Question about plating thickness

[InventorMan]

I found electroplating/electroforming when researching ways to construct a project of mine. Now from what I've read on the websites of companies who do electroforming, they can make parts very thick (one company said they've done up to 2" thick, my project requires about 0.25"). My question is this: do you need some kind of special equipment to make really thick parts, or is it as simple as letting the part electroplate for a very long time (probably days) until the desired thickness is achieved?

[eprigge]

Yes, it's just a matter of lengthening the plating time, there's nothing you can do to make it go faster without problems. There are a bunch of considerations you have with electroforming that don't matter much for 'regular' plating. What are you trying to do and with which metal?

[fly]

Don't forget to put robbers on the part to keep from build up on the outer edges of the part. The amount that your looking for should not be a problem at all, as long as everything is correct in your bath....make sure you have the correct size wire and check for heating problems at the machine.

[InventorMan]

Thanks for the replies. Nickel is metal used. From what I've read I shouldn't use electroless nickel since it's supposedly much slower (0.001" per hour) than regular electroplating (0.005" per hour). Is that correct? Because that's the difference between taking 2 days and taking over 10 days.

[eprigge]

The caswell nickel electroplating kit does about 1 mil per hour. I'm not sure it is suited to electroforming either. Bright nickel is usually highly stressed and I think you'd have issues if you try laying down a quarter inch of it. Nickel electroforming is generally done with a sulfamate nickel bath for low stress and high speed.

[lcaswell]

Originally Posted by eprigge

The caswell nickel electroplating kit does about 1 mil per hour. I'm not sure it is suited to electroforming either. Bright nickel is usually highly stressed and I think you'd have issues if you try laying down a quarter inch of it. Nickel electroforming is generally done with a sulfamate nickel bath for low stress and high speed.

Correct, our nickel bath (electroless and electroplating) is not suited to electroform. We're looking into an electroforming nickel bath, but it's still in development. Unless you specifically need nickel, use our Acid Copper system. It's ideal for electroforming. http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/copper.htm