Metal plating plastic parts

[E13design]

Hey all,
Interested in trying to electoplate some 3D printed parts.
I heard there may have been equipment at some point.
If its not something we can do in house, but someone is willing to talk through process.
Im about as far as I can get on youtube without buying the equipment and trying it.

[kthompson395]

This is a question for @Russell_Crow

[jast]

A search for “electroplate” will turn up some prior conversations on this, for context, possible contacts, etc.

[Russell_Crow]

Science has some history with electroplating 3D parts, but this new development looks interesting:

Electroplating 3D Printed Parts Brings Plastic and Metal Together ...

[kobin]

We have the equipment in the science area to electroplate 3d printed items, and even taught a class years ago. But the reagents are old and need to be disposed of properly at this point. Just need to get new chemicals essentially. Russell do you want to teach the class again?

[John_Marlow]

At one time we had the setup for electroplating nickel and copper. However, it yielded poor results (IMO) and IDK if we ever resolved the hazardous disposal issue (the biggest issue is the heavy metal effluent). Any plating solution we might have in house is a community resource with all the challenges that accompany that.

On plastic, we used a conductive “paint” as the substrate and as you would expect, it gave a fuzzy finish.

Although the article @Russell_Crow linked looks interesting, 3D printing doesn’t yield a surface finish suitable for plating. The plating is so thin that it isn’t going to fill any voids or surface imperfections. I would be interested to see how the article overcame that issue. Perhaps the “graphite paint” …

You might also investigate electroless plating instead of electrolytic plating.

In commercial use plating on plastic would be done with electroless plating; first layer copper, finish layer nickel. That’s what’s used to make “fake chrome” on plastic salt shakers, etc. Proper chemical cleaning is crucial to surface finish. Nickel can also be plated electrolytically but still requires a base coat of copper.

@John_Marlow

While it is alleged that electrolytic plating looks better (i.e., bright/shiny) than electroless, that’s not always true. … However, if you’re doing nickel plating for appearance, then an absolutely pristine clean and good substrate surface finish are crucial.

Each process has pros/cons but unless you have technical requirements for corrosion resistance, lubricity, ductility, etc. then you can probably choose either one. And frankly, if you have technical requirements for corrosion resistance or whatever then you probably shouldn’t consider doing it yourself at DMS anyway.

If you search on talk, you will see various discussions of this topic, including various suggestions for chemicals. IIWM, I’d prefer electroless because it’s just a chemical process without any electricity. I’d also buy all my own chemicals because anything we might have in house is a community resource and I promise you it has been contaminated beyond anything you’d like to see on your parts.

[E13design]

Thanks All.
I would like to dig into this more after the new year. Sounds like we can, but.
Thats a great starting point for me.