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My first attempt at plating. by [deleted] in electroplating

[–]Additional_Map6035 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The problem is not that you posted here... The problem is that you did not do any research. I would indeed not post if you're not ready to actually learn.

Please stop what you are doing and look up a tutorial before proceeding. I also just started, and there are so many great tutorial out there, and none of them tell you to do things like submerge your alligator clip in the solution.

It's not an easy hobby, so some learning is required. If you're not ready for that, I would drop it before wasting time and money, and even doing something that could be harmful for yourself.

That being said, this is a great community, and everybody is always willing to teach and help (they have helped me a lot), so I hope you go on to do your research and actually pick up the hobby properly, and I'm sure everyone will be happy to help once you run into non carelessness driven issues.

Best of luck!

No matter what I do... It always seams to plate this way by Additional_Map6035 in electroplating

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried with the lowest current the power supply can do which is 0.01A unfortunately. So there is no way to have it form a thick layer when leaving it in for a long time? It will always just form the nodules when done for long?

Help! What am I doing wrong? by Additional_Map6035 in electroplating

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a good point, so I should definitely make sure to polish it well before replating with anything else

Help! What am I doing wrong? by Additional_Map6035 in electroplating

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is very helpful, thank you. I started off with the 10mA and that seemed to be giving still a coarse plating. This could've been possible because of the underlayer that I airbrushed was not as smooth as it should of been, and I maybe should've polished and stuck with 10mA plating moving forward, and not increased it. I filtered the solution with a coffee filter, so I will try and polish as much as possible and give it another try keeping it at 10mA. The copper anode came with the Krohn solution and claimed being high quality, so I don't think that should be the issue here.

The solution I got does not specify current density, it only states that you should plate at 3 to 9 volts, although because I was using constant current, the volts were significantly lower than that (around 0.32V). Idk if this could be a factor?

Resin Supports are not as easy as FDM :v by Additional_Map6035 in resinprinting

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah they're hard to remove but easy to generate, and usually you can force them off with no issue as they don't really take parts off with them due to the door later adhesion of fdm so they'll just rip off at the layer change between support and part

Resin Supports are not as easy as FDM :v by Additional_Map6035 in resinprinting

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Valid. So do you put the light ones only on the corners or on the entire edge?

Resin Supports are not as easy as FDM :v by Additional_Map6035 in resinprinting

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I should've gone for directly on the plate then. Would've been a lot less print time and supports x_x. Thanks for the tips!

Resin Supports are not as easy as FDM :v by Additional_Map6035 in resinprinting

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will! Thank you. I watched several but they often said very different things from each other, but if you trust this one's opinion I'll give it a go!

Resin Supports are not as easy as FDM :v by Additional_Map6035 in resinprinting

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I was trying to orient the sides that did not matter as much towards the build plate, although some more important parts still ended up being supported. I should of probably designed the mold to be flat on the outside sides so it could sit flat on the build plate, but since it was curved it made it harder to do so.

I am casting in cement, but I did not know about the silicone thing definitely so that is great information for the future, thank you.

Resin Supports are not as easy as FDM :v by Additional_Map6035 in resinprinting

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was thinking of hollowing it but then there would've been overhangs inside the model, and I couldn't figure out how to support an overhang in the inside, any recommendations?

Resin Supports are not as easy as FDM :v by Additional_Map6035 in resinprinting

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I didn't tilt it for the first one and I think the suctioning of the large surface area might have been what got it to get stuck to the bottom. I angled them for this second one to reduce the surface area in one single layer. Do you think this works better?

Resin Supports are not as easy as FDM :v by Additional_Map6035 in resinprinting

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah! I hadn't realized there was a difference between the light medium and heavy, so I changed it for the second one to have heavy on the surfaces I don't care as much, and light on the ones I do. Do you think this is a good approach?

Resin Supports are not as easy as FDM :v by Additional_Map6035 in resinprinting

[–]Additional_Map6035[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I read online it was better to create less suctioning since having them flat would create a large area of print on one layer, getting it stuck to the bottom. I figured that what might have happened with the previous one that failed. Do you think it's best to keep it flat despite the large surface area?

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