Metal printing based upon electroplating

I was just wondering if this had ever been tried?

A piece of metal (raw material) would be charged (say negatively as the cathode) and suspended in a tank of electrolyte. The print head would comprise of a tiny positively charged conductive surface (the anode) mounted on an insulator that was moved around in the tank on a three axis, delta or other motion system as required. To start the print off, the conductive material of the print head would rest on a fixed metal surface that is rigidly mounted (and optionally insulated from) the tank. After building up a 'spigot' the print head would move slightly to encourage the build up of the metal in the required location to create a desired shape.

I am aware that plating is very slow, but could it be adequately speeded up using the small point anode, increasing the voltage/current or minimising the volume of electrolyte to make this viable?

Thoughts please...


Senake

Electro-mechanical engineer
Author of Compopoly - a better ecosystem for Makers

Try it! For some inspiration, I tried the reverse process: Electrochemical Machining. These heater connectors on the RepRap electronics' make a nice controllable current source. You can feed them not only with 12 or 24V, but also with something like 1.5V.

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-Nick

We had a discussion about it in this thread: 3D Electroplating? .

you need different voltages on which metallic material being electroplated plus a con taminated free surface

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