POLL: Should Shapeways Consider Offering Electroplating Services For Plastics?

With some good polishing the suface roughness could be much better. And while the cost may rise, it is still not possible to order metal interlocked parts. (That whole alumide doesn't count)

I'm not sure if you saw my other thread but have you heard about bronzefill?

I'm not really familiar with this process - would the plating work on interlocked parts? It would be hard not to have parts touching and I would have thought the plating would fail at these points.

To get to the level of injection molded plastic would require extensive polishing, not to mention the porosity of strong and flexible means you will never get a smooth enough surface. So this would really require some sort of surface primer and then sanding, and interlocking parts will complicate things further. Sounds like a whole lot of labor, meaning prices go thru the roof.

Electroplating requires a contiguous conductive surface. So interlocking plastic parts, depending on how intricate, will not all get plated. And you'll have bare spots where parts touch.

Yah. The more I hear about it, the less and less feasible electroplating seems. :\ It's a dang shame and a letdown. My hope was to have a nice, metal-looking object at a lower cost than the actual metals. The closest thing I've seen to that possibility is something called bronzefill but based on how things have been going lately, I'm guessing there is going to be some big, disappointing reason that won't work either. XC

I have a new batch of plated items waiting for me in the post office.

But based on the reports I've got from the guy doing it it seems that the result isn't as smooth as wanted.
I will report that via photos next week.

Woody64

The polishing would indeed require significant labor. The WSF materials as Shapeways offers might not work. Maybe a deposition methode process of 3D printing could work, with less porous surfaces.
For the interlocked parts: the first step of electroplating of plastic is to treat the surface with sprays that make the surface conductive, second step is electroless plating. If this is performed in a vibrating barrel (which is used for electroplating of jewelry), the different parts don't have to be connected to a power source and the parts won't be in contact for the whole process. This could create a completely coated surface, although it's unlikely it would be uniform. For multiple parts, the whole electrodeposition methode (that normally follows up the electroless plating) with every desired coating material might be impossible. Electroless plating with the standard materials might work (not convincing, but might).

Daphne, out of curiosity, what do you think of this? http://www.3ders.org/articles/20140512-colorfabb-beta-testin g-new-pla-bronze-bamboofill-filament-for-3d-printers.html I believe it would allow for moving parts and you get the same look and feel of metal (with polishing).

The look after polishing is great. I personally don't like bronze and copper because it stains the skin so rapidly. However, such developments are great.

If they can come out with something like bronzefill, maybe they can come out with something like silver and gold fill or pewter fill. I honestly have no idea. Just speculating. It would be nice. You would have the benefits of metal without all the hassle of casting and you could possibly have moving parts. Though who knows how it actually works. Maybe it's terrible. *Shrug* No idea. I'd love to give it a try though. Maybe someday Shapeways will adopt it. We can hope.

The items were preprepared with a color coat and a transparent coat.

I had also some items with:
- pWSF
- pWSF with transparent coat

but the result was not as good. The two shown here feel rather smooth on the surface although you see in the picture an uneven surface.
(beware the picture is at least 4 times the original size)

Maybe that's of interest:

http://www.partsnap.com/chrome-plated-3d-printed-parts/

I am suspicious..... looks too good to be true. >.>; What's the catch?

Well, you seem quite price sensitive...

I uploaded a model of mine which is 26 USD in wsf, and the base cost of the plastic for them was 40 USD w/o the plating.

I didn't investigate all the ancillary costs, and the website is less user-friendly and the process less automated (it seems).

BUT! ... if you really want metal-plated plastic parts the results look incredible.

I am very, very frugal. I have to be. I'm an artist with 2k worth of student loan bills every month, a condo, and other assorted financial issues. XC BUT! I will definitely be keeping this option in mind. Those examples did look pretty good. I wish there were more and I wish I knew more about the circumstances.

I wasn't criticising - I too am quite 'expenditure averse' - just saying what I thought the catch was.

Why not send them an email for more info? To get the plated stuff you have to email them anyway, so there's clearly people who should be reachable.

I admit that the picture looks very promising. Out of my experience (see pictures above) there's a need to have a prehandling to get the surface smoothed (which is a general problem for WSF parts),

In the example picture they have used VeroWhite plus as base material which may result in a smoother surface and then maybe gets much better results with electro plating.

@AmLachDesigns: the price you have mentioned is already in VeroWhite?
(as we know the materials can be more expensive. And for pWSF there's to my knowledge only Shapeways and competitive service which can deliver in this price range)

Woody64

Hi Woody,

yes I think the price of 40USD is for VeroWhite (w/o plating), for a model that in wsf at SW is 26USD.

But I was just trying to get an idea so maybe I got something wrong. The automatic quote process is not so bad, you can easily try it for yourself.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/409686897323279169/

http://www.bronzingstudio.com.au/?page_id=671

http://www.squidoo.com/3d-printing-and-chroming-the-perfect- match



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-heV79vRWY


These guys might do small parts, but I would call them first
http://www.chrometechusa.com/model-cars-and-collectibles.htm l

Vacuum metalization or deposition may also be an option. It's what's often used for cheap toys, Christmas ornaments, etc. Generally it's a thin aluminum coating which must be sealed to prevent oxidation, but it can also be the first step before a plating process.

Oh, and a couple of years ago S******o offered silver coated plastic. Not sure why they dropped it. Must have been a problem and/or a money loser. I never tried it.

http://blog.competitive service.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/argent-220x220.jpg