Metalise 3D parts / prints

Has anyone done any metalising of 3D printed parts?
Or know of a DIY way to do it?

I spotted this company - 3ddc

I wonder if it would make PLA higher temperature resistant? and/or stronger.

Rich.

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[richrap.blogspot.com]

metal casting. Check out the gingery machines yahoo group for good info's about casting.

caswell.com electroplating

Smooth / Fill / sand then use the "silver spray" on the plastic parts then you can electroplate them just like metal parts. Smoother you go before silver spraying the parts gives you a better finish.

Attached is a pic of a dimension part I did with "silver spray" and "copy chrome" from Caswell.

that stuff seems to work pretty slick. i have seen stuff like that in the stores but i have never had a need for it.

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[mike-mack.blogspot.com]

This sounds interesting! Do you have a link with more info on how you electroplated printed parts?

CdnReprap Wrote:
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> caswell.com electroplating
>
> Smooth / Fill / sand then use the "silver spray"
> on the plastic parts then you can electroplate
> them just like metal parts. Smoother you go before
> silver spraying the parts gives you a better
> finish.
>
> Attached is a pic of a dimension part I did with
> "silver spray" and "copy chrome" from Caswell.

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Tony Buser http://tonybuser.com * http://reprap.org/wiki/User:Tbuser#Projects

[www.caswellplating.com] has all the info.

The stuff I used is called "silva spray" (sorry for my previous post) it it makes the surface conductive so it will electroplate.

Great website, great stuff

I did some plating of parts some time ago, the biggest was a train seat mould, after polish the silver loaded paint (expensive)
is applied, the parts were then plated with a process called selectron, which had various solutions, the first layer was copper if I remember correct, it had something like a large cotton bud you dipped into the solution and wiped over the part, the "box" could be set for amps and time etc, but normal plating equipment could be used, the main benefit of plating was the added strength and wear resistance.

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Random Precision

Thanks everyone, That's great info - I'll do some more research. I'm trying to get a copper / tin coating so it's conductive.

Rich.

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[richrap.blogspot.com]

>Thanks everyone, That's great info - I'll do some more research. I'm trying to get a copper / tin coating so it's conductive

Sorry if you already know this, but there is one thing you might want to be aware of if you are doing copper plating to make circuits etc on the printed part. Impurities in the plating will dramatically increase the resistance of the trace. At the very least you will probably want to use electolytic copper (from wire) as the source when electroplating and maybe lab reagent grade copper sulfate (if you are taking that route). For example, plumbing copper just isn't pure enough and may introduce impurities.

http://science.jrank.org/pages/1781/Copper-Making-pure-copper.html

Quote

Extremely pure copper (greater than 99.95%), called electrolytic copper, can be made by electrolysis. The high purity is needed because most copper is used to make electrical equipment, and small amounts of impurity metals in copper can seriously reduce its ability to conduct electricity. Even 0.05% of arsenic impurity in copper, for example, will reduce its conductivity by 15%. Electric wires must therefore be made of very pure copper, especially if the electricity is to be carried for many miles through high-voltage transmission lines.

I did some electrodeposition near thirty years ago with copper. I used graphite powder dusted onto wet laquer to form the initial conductive coating. The pieces were immersed in a sulphuric acid/hydrochloric acid/copper sulphate bath and current passed between electrodes contacting the graphite. The result was a copper skin that could be used in its own right or plated over with chrome or nickel. I believe this procedure can also be used for nickel, but I didn't use it way back. There's a trade reference book, "The Canning Handbook of Electroplating" that I've consulted from a library. Lots of information.