Cast Into 3D Prints | Electroplating 

You can find a bunch of pewter stuff to melt down at thrift shops and such. Might be a bit cheaper, and it can be melted on your kitchen stove. (Be aware that older pewter may contain lead)

This was awesome. If you print the pawn in very low infill or even in vase mode you could really shrink the time to dissolve the plastic. I've been using your tips to electroplate statuettes and a doorknob I designed. The weight was definitely something I'm looking for and my solution was to simply leave cavities in the print, pause towards to top and insert pennies (around 75 cents worth) into it. It makes it extremely heavy and it's obviously very cheap! This makes it easier to electroplate as well as I don't have to fiddle with keeping the print submerged as it's heavy enough to sink on its own.

I love these experiments! Keep it up!

Thank you very much. Watched all of your videos. Thank you for the safety warnings in each of them. Some youtubers completely neglect them. It's a pleasure to see your safety concerns.

Your an absolute legend, thanks!

Try zamak 3 alloy or another zinc alloy! It should melt in a cast iron pan with a little help from a blow torch or a really hot burner. Do it outside though. You can go over your daily required zinc intake from zinc fumes if you're not outside and wearing some kind of mask. Less toxic than those other low melt metals and very cheap. It's also quite strong for the volume. Better than cast aluminum.

Omg! Genius! Thanks for sharing

Absolutely love how thorough and detailed your explanations are, thank you for your channel

very nice. Thanks for the details on the electroplating currents

You should try casting with Rose's alloy. It has a really low melting point and doesn't contract or expand much when it solidifies. It does have lead in it though.

Awesome! If the intent is only to add weight, then you could simply drop in a few lead sinkers, and fill the rest with epoxy resin. This would make it strong, heavy, and no melting required.

Thank you for this video! This is exactly the process I have been dreaming of.

This seems really neat.

I love your approach, Im experimenting with metal casting myself (from Germany also) and this seems like an interesting approach to change the way molds could be produced.

Fantastic video and thank you for the feature!

I love this!

A very interesting technique. Thank you.

WOW the details are all there 100% :0

Great work!

Very nice video man. This is a form of metal casting one could actually do without burning down the house. Thank you!

Pewter is very cheap and easy found in thrift shops and 2nd hand stores. Its Mainly tin and has a low melting point. We use it to make babbitt for engines by adding lead to the pewter. It's found in old and cheap decorations as well as plates and tea/coffee sets. Can't hardly give it away in the states. A quick search will show you what it looks like

Looking forward to trying this out, thank you for the awesome video!!

Just when I thought there is no way you can show even more incredible ideas than in your previous videos, here it is! Nice, clean and professional, as always. I just started setting up a space for electroforming 3D prints, and have been tinkering with what can be done easily in a DIY way (substitute materials for expensive chemicals, sometimes slouching on cleanliness and the not-so-fun parts like polishing etc.), and somehow it always seems to turn out that I get the best results if I follow exactly your instructions. :D Currently waiting for the same brand of copper paint you are using to arrive, I have high hopes for that to work much better than my current graphite spray solution. Keep it up, incredibly informative videos!

Amazing!

Very cool I hope you explore this more

Zamak a zinc based alloy with the addition of al, cu, and miniscule others is able to be melted with a gas hotplate. Has a similar cross sectional density as cast iron.

You sir, are an absolute inspiration!

Thanks, that was step 1 cant wait to see others do like pla and do a burnout, and cast in like green sand and plaster.. Ive been eagerly waiting since i spoke with you about this idea. you should get many many more likes and exposure.

Holy crap! Something I made is in a super cool youtube video. Thanks for posting the make on printables and linking to this epic video. Going to browse your other vids and then probably spend too much money on maker toys. Cheers!

Never knew about PVB, will have to try it some time. Even PVA takes some agitating to get it to fall off on it's own. You could use lead for weight but I would seal the bottom and needs a bit more heat. I made an furnace for melting lead, copper, brass and aluminum out of a 5 gallon bucket and some kaowool, didn't cost much to build, uses a simple propane burner. I get lead when I go to the scrap yard, balancing weights off of car tires.

Excellent! Subbed!

Totally... Freakin'... Awesome 🤘🤘

Thunk you so much this was to halpfull

If you only want more weight then use Plaster of Paris as the filler and put a round piece of green felt on the bottom to cover and for protection of the surface you put it on. I had a couple of bookends made that way, plaster inside. They had a brass shell, thicker, and then plater inside for weight. If you wanted metal inside then I would use lead as it is very cheap and a low melting temperature. I like the the plating method. I will try it sometime.

this is verry cool

Such a cool video

Cool stuff

So glad I ran into this channel. I don't know if you'ld consider this but if you were to make a rundown of the cost of the materials and machines you use.. That would be great. :D

Amazing video as per usual, and such a clever idea! Would love to also see you revisit a general electroplating guide since you’ve learned and changed a bit since your original.

You can actually cast aluminium with a microwave forge if you want a cheaper metal

You should try casting Zamak. It has a nice, low pouring temperature compared to aluminum.

Pretty nice, I'm impressed by how well your electroplating solution is behaving! Is that a commercial solution or a handmade one? You were right when switching to current density as opposed to constant voltage. Constant voltage really shines when you have a large range of current density (2-8 A/dm² for instance).

very nice

1 million likes for this video!!!

Another metod that works very well to fill the parts and add the precise weight you want, is mixing small steel balls with wax. No need to melt metals, just enough heat to melt the wax.

Pretty awesome. However, AFAIK you are electroPLATING = covering the outside, with the reference surface being on the INside and the outside being undefined. *ElectroFORMING on the other hand is done in one or several NEGATIVE molds, with the copper deposition on the inside.* After separation from the mold, the outside of the metal parts is the exact copy of the reference surface = the inside of the mold. As depositing metal in deep cavities is more difficult to achieve, objects are typically broken up into several shallow "negatives". The resulting parts are then trimmed, soft-soldered together, then given another thin copper layer and finally (partially) filled with some low melting-point metal (usually containing Pb, Sn, Bi). After some final touches, a silver or nickel bath concludes the process. This process became popular in the 1850s for the (mass) production of decorative items and stayed in use until the 1990s for design prototyping before CNC milling of thin-walled metal and 3D printing became the standard. If you find "WMF" product boxes produced before the 2000s, their box shots of "stainless" items are usually pictures of electro-formed copper parts with nickel coating to resemble stainless material.

Wow❤

Very cool. Finally, a completely metal part! Kudos! If you want other metals to try, maybe bismuth or an alloy. It should be a bit cheaper. It melts just a little hotter than tin and one of the least toxic options (we're looking at you, lead). As for other projects: what about ways to add weight without casting metals: maybe filling with gypsum plaster, metal filled epoxy, etc.

Great video, thanks! Which brand of conductive paint do you use, please? Having real trouble finding a suitable one. Cheers

He was Polishing Vader's Helmet 😆

Very interesting. For weight, especially when I needed extra weight a certain spot, I have designed parts with a cavity in it. Pause the 3D print at the right spot, add hot glue, drop a steel ball bearing in, add more hot glue. Glue doesn't stick to the bearing but it does to the print. Just make sure the glue gun is on low temp. I've also added a thicker wall to the cavity to take the heat when close to an edge. I'm a mechanic, I take the balls out of used wheel bearings and axle shafts.

An easy way to add weight only is to stop a print while the internal supports are still exposed, then fill with "heavy sand" then let the print finish. Use a magnet to clean up any spills.

Very nice work and outcome. You can speed up process. Just melt out plastic or burn it with 200(melt)-500(burn) degree stove. After melting you can make finish clean of the form with isopropanol but whole process would be faster. To keep copper form in place you can use sand casting of the outer volume.

Looking specifically at Vader’s helmet, how did you manage to clean out all the plastic from the cheek guards and how did you manage to flow the tin into them? With the part upside down surely they would form air voids.

THIS IS BRILLIANT!! i was wondering, if youvreversed the terminals on the copper bath then you would have a pure tin part ?

I’m allways surprised seen your work its very amazing this gives lots of how to it can make some 3d printed scale model car parts turn in to chrome sence there’s not that many options here in the USA from buying 1/10 scale chrome parts 👌🏻😎👍🏼💯

Nice technique i'm interested to try! If you just want to cast thin, just use red silicon by the way.

You can try to fill it with epoxy resin with a lot of filler chalk mixed in. I casted some statues like this, heavy castings! You can try lead too... But always outside!

Really cool. You could also do a liquid sand cast over it, let it dry, burn out the plastic. Then pour metal inside the sand cast. Then bust open the sand to reveal the casting. They do this in large scale places but use wax instead of plastic. But should still work I think.

I like this, hope u do more like it! :-) Im just a noob, but for more pure weight we used a special kinda plaster that is poured in liquid form and it hardened. It wasnt nomal plaster thogh, but a special kind that is a bit more expensive (but a lot cheaper then any metal, incl. lead which ofc is poison) and used by old dentists and goldsmiths. This kinda plaster is also much MUCH harder and heavier then normal plaster... But its not metal. We also nickel plated a few things.

Aluminum might work as well as tin. And aluminum is cheap. Making a furnace is pretty easy.

Very cool, you do great work, I wish I could get my electroplating half as well as yours. What about pewter for metal substitute?

have you considered running a piece through the walnut tumble polisher before running it through the vapor polisher for maximum smoothness ?

Never would have thought to do this. Looks like it works really well though!. I do have a question. How would you best figure out the surface area? For the life of me I cannot find a simple method or program that would allow me to figure out the surface area

im a little bit curious what did you use for the conductive paint? ive been looking for conductive paint for a bit and haven't really found anything.

As an alternative to casting in tin - Wood's Metal is an alloy with a very low melting point - 158° F/70° C. compared to tin at 449.5°F/231.9°C. It also costs about half what tin does - I'm seeing 99% tin for USD 28.99/pound, and Wood's Metal for USD 15.59/pound or less. Given the low melting point, it's considerably safer - water left in the form won't boil on contact, throwing molten metal all over.

If all you need is more weight, it might just be better to find some small objects that you can embed in the print. Coins, fishing weights, sand, rocks, lead shot, and pinewood derby weights are all pretty. popular

What device were you using to add the coating to the object at 5:14 ???

Try lead-tin alloy. Lower melting point, better flow characteristics. Watch out for the fumes (do it outside), wash your hands after casting, do not use in stuff that's going to be used near acids (especially vinegar and ita vapor) or in food and drink contact. Lead is toxic, but as long as it is in its metallic or inorganic form it is not readily bioavailable.

Pretty cool. You know how a plastic bottle filled with water won't melt? Why not build a hollow 3D printed mold, filling the outside with water and then casting directly into it. Maybe with a copper/aluminium filled resin for better heat transfer out of the plastic?

Any suggestions for affordable electroplating kits?

that is awesome would be cool to see how it held up to higher melting point metals like steel.... cheapest way i can think to do this is with an induction bolt buster would allow you to melt small quantities for a few tests

Lead free solder may work (get the type for solder pots that dies not include flux)

Hello. You have a very cool channel, a lot of useful information and practical advice !!!!! I want to write from myself - a very large part of modern SLA plastics perfectly withstand temperatures up to 150 degrees Celsius. At the same time, there are lead alloys with a melting point from 60 degrees to 120. This means that your process can be GREATLY simplified.

Could be a way to fast prototype Aluminium Alloy parts for fit, before committing to CNC Machined parts. The model train community would definitely jump on this for making custom engines and carriages.

To remove the plastic quicker, can you use a hot air gun / hot air station or oven? Seems like the plastic would melt before the plating

Wahnsinnig tolles Ergebnis! Bravo! Since you've gotten so good at electroplating, i wonder if it would be as interesting to you as it is to me, to create carbon fibre and metal composites by electroplating carbon felt or fibre, as Michael Baran (MKJB on youtube) has shown?

Ferromagnetic filament such as Protopasta Magnetic Iron-filled Metal Composite PLA is one way to make things heavy.... fairly expensive, though.

Finally you made this video! Thanks a lot. How strong is the shell alone? Is it like a Coca Cola can or something? Or stronger?

You could try some low melt plumbers metal, that melts below 100c (used to pack pipes before you bend them) also called bend metal with a 70c melting point

the electroplate is dope. Would probably work better with a resin print for more detail/surface finish. Using tin seems unnecessary, if the shell is metal, just fill with something heavy. Sand for ex.

8f your main goal is to make them heavier there are much easier ways. First and easiest is to print solid / 100% infill (I print with resin, which is 12~15% heavier than water). But since resin can be expensive, you can still print hollow (with drain holes!) but after curing you can fill it with something heavies and dirt-cheap ... like sand for example :) ... and of course then close the holes, resin prints are best closed/glued with liquid resin in a small syringe (with needle for finest places) and then cure with UV flightlight (or laser for finer places). Liquid resin hardens in seconds under UV, and once its hardened you can put in your uv-oven (or in the Sun) for a bit longer. I don't have experience with fdm printing, but I'm sure the same can be achieved with it too, perhaps with different hollowing & gluing techniques.

If you live in the USA goto rotometals. They have all sorts of lead and non lead babbitt materials.

If all you want to do is add weight, how about sand or powdered metal plus epoxy. Or cement?

The end product looks kinda silver. Could the tin be diffusing through the copper? Dont you add tin to copper to make bronze?

What is the max temp before mold failure? Salute

Be keen to see this done on a lightsaber, you can incorporate copper plating, nickel plating and rubber coating.

Hello. Did you try to print 3d resin + copper powder? Would it be conducive enough for electroplating, what do you think?🤔

plate with nickle first so it doesnt oxidize. Also try pouring in bismuth

have you thought of using bismuth? low melting point :)

Wonderful experiment. Probably unsuitable for lange scale production (many or large objects) but nevertheless a great idea!

You can also cast with lead. Just get some old lead-acid batteries, you can melt them with a wood fuelled fire in a kitchen pot, I have done so in the past. Check whether it is legal to do where you live and besides a safety goggles, face shield, leather apron and gloves wear a good respirator. Just in case.

Have you considered printing with PLA and melting it out? How sturdy is the electroplated shell? I wonder if you could print the inverse as a mould that could be separated and re-used (e.g. if you're doing 16x pawns)

I usually fill plaster (or is it called gypsum? keine Ahnung) into my prints to increase weight. Could be a cool combination

Why PVB and IPA over ABS and Acetone? For a tin source, use pewter, either new or recycled cups/mugs etc :)

And if you print with a resin printer, do a silicon mold of it, pour wax inside the mold, electroplate the wax copy, melt the wax and put the metal material inside you think it will work? It will be really interesting for have a superior surface quality of it and with higer resolution of details.

Could you do a exact outside dimensions measurement of the print to the plated print?

Lead Is cheaper and melts also easily. It melts even lower tempo with some solder inside

I have a question, since to me some parts of the model look tinned on the outside: is it the camera angle and light reflecting on the polished copper or does tin actually pass through the copper to the outer surface?

Great video!! I see that you have an ultimaker 2+ , so i want to ask you this: what do you think about the machine? Does it has any major flaws?