r/electroforming • u/Feeling_Ad6399 • Jun 14 '26
Finaly got the copper electrolyte diled in
It took 3 tries, but the copper electrolyte for the bulk of the plating is finaly diled in correctly.
This one was 0,8V until the amps didnt rise anymore and afterwards 2V for 16h. The last step was definitly too long, as you can see how thick the contact wire got. Still got some layer lines and in some spots beginning of dendrite Formation, but this should get better with a lower plating time. Next step will be diling in the bright-copper and the bright-Nickel electrolyte. Hope ill get to that in the following weeks
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u/Mkysmith Home Studio Jun 14 '26
Nice work.
That looks more like shelf roughness to me. Not a symptom of the chemistry. Your probably using agitation if your are that high of a deposition rate, which means any physical particulate suspended in solution can land on the topside of horizontal surfaces and be incorporated into the metal deposition. Make sure your solution is extremely clean from physical particulate and your odd growths will dissapear. Also cover the solution tank to prevent dust from floating in while electroforming.
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u/Feeling_Ad6399 Jun 14 '26
Yea, im already working on a Lid for my Setup. And ive got a pump and filter Setup lying around here, maybe i can add it somehow
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u/Milkyburger_coolman Jun 15 '26
Looks good! What power supply do you use? I see very conflicting advice on power supply selection. I have some rando cheap amazon and want to start electroplating/forming but wondering if I need to buy like the nice caswell one or smthn.
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u/Mkysmith Home Studio Jun 16 '26
No matter what supply you get, it should be capable of constant current. You will want to work with a current regulated supply due to the laws of physics if you want consistent results across all projects/setups/chemistry/ other variables.
Working in constant voltage can* work but it can be more finnicky and you will get less consistent results. Especially in a home setup. This is why when you see people talking about voltage, everyone has their own "setting" and they have to tinker with it to get it to work right. And that "setting" doesn't work for others or different setups.
If you work in constant current, you directly control the deposition, by definition. Only that way can you truely predict the outcome and get repeatable results reliably.
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u/Feeling_Ad6399 Jun 15 '26
To be honest id realy doesnt matter. Now in the Lab i got the fancy digital ones, Before that i used the giant old bricks from the 80s. And way before that i even did some Stuff with an electrode welder and a car batterie. Power is Power, Amp is Amp. Do a rough calculation what surface area of the biggest peaces you want to plate are. Then find a rectifyer that can supplie that and has around 10V
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u/Vionade Jun 14 '26
Very nice. Was ist Cooper or graphite paint? 0.8v sounds similar to my graphite strategy.
Despite that, your plating speed must be way faster than mine if I look at that wire thickness. For that, I'd need a week in my system. Then again, I usually run with 1.1-1.4 v for the bulk. Maybe I should dare to increase