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. Electroplating (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

So I've been hitting this hobby hard for about a month. (Background: BS Biology, Amateur chemistry, historical photochemistry, electronics, HS Science Educator) and have learned some neat stuff, but today's copper paint breakthrough is bringing me joy and hope to a frustratingly slow process. I've been hassling graphite and B-72 concentrations to no major improvements - never completing coverage, 36 hour coverage... I've even considered reducing copper out of copper sulfate with ascorbic acid and trying to add that to my graphite/B72 mixes, but not there yet. Then I accidentally and not on purpose bought a pound of copper powder, even though at least one reviewer stated it wouldn't be conductive.

I've heard much about copper powder lacking conductivity, read about DIY failures, etc. Caswell (I use their brighteners) sells a "Tinning Solution" that's quite expensive and perishable, but supposedly solves conductive paint problems. I eyeballed the SDS:

--0.2% Thiourea by weight

--0.02% Stannous Chloride by weight (Make a stock solution of 1 gram in a liter of dH_2O and use a mL per milligram) - (Tin might be light sensitive? Maybe stock in a brown bottle? Let me know if you know.)

--in an aqueous solution of 5% HCl.

(I used scary strong Muriatic acid leftover from keeping our pool - take care, be safe, work out your concentrations and volumes. I am not responsible for the actions of persons behaving irresponsibly.)

On graphite, the plating is (subjectively) more even, but still excessively slow.

On my first batch of copper paint (Revisions to come, but formula below) it made all the difference. I tried two microscope slides, same paint, process, 3 dips from the stirplate mixer, Eformed at the same time, but the one that spent 60 seconds in the tinning solution is 50% covered at 30 minutes, and the non-tinned slideis barely 1/4 in^2 plated and is not progressing. I forgot to test conductivity of both before the plating test, will do that next round.

Now, I don't now if it's the HCl activating the oxidised copper, or the Tin-thiourea complexes are joining with the copper, but something is working here. I sprayed the piece off with distilled water, even enough to blast off the tin gel on the exposed metal of a jumpring before putting it in the bath.

The copper paint I just made today: (eyeballed and improvised from some SDS somewhere)

150 g by mass of 5% B-72 in 91% Isopropyl Alcohol

120 g of Copper Powder 350 Mesh (Copper I ordered)

7 g of graphite (Probably not needed. Why'd I do that?) (edit: Carbon Black and Silver are in the Caswell copper paint, so why not some graphite?)

It's a pain to keep the copper suspended, even on a stir plate with my largest bar on a speed that's spattering. BUT, enough copper seems to stay suspended to work - A little gum (CMC, Arabic, Guar?) might help slow the settling. Shake REALLY often, with a marble or clean pebble in there.

I have a bottle of Safer Solutions copper paint coming, and I will A/B it as well with the tinning solution, though it sounds like they have it worked out.

A clear container can show you if you've broken up the copper stuck to the bottom, or if you've settled too much to keep working without a shake. I think this is a major key to effective application.

(I don't normally use gator clips to hang parts - that is only for testing!)

Hey there, just sharing a pattern I have seen while working on electroformed leaves.

I use graphene paint on my leaves. The bath is self-made with copper sulfate, sulfuric acid, and distilled water.

I put my power supply on Constant Current (CC), and then I adjust the current so that my voltage (which will vary) sits around 1V.

The idea is: each piece has its own resistance depending on its geometry and size, and honestly, calculating the exact current density for every single piece is sometimes not worth it.

So my rule of thumb is:

Put it in CC, adjust the current until I get around 1V, and then let it run for 3-4 hours. After that, as the copper layer builds up, the resistance should drop. Since I'm in CC, the current stays the same and the voltage drops too.

Then I can adjust the current higher to get back to 1V for a few more hours. To avoid spikes/nodules on my piece, I lower the current toward the end to finish with a nice smooth surface.

Basically, I use voltage as a quick indicator instead of calculating A/dm² for each piece. Every leaf is a different shape and size, so rather than doing the math every time, I just target 1V and let the voltage tell me what's happening. It's a pragmatic approach and it's been working well for me so far.

Some images attached to show the final results.

Hello. I’ve been doing copper plating for 8 hours using demineralized water, sulfuric acid, a magnetic stirrer, a sandwich-style anode setup, and a coffee filter to prevent sediment, all at 0.03A and 0.05V. So why isn't the plating smooth? There are lots of little bumps (though they came off when I sanded the surface and removed the copper wire). I really need help i don't know why i try so many time

Today I refreshed a 20 year old Nickel Electroformed Curry with bright nickel plating and then Gold plating. I have attached both the old image and today’s images. The curry had been removed from inside when it was first Electroformed around 20 years ago by my Dad.

Hi All. My first attempt has come out terrible. The colour is a weird pink, which has now turned a somewhat ugly brown. There are numerous long ridges running parallel. Also, when seeing if I can buff it, it just went an even more horrid brown. The chemistry is 500g Bluestone, 100g Sodium bisulphate (note: can’t get hold of sulphuric acid, as it seems to be highly regulated here in Australia) and about 1 teaspoon of Macrogol 3350. Made up to 2L with distilled water. The surface was about the size of a teaspoon head, so I went with 0.1 amps. The piece was a number of polished agate stones that had been set into a cluster using a two part epoxy adhesive to join the stones. The outer edge of the entire piece has been painted with a mix of PVA glue and graphite powder. That part all worked really well. Before the piece was assembled, each of the stones were sealed with clear gloss Polyurethane. It was hung in the bath, and as mentioned, the deposition was perfect and exactly as I wanted it. It’s not that it didn’t deposit, but just that the deposit itself is pretty awful! Any advice or help?

I want to make this helmet shiny, but i dont know anything about eletroplating/electroforming, can you explain to me like i am 5 years old?

I got this graphite spray to try electroplating copper for the first time. I want to plate PLA 3D prints.

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I've done enough troubleshooting to know my plating solution is fine, and have already plated a metal coin, as a sanity check.

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Turns out, after checking with my multimeter, the resistance of the painted surface is HUGE. I managed to bring it down from about 1000Ω to about 150Ω by applying more layers of the graphite paint, but that's not good enough. Also tried polishing the surface but it didn't make much of a difference.

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Is the spray not good enough, or am I missing something?

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Do you have any suggestions on how I should proceed? Get a different brand of graphite spray or make my own conductive paint?

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