ELECTROFORMING AND HIGH VOLUME PLATING OF PLASTIC

CALL 631-236-9691 or  410-633-2028

The item was a wood wicker basket for many years. The part began new life as a metal part when one day it was painted with CONDUCTIVE COAT GTS.  The part is then plated Bright Copper until full coverage was achieved.  Bright Nickel is plated to give the basket some rigidity.  The part was finally plated with our Brass solution. 

CONDUCTIVE COAT ELECTROFORMING PAINT - This electroforming paint is a silver tin based paint that can be applied by brush, dipping, or spray.  It is water based and will not have solvent fumes or messy clean ups associated with oil based paints.  Once paint dries, the part can be electroplated.  This method will work on any material, such as wood, insects, seashells, plastics, glass, and any organic material.

Now available a plastic plating process for doing high production chroming or gold plating on ABS plastics with a series of pre dips.  This process is for platers that want to do mid volume to high volume work on plastic.  Conductive paint is recommended for low volume electroforming.  Specific information is listed below.

This is the very same method used by plastic manufacturers and high volume plastic platers.  This method works best on ABS and polycarbonate plastic.  This is an eight step prep process and a one, two, or three step plating process, depending on the finish needed and application.  The steps are as follows:

1 Etch PP for 3 minutes.  Rinse.

2. Dip in Neutral solution for 1 minute.  Rinse

3. Dip in Polycarbonate Conditioner solution for 90 seconds.  This step is not needed for ABS.  Rinse.

4.  Dip in CP Pre-Dip for 1 minute.  Go right to step 5, no rinsing.

5. Dip in Conductive Palladium Activator for 3 minutes.  This step makes plastic conductive.  Rinse.

6.  Dip in Accel PP for 2 minutes to enhance palladium conductivity of plastic surface.  Rinse.

7. Apply Kool EN, specially formulated for plating non conductive for 5-6 minutes.  Rinse.

8.  Immerse part in Dip Copper.  This will apply a light copper plating on part.  Now the part should be plated with Bright Copper until the part takes a full bright copper plate.  Rinse.

9.  Electroplate with Bright Nickel for 10-15 minutes.  Rinse.

10.  The part is now done if you only need a bright chrome like nickel plate for indoor applications.  If the part is going to see rain or snow, plate part with Kleen Chrome for 3-4 minutes.  You can also choose Brass, Gold, Cadmium, or Colored Zinc as your final finish.

The kits below will plate many hundreds to over 5000 small plastic trim parts in its service life, depending on the kit size.  These kits will also be able to plate metallic parts too.

5 GALLON TRIPLE CHROME KIT FOR PLASTIC  $1699.00  Comes with all twelve chemicals ( Etch PP, Neutral, Polycarb Conditioner, CP Pre-Dip, Conductive Palladium Activator, Accel PP, Kool EN, Dip Copper, Bright Copper, Bright Nickel, Metal Activator, and Kleen Chrome).  Twelve 9.5" x 9.5" x 14.25" tanks, tank lids, heaters, anodes, 180 pages of well illustrated instructions, and more.

6 GALLON TRIPLE CHROME KIT FOR PLASTIC  $1899  Same as above except tanks are 12" x 11"x 13.5" deep.  

10 GALLON TRIPLE CHROME KIT FOR PLASTIC  $2899  Same as above except tanks are 15" x 12.5" x 12.5" deep.  This kit has two filter systems.

15 GALLON TRIPLE CHROME KIT FOR PLASTIC  $3399  Same as above except tanks are 15" x 12.5" x 19" deep.  This kit has two filter systems.

22 GALLON TRIPLE CHROME KIT FOR PLASTIC  $6699  Same as above except tanks are 24" x 12" x 18" deep.  This kit has three filter systems. Also comes with commercial grade tanks and bus bars.  Com- mercial heaters available for added cost.

30 GALLON TRIPLE CHROME KIT FOR PLASTIC  $8999  Same as 22 gallon system except tanks are 24" x 12" x 24" deep.  This kit has three filter systems. Also comes w/ commercial grade tanks and bus bars.  Com- mercial heaters available for added cost.

45 GALLON TRIPLE CHROME KIT FOR PLASTIC  $11,499  Same as 22 gallon system except tanks are 24" x 18" x 24" deep.  This kit has three filter systems. Also comes w/ commercial grade tanks and bus bars.  Com- mercial heaters available for added cost.

61 GALLON TRIPLE CHROME KIT FOR PLASTIC  $13,599  Same as 22 gallon system except tanks are 24"x24"x24" or 24"x18"x30".  This kit has three filter systems. Also comes w/ commercial grade tanks and bus bars.  Commercial heaters available for added cost.

68 GALLON TRIPLE CHROME KIT FOR PLASTIC  $14,699  Same as 22 gallon system except plating tanks are 36" x 17" x 24" deep.  This kit has three filter systems. Also comes w/ commercial grade tanks and bus bars.  Com- mercial heaters available for added cost.

LARGER KITS AND CUSTOM SIZES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

WHAT IS ELECTROFORMING ?

THIS METHOD IS ONLY MEAN FOR LOW VOLUME AND CUSTOM WORK.

Ever want to plate an Easter egg?  How about a flower or rose from your wedding?  Now these memories can be preserve in gold or chrome or whatever plating finish you want on the part.  You can preserve these items by electroforming them.  Electroforming is a process of plating parts which cannot normally be plated because they are not conductive.  This means they cannot pass electricity through them.  All metals can pass electricity, therefore they all can be plated via normal electroplating.  But items such as plastic, leafs, insects, flowers, or any once living things usually cannot conduct electricity on their own.  The item has to coated with something that can pass electricity. This process is done commercially by dipping the part into stannous chloride and then a palladium conductive dip to create a conductive surface on any plastic part.   Plating with either electroless copper or electroless nickel will ensue.   You can also vacuum metallize aluminum onto them. But neither of the two methods are practical on a small scale.  They were meant for production and high volume applications.  Many of these high volume applications are everyday products that you come across are produced via production electroforming such as records, CD/DVD, jewelry, circuit board parts, precision molds for stamping everyday plastic and metal products, dental crowns/bridges for your teeth, printing screens, and much more.  The most cost effective way to electroform small numbers of items is to paint a conductive coating onto the part, let it dry, and then plate it.

WHAT PRODUCTS DO I NEED TO ELECTROFORM ?

    We offer two grades of Conductive Coat GTS paints.  Plating onto Conductive Coat GTS can also be done with Bright Copper, Bright Nickel, and any of our High Speed plating solutions.  Our process can be used on plastic car or motorcycle parts, living things such as flowers, leaves, stones, sea shells, baby shoes, glass, silver or gold overlays on crystal, and almost anything else you would like to plate.  The simple steps are as follows:

1. Clean and oil or dirt off the piece

2. If the piece is fragile such a a leaf, rose, or butterfly, coat the piece with some kind of lacquer spray paint to protect it from the ensuing process steps.

3. Glue or wrap a piece of copper or brass wire onto the piece to help it conduct current.  In the case of a gold electroform piece that is going to be used as a pendant on a necklace, you may want to secure a ringlet or eyelet onto the piece.

4. Dip or spray Conductive Coat GTS paint onto the piece.

5. Let dry for up to eight hours.

6. Rinse any dust off and place into Bright Copper,  Bright Nickel, or any of our High Speed electroplating solution baths.

SEE SMALL ELECTROFORMING RACKS

WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF ELECTROFORM PRODUCTS ?

    At the top are 4 examples of things that have been electroformed which include a Cadillac hood emblem, 50 Chevy plastic emblem, a scallop shell, and a plain old seashell.  Below are two more items that have been electroformed.  On the left is a champagne bottle from a special occasion that has been nickel and silver plated and on the right is Junior's glove that made the great catch to save the local little league championship game in the last inning.  Any special items and memories can be preserved forever by plating them. 

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