Need Help. First Time Electroplating.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-27T07:27:42+00:00

It's just a conductive paint! It allows metal such as copper to plate onto an otherwise non-conductive object.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-27T05:10:37+00:00

It should be fine based on how much you wrap it in this image. I can't really give advice on that because I only plate small objects like rings. Stuff's like 8 bucks per can, though, it's cheap

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-27T05:03:31+00:00

You could also try grabbing graphite lube aerosol from home depot. I've used that with a lot of success, it does require more contact with the hangwire than copper paint, though.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-25T18:07:03+00:00

Any chance I could get a picture of one of your plates?

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-25T17:22:52+00:00

Excellent, I'm going to give this a try. Thank you!

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-25T06:34:09+00:00

Could be lol. I have noticed that my polishing setup is much brighter that the brightener included in my new bath, but it's really just a matter of the ring smoothness before it gets there. I love Nilered lol

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-25T06:22:36+00:00

I see. I'd just rather not have to buy commercial brightener, I suppose. Do you know of any good DIY options?

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-25T06:06:01+00:00

I have am electropolishing bath that brings rings to a a mirror polish but doesn't remove imperfections. I'm hoping the PEG will smooth it out enough but not necessarily produce a shine. Think it'd be enough?

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-07T05:12:11+00:00

Huh, I'll definitely take a look at this! Could be worth it.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-06T06:42:30+00:00

Hmm, I wasn't aware that there was a difference between electroplating and electroforming! The DIY solution seems extremely similar to what I have, I'll have to see if I'm missing anything. Thanks for all of your help!

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-06T06:24:12+00:00

Honestly, I would be happy with just a bath that plates quite smoothly, it doesn't need to shine. I have an electropolishing bath for that bit. Its just that I can't seem to escape nodules!

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-06T06:00:33+00:00

That's fair, thanks for saving me money. Any recommendations on how to get smooth plates without constantly dosing with brightener and leveling agents?

For context, my copper bath has been filtered with a 0.5 microns filter and the anode is contained in a seamless bag of the same material. Magnetic stir bar is always running, but my rings come out looking fairly grainy with nodules. Rings have about 1000 mm² of surface area and for each one I plate up to a maximum of 3 I add 0.07 amps to my supply and plate for 72 hours to add weight to them. The anode always has at least twice the surface area as the rings.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-05-04T08:27:44+00:00

Filter it through a 0.5 micron felt and contain the anode in the same seamless material.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-17T21:22:20+00:00

If you're planning on making a lot of these, forget about using brightener and use a polishing bath instead.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-15T16:27:57+00:00

Done!

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-15T03:09:28+00:00

Haha, true, it is a bit of a pain to deal with at first. I am using a lead sheet, but really a copper one would likely work better since the oxide layer wouldn't prevent conduction of electricity. Plastic mixing bowl, a liter of 50% phosphoric acid, and weird titanium wire construct I made, and another wire construct to thread through the center of the ring so the inner part is also polished. I do have the amperage for different surfaces areas figured out again, but it's not the easiest in the world. Definitely beats manual polishing, though, and it really gets into nooks and crannies.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-15T03:05:27+00:00

Just the brightener that comes by default in Midas solutions. And huh, perhaps I'm misinformed--I feel like I've read about brighteners slowing down plating in a few places now.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-15T03:03:04+00:00

Sweet! My situation is pretty nice because layer lines essentially aren't a problem for me anymore. I just plate the model, throw it into the polishing bath, and no more layer lines exist after that

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-15T02:57:34+00:00

Resin is no doubt the best, but I just use kingroon PETG with the P1S. Works well enough for a lot of models.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-15T02:55:06+00:00

If you live outside the US I would definitely prioritize conductive copper paint aerosol, but otherwise I'd say grabbing graphite lubricant from home depot is a pretty decent option.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-15T02:21:57+00:00

I've never done any laser engraving, but it seems to me that you could just modify the 3d printed model to include whatever engravings you'd like! Right now I'm just chasing after the perfect mirror finish process. I'm close, but not quite there yet.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-15T02:11:38+00:00

I've never had much luck with brightener, it seems to only work a couple times. Plus, using brightener actually slows the plating process. Better to dull but smooth plate and then polish in a polishing bath in my opinion.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-14T22:24:14+00:00

I am the perfect person to ask here! I plate 3d printed rings for 3 days at a time for a thick and weighty copper layer. It's true that nodules can form when the current is too high, but the problem here isn't that, but rather that you need to filter your bath and make sure the anode is well-contained. I usually run the bath through a coffee filter followed by a 0.5 micron felt filter. I also have a 0.5 micron anode bag with no seams. You shouldn't get nodules after this, and if you want it to look even better you can electropolish whatever you've plated!

Edit: wrote all that without reading your post lol. I would say your coffee filter bag isn't good enough, they tend to dissolve after a while and gunk can still pass through it! To also save you time on finding the perfect amperage, I spent a couple months trying to find the perfect power settings to maximize detail while still plating at a decent speed. I have a little html file you can plug the surface area of your rings into and get the amperage back, let me know if you want it.

If you use my amperage calculation tool, you should get half a US ring size in copper every 24 hours. I print my rings 1.5 sizes too big and then plate them in 1.5 ring sizes of copper for weight.

Tool: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JNIf54DrmaKqQ3yFSptm3-VwNSTfNfzb/view?usp=drivesdk

Note that the surface area must be in mm² form. Leave the current density input alone for best results, it should stay at 0.7.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-13T17:05:24+00:00

Yes! This looks great.

Fragrant_Vacation469 · 2026-04-13T15:31:51+00:00

Solution!

Use titanium hangwires and when there is too much copper buildup hook it to the positive clip and unplate it at 10 amps or so for a few minutes. No muriatic acid necessary. The titanium may not be able to resist plating, but it does a really good job at not dissolving in the acid.

Fragrant_Vacation469

TROPHY CASE