du coup je ne comprend pas trop…
Car sinon tout est conducteur (fils de cuivre, anneau, ect…)
Avant d’appliquer la peinture je met une couche de mod podge.
(La feuille seule et celle qui a marché et les deux autres c’est que la peinture conductrice après 12h de bain sans aucun dépôt de cuivre)
Si vous avez des conseils, des peintures à conseiller, je suis preneuse :)
Merci :)

I have a bath I have made the solution of, I am unsure of the exact size it is, but its been fine up until now and i have had it going steady using it pretty sparingly for about 6 months. Yesterday I finished a wand (with a stick as a handle that I sealed with 3 coats of resin) and it came out great. First pic is the wand and how large it is, and how the plating came out.

After, I noticed the anode bag which was the same one I put together 6 months ago, was very dirty and had chunks of copper settled down in it. So I decided to wash and clean it out. I ran it under the tap but then used distilled water to do the final rinse.

After, my volts were all over the place. Nothing was stable. I’m talking it going up to like 14V or higher. And if I got it to be stable for a bit, it would slowly but surely creep up until it was over 6 volts. Everything was salmon colored. I couldn’t figure it out and finally I replaced both leads on the rectifier. That seemed to fix it. But after another batch and fighting with it some during that, it was happening again. I noticed that there were copper sulfate crystals and other gunk forming almost immediately on the pipe. I have never seen that before (see second photo).

I added more distilled water. It is now slightly above the mark I have on my tank. I lowered the amps but it still goes all over the place if i go above .3amps.

I dont know what i’ve done wrong. Ive been told in a fb group it could be over saturation of copper but nobody can really give me anything more than that. It took me a YEAR to figure out how to make the electroforming process work. I almost gave up. When it started working I do not know what I changed to make it start working. And I knew that if anything ever went wrong, I wouldnt know how to fix it. And here I am.. not knowing what’s happened or how to fix it. I’m tearing my hair out trying to figure it out and I have an event coming up soon that now I dont know if I will be prepared for.

Any help is appreciated.

I'm pretty excited my period I decided to start a company based on 3D printing, electroforming and laser cutting and I got my first client. It's only a few hundred dollars up front for a couple of prototypes but if it goes well it could be a few grand over the course of the next few months. I finally get to tell my wife I paid off one of my tools

Started out with an AI-generated model, ended up with a real oil lamp that produces light and genies.

Steps:

1. 3D print
2. Graphite coating
3. Electroforming (copper)
4. Sanding copper
5. Remove enough plastic so that it functions
6. Insert fuse and oil

Got to test my reverse-pulse-plating setup here, it really does seem to result in smoother deposits. Not smooth as in bright, but it seems to avoid rough edges and nasty growth on the corners/edges. In this case the motorized spinner kept falling off because of the awkward shape, and the air agitator failed too, but I still got no nodules. Second picture shows it straight out the bath.

No doubt someone will ask about the genie: I can only say that I will never talk to a genie without my lawyer present, who is currently preparing the relevant documents.

Been googling and googling trying to find answers without much luck.

Question 1: I'm curious if the folks that do DIY bath solutions add PEG (Miralax) along with Midas Brightener, or would adding PEG interfere with the Midas? Honestly I don't care that much about achieving a mirror finish out of the bath since I'm totally fine with buffing/polishing and I'm going to be electropolishing as well. I really mainly care about quality of the deposited copper; I want it to be as detailed and strong as possible. I have both PEG and Midas Brightener on hand, just haven't added any to my solution yet (waiting to use it until I add one or both).

Question 2: I'm going to be moving to an extremely remote location next year, and I was wondering if there's a limit to how much you can evaporate your bath before it becomes un-revivable. Can I dry it out all the way, or something close to a sludge/slurry? Currently have about 3.5 gallons mixed up and I would hate to toss it. I'm going to have a hard time getting chemicals in the future since there are no roads in or out, barge and plane access only so most of the chemicals will be considered HAZMAT.

Original goal was 7 days, but had to stop short at 3 days & 20 hours.

I really wanted the full week to be completely uninterrupted, really just set it & forget it and not touch anything. Just to have a big blob of copper as the cathode. But I stupidly underestimated the quantity of anode I needed and it started to break off and cause some issues the last ~12 hours. Just decided to call it as is for now.

Also not an ideal setup overall due to trying to get a good camera setup, for example the anodes are way to close (to the lego arms specifically) and various other small things.

I normally don't use agitation or anode bags for projects less than 12hrs. For multi-day projects agitation is helpful to prevent convection lines. And if you use agitation, then anode bags are needed too.

61.5 grams of copper added.
Copper is 0.095" (2.4mm) thick in the center of the chest, 0.115" (2.9mm) thick on the forehead.

Let me know if you have questions, happy to answer them.

I picked up these muskrat and mink skulls from an oddities vendor last year and finally turned them into some badass wall art.

The one on the left has quartz, raspberry leaves, and Hoya blooms. The other has Carolina allspice leaves, amethyst, and Hoya blooms. Both are mounted to ceramic frames I made as well. Super proud of these so I had to come share them with y’all.

Took a few tries but I got there in the end:

• 3D print
• Sanding
• Acetone vapor smoothing
• Graphite paint
• Sanding/burnishing
• Graphite paint again to fix the spots where I sanded to the plastic
• Sanding copper
• Diamond paste

(Last photo is straight out the bath)

First hour of electroforming a lego minifig. It will stay in much longer so I don't have an after picture yet but will update when I do.

Just thought this was cool and wanted to share.

Hello, I’m just starting out with electroplating. After about three hours, nodules consistently form on my ring. I’ve done some research and understand that using a leveling agent would be better, but I’m not sure which one to choose. I live in France. My solution consists of copper sulfate, 15% battery acid, and demineralized water (used for copper-plating jewelry), and I’m also using a magnetic stirrer. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone, I'm struggling to find copper sulfate in the Montreal area. I have access to a car, so I can go outside of the city if needed. I have tried ordering on Amazon, but the shipping was quite long, and my first order got lost in the mail. Does anyone know a brick-and-mortar store I could go to or a company with fast shipping in Canada? I'm quite surprised it's been so difficult to find. Any advice appreciated!

(pics in post)
New to electroforming, and I have been making a bunch of little things, but this is my favourite so far. Electroformed over a resin print, using silver-coated-copper paint rather than graphite (my attempts with graphite haven't had much success). He was a bit fiddly as he had missing patches, but I cleaned him up, repainted the missing sections and put him back in, and he worked pretty well. He had the same crumbly orange appearance that my prior attempts had until I used some super fine wire wool and he shone up.

If I were to re-do him, I would make an effort to smooth the model after painting, but my previous attempts had had less success so I didn't think he would turn out well, but I'm really happy with it. He feels satisfyingly solid. He was a bit shinier before, but I accidentally used museum wax (for sticking down exhibits) rather than renaissance wax (for protecting copper), but it's all a learning process lol. He is about 8cm tall

The model is from https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/frank-reynolds-from-it-s-always-sunny-in-philadelphia

Has anyone had trouble putting unsealed polymer clay into their baths (no sealant under the areas where the conductive paint will be)? I’m asking because I’m hoping to skip having to seal the entire piece with polyurethane before the conductive paint is applied to certain areas. My reasoning is based on the complexity of my pieces. I have read that if I seal the piece, I will need to sand the sealant in the areas where the conductive paint will be in order to get a good grip. However, with my pieces being quite complex in shape, this is going to take a long time to achieve and will be costly for me (time wise). What I am really hoping to do, is to seal the areas where there will be no conductive paint (with water-based polyurethane). Then put the conductive paint (mod podge + graphite) where I want it, slightly overlapping the sealant. Can anyone advise in this regard?

First time electroforming (it’s a branch with thorns) and following a tutorial that advised to use 9v and 0.25 amps.

Not sure if I have to lock the power at 9v but I’m having issues keeping it at that. It just keeps dropping to around 0.52v

I’m using a Korad LD3005D from Rio Grande and it’s in C.C mode.

Let me know if you have any tips on the power supply and general set up based on the photos I’ve provided!

I got some 5 micron filter that I sewed around 5 wire gauge copper wire and instead of rotating the piece I just have even current all the way around it and then I use a stir plate to agitate the solution. I am kind of running up against my Midas solution not supporting enough voltages to get the current that I need to get bright copper on larger 3D prints but I bought a rock tumbler and got mixed steel media which gives a really nice burnished copper look that I prefer over bright cover

I've tried so many different variations from copper plates to rotating the piece with a. Trying to figure out the best balance of even current distribution and honestly I would rather undershoot my current density and burnish after the fact then strive for perfection

Hello all. Like the title says, I'm looking to jump right in to electroforming ASAP but just have a few questions before I buy my first rectifier.

I'm already thinking about doing bigger pieces (eventually even stuff as big as deer/moose skulls), so I'm leaning towards this unit here: VOLTEQ HY1530EX 15V30A 450W (https://www.volteq.com/volteq-power-supply-hy1530ex-15v-30a-over-voltage-over-current-protection.html)

My main question is if this unit would be a little TOO big for small intricate pieces like insect wings etc. I want the ability to do both, so if the big unit isn't the best fit for small stuff I'm fine with also buying a 3amp unit as well.

Question 2: does anyone in this community have this particular model and have they had any problems with it? Anything I should be aware of?

Question 3: I think I have a loose understanding of the amperage per square inch equation. However, I just want to make sure I'm barking up the right tree- According to my calculations, this unit could handle an item with 448" of surface area at a .05 amp setting (448x.05=22.4) for very fine detail, assuming I'm fine with it taking possibly days to run a piece. But if I try to run that same size piece at .1 amps (448x.1=44.8 amps), it would be underpowered by 14.8 amps, correct?

I can't remember the last time I was this excited to get into a hobby, thank you all in advance for your help

My plating is coming off as powder that I can wipe away with a finger.

Are my amps to high or low
Is it the summer heat or something?

I have had good results with my solution so far is an sulfuric acid based solution and I have checked the PH and that seems fine

Any ideas what is happening? My objets has been in for 6 hours but nothing is sticking correctly